Lake Manly

Lake Manly
Lake Manley [sic], Death Valley Lake, Death Valley Pleistocene Lakes
Lake Manly occasionally reforms after strong precipitation
Lake Manly Show map of California Lake Manly Show map of the United States
Location	Death Valley, California
Coordinates	36°00′N 116°48′W / 36.000°N 116.800°W / 36.000; -116.800[1]
Type	Pluvial lake
Etymology	After William Lewis Manly
Part of	Death Valley system, Great Basin
Primary inflows	Amargosa River, Mojave River and Owens River at various points of time. Springs
Primary outflows	Unlikely, possibly Colorado River
Catchment area	65,806 square kilometres (25,408 sq mi)
Max. length	140 kilometres (90 mi)
Max. width	9.7–17.7 kilometres (6–11 mi)
Surface area	About 1,600 square kilometres (620 sq mi)
Average depth	Up to 335 metres (1,099 ft)
Water volume	176 cubic kilometres (42 cu mi)
Shore length1	320 kilometres (200 mi)
Surface elevation	47–90 metres (154–295 ft)
1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure.

Lake Manly was a pluvial lake in Death Valley, California. It forms occasionally in Badwater Basin after heavy rainfall, but at its maximum extent during the so-called "Blackwelder stand," ending approximately 120,000 years before present, the lake covered much of Death Valley with a surface area of 1,600 square kilometres (620 sq mi). Water levels varied through its history, and the chronology is further complicated by active tectonic processes that have modified the elevations of the various shorelines of Lake Manly; during the Blackwelder stage they reached 47–90 metres (154–295 ft) above sea level. The lake received water mainly from the Amargosa River and at various points from the Mojave River and Owens River. The lake and its substantial catchment favoured the spread of a number of aquatic species, including some lizards, pupfish and springsnails. The lake probably supported a substantial ecosystem, and a number of diatoms developed there.

In Death Valley, lakes existed during different times in the geological past. After some poorly defined lake stages during the Miocene, Pliocene and early Pleistocene, the first large lake stage occurred about 185,000–128,000 years ago during the Tahoe glacial stage and formed the Blackwelder shorelines. This lake was the largest known extent of Lake Manly; theories that the lake merged with Lake Mojave farther south or even overflowed into the Colorado River close to Ludlow and across several other basins are, however, questionable. After the drying of this lake a later lake stage occurred 35,000–10,000 years ago during the Tioga/Wisconsin glaciation; this lake was smaller than the Blackwelder lake. During the Holocene, the lake disappeared; today only ephemeral lakes occur in Death Valley during strong floods.

This lake is one among many major lakes that formed in the Great Basin, the best researched of which are Lake Lahontan and Lake Bonneville. Decreasing temperatures and thus decreased evaporation rates as well as increased precipitation rates during the ice ages were responsible for the formation of these lake systems. Lake Manly collected the overflow from a number of lakes including Lake Tecopa, Mono Lake, Owens Lake, Searles Lake, Lake Panamint, Lake Mojave, Lake Dumont and Lake Manix. Not all of them existed or drained into Lake Manly simultaneously.