Fallen leaf lake falls cracked#

The Tahoe-Sierra Frontal Fault Zone is comprised of five different faults. These expeditions in the summer of 2016 believe that seismic activities at least a thousand years ago led to the trees sliding into the lake and becoming a submerged forest. In 2016, Tom Loomis, scientists and the Undersea Voyager Project dove into the cold waters of Fallen Leaf Lake and helped shed light on another possibility for this mythical looking underwater forest. Screen capture of the video from Undersea Voyager Project Yet, seven years later, another underwater voyage provided evidence that could prove the megadrought theory inaccurate as it challenges Kent’s belief that a landslide couldn’t have caused this underwater forest. He also ruled out a landslide as possible reason for these trees standing upright at the bottom of the lake. In 2009, Kent surmised that these ancient trees and the shoreline levels are evidence that megadroughts can occur every 650 to 1150 years. Sonar was able to confirm an ancient shoreline which also leads scientists to subscribe to this megadrought theory as they believe that the lake fell 130 to 200 feet during this drought. The drought at Fallen Leaf Lake is believed to have taken place between the 9 th and 12 th centuries and to have lasted up to 200 years. A megadrought is defined as a drought lasting at least two decades or longer. Researchers have long believed that the Sierra Nevada region has gone through megadroughts in the past.

Fallen leaf lake falls cracked#

He was also able to rule out that an earthquake cracked the lake’s floor. Kent used side scan sonar technology to map the Fallen Leaf Lake underwater forest and also discovered that the lake had undergone significant changes in the past especially with the water levels. I was just waiting for Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer to come flying in.” He would further describe the scene as follows:

Kent went beneath the water in a two person submersible and became the first documented person to see what he called a “ ghost forest.” Kleppe’s efforts spawned even more scientific explorations to study these remarkable trees like the one in 2009 by Graham Kent the director of the Nevada Seismological Laboratory. Professor Kleppe sent down a camera on a ROV (Remotely Operated Underwater Vehicle) and began taking pictures of an incredible underwater forest. In the late 90s, an experienced scuba diver and a professor first “discovered” these underwater trees and began documenting their locations.

There are two theories as to how these trees ended up standing perfectly upright underwater as if they magically grew from the lake’s bottom: a megadrought or a landslide.

Screen capture of the video from Undersea Voyager Project How did an Underwater Forest Grow in Fallen Leaf Lake? The cold, potable water has become a perfect mechanism for preserving early 19 th century items and ancient trees found in the depths below. Instead, we have a picturesque alpine lake that’s 152 feet higher in elevation than Lake Tahoe, nearly three miles long, and nearly 415 feet deep at its deepest point. If the glaciers didn’t stop, they would’ve continued into Lake Tahoe and formed another bay just like Emerald Bay, which is roughly three miles northwest of Fallen Leaf Lake. A terminal moraine, which marks the end of the glaciers’ movements, is noticeable on the north end of the lake. Fallen Leaf Lakeįallen Leaf Lake was formed out of two glaciers that are believed to have traveled north and stopped roughly one mile south of Lake Tahoe. In addition to the intriguing examination of how the lake got its name, is an even greater mystery that sets this alpine body of water apart from any other lake in the state – the underwater forest of Fallen Leaf Lake. I’m sure for some of you, the thought of a forest at this particular location doesn’t sound all too interesting.īut, what if I told you that this forest is underwater? I bet that’s grabbed your attention. At 6,300 feet in elevation, and located at the base of Desolation Wilderness, sits a forest unlike any other.