Follow the Water Stop 12 of 13 (Site 12b)

Follow the Water Stop 12 of 13 (Site 12b)

Shoreline Butte: On the far hillside, you can see curious horizontal lines in the bedrock.  When a large lake filled Death Valley, waves would beat against this far hillside.  The energy of the waves and particles carried in current would abrade the hillside making this old shorelines.  A fascinating relic of a wetter past in one of the driest places on the planet.

The ancient lake that once occupied Death Valley is called Lake Manly.  Take a look at some of these ancient shorelines from the air (click on the photo to see it at higher magnification).

The most recent glacial-age lake dried up about 14,000 years ago and did not etch most of these shorelines.  This 14,000-year-old lake only made it to the toe of these hills.  However, the lake that dried up about 140,000 years ago did form these paleo-shorelines.  This is what the west might have looked like when Death Valley hosted Lake Manly at its fullest extent.