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Bathtub Ring A Lake Powell, Utah and Arizona, USA story

Dams  / 
Water
  1. Lake Powell, Utah and Arizona, USA
  2. Bathtub Ring
Description

Comparing the 1984 (high water level) and 2005 (low water level) images, there is a pale outline along many parts of the lake. When the water level drops, canyon walls that were once inundated are exposed again.

Referred to as the “bathtub ring,” this pale outline shows when the lake is below capacity. Calcium carbonate and other mineral compounds, many of them various salts in the water, attach themselves to the sandstone and leave behind this white mark. The top of the white mark is the high water mark. The only time the bathtub ring is not visible is when the lake is completely full.

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Location

July 4, 1984, Landsat 5 (path/row 37/34) — Bathtub ring around Lake Powell, Utah and Arizona, USA

July 4, 1984, Landsat 5 (path/row 37/34) — Bathtub ring around Lake Powell, Utah and Arizona, USA

Aug. 31, 2005, Landsat 5 (path/row 37/34) — Bathtub ring around Lake Powell, Utah and Arizona, USA

Aug. 31, 2005, Landsat 5 (path/row 37/34) — Bathtub ring around Lake Powell, Utah and Arizona, USA

July 4, 1984, Landsat 5 (path/row 37/34) — Bathtub ring around Lake Powell, Utah and Arizona, USA

July 4, 1984, Landsat 5 (path/row 37/34) — Bathtub ring around Lake Powell, Utah and Arizona, USA

Aug. 31, 2005, Landsat 5 (path/row 37/34) — Bathtub ring around Lake Powell, Utah and Arizona, USA

Aug. 31, 2005, Landsat 5 (path/row 37/34) — Bathtub ring around Lake Powell, Utah and Arizona, USA

July 4, 1984, Landsat 5 (path/row 37/34) — Bathtub ring around Lake Powell, Utah and Arizona, USA
Aug. 31, 2005, Landsat 5 (path/row 37/34) — Bathtub ring around Lake Powell, Utah and Arizona, USA
July 4, 1984, Landsat 5 (path/row 37/34) — Bathtub ring around Lake Powell, Utah and Arizona, USA
Aug. 31, 2005, Landsat 5 (path/row 37/34) — Bathtub ring around Lake Powell, Utah and Arizona, USA

Lake Powell, Utah and Arizona, USA Additional Imagery & Stories

Glen Canyon Dam
Glen Canyon Dam

Glen Canyon Dam near Page, Arizona, creates Lake Powell. The 710-foot-high dam was completed on September 13, 1963, about 9 years before the first cle...

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San Juan River
San Juan River

Farther upstream, the San Juan River flows into the Colorado River. In these narrower upstream portions of the rivers, more exposed riverbed appears i...

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Water Levels
Water Levels

Drought combined with water withdrawals has caused a drop in the lake’s water level. The reservoir finished filling in 1980. The highest water level r...

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