SALTON SEA

saline lake, in the California Desert, southern California, U.S. The area that is now the lake was formerly a salt-covered sink or depression (a remnant of prehistoric Lake Cahuilla) about 280 feet (85 m) below sea level until 190506, when diversion controls on the Colorado River broke a few miles below the CaliforniaMexico border and floodwaters rushed northward, filling the depression. Subsequent deepening of the sink was stopped in 1907, when a line of protective levees was built. The lake at that time was about 40 miles (60 km) long and 13 miles (21 km) wide and covered an area of about 400 square miles (1,000 square km). Its surface lay 195 feet (60 m) below sea level. Over the next five years evaporation decreased the water level by 25 feet (7.5 m). In subsequent years, increasing amounts of irrigation drainage water from the Imperial and Coachella valleys (southeast and northwest), flowing through the New and Alamo rivers and San Felipe Creek, have stabilized the lake at its present size30 miles (48 km) long, 10 miles (16 km) wide, 65 feet (20 m) deep, and covering an area of 344 square miles (890 square km). Its surface is now about 235 feet (72 m) below sea level, and its salinity approximates that of seawater. The lake is now a focus of a state recreation area with facilities for swimming, boating, and camping.