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The Lake's Formation An Imperial Valley, California, USA story

Water
  1. Earthshots
  2. Imperial Valley, California, USA
  3. The Lake's Formation
Description

For thousands of years, the Colorado River flowed above and to the east of the valley, on its way to the nearby Gulf of California. The river was higher than the valley, but it was hemmed in by its own natural levees land barriers on either bank built up over years from silt left behind by floods. With each flood, these levees grew a bit higher and harder to breach. But once in a while, the Colorado would break out and pour down into the Salton Basin, partly filling it. Then the levee break would fill with silt, the river would revert to its normal channel, and the basin would dry up again. Dams and channels on the river now prevent these cycles.

European American settlers saw that the Imperial Valley had good soils for agriculture, except for being extremely dry. In 1901, the Colorado Development Company began diverting Colorado River water into the valley for irrigation, similar to what the Colorado had done naturally thousands of times.

In 1905, the company lost control of the river during a flood, and the Colorado broke through the half-finished headgate of an irrigation ditch. The river kept widening the ditch, until almost the entire river was flowing into the sink rather than toward the Gulf of California. It took engineers and work crews until 1907 to return the river to its proper course, by which time a considerable lake had formed.

View Related Imagery & Stories

Location

July 16, 1973, Landsat 1 (path/row 42/37) — Salton Sea, California, USA

July 16, 1973, Landsat 1 (path/row 42/37) — Salton Sea, California, USA

June 30, 1992, Landsat 4 (path/row 39/37) — Salton Sea, California, USA

June 30, 1992, Landsat 4 (path/row 39/37) — Salton Sea, California, USA

June 27, 2011, Landsat 5 (path/row 39/37) — Salton Sea, California, USA

June 27, 2011, Landsat 5 (path/row 39/37) — Salton Sea, California, USA

July 3, 2019, Landsat 8 (path/row 39/37) — Salton Sea, California, USA

July 3, 2019, Landsat 8 (path/row 39/37) — Salton Sea, California, USA

July 16, 1973, Landsat 1 (path/row 42/37) — Salton Sea, California, USA
June 30, 1992, Landsat 4 (path/row 39/37) — Salton Sea, California, USA
June 27, 2011, Landsat 5 (path/row 39/37) — Salton Sea, California, USA
July 3, 2019, Landsat 8 (path/row 39/37) — Salton Sea, California, USA

Imperial Valley, California, USA Additional Imagery & Stories

The All-American Canal
The All-American Canal

The All-American Canal (visible as the dark line in these close-ups) is now the Imperial Valley's main source of water. It carries 26,155 cubic feet o...

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The Sea's Populations
The Sea's Populations

Several cities are visible within the area of irrigated agriculture in the valley, which is surrounded by the natural desert. The close-up images show...

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