Artesia Lake EarthCache

This cache has been archived.

2Dee2Dee: I'm archiving ALL of 2Dee2Dee's geocaches. It's been a wild ride, now up to someone else to use my locations if you wish. I am no longer able to service nor maintain any cache.
Dennis

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Hidden : 10/23/2007
Difficulty:
1.5 out of 5
Terrain:
2 out of 5

Size: Size: other (other)

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Geocache Description:

From Wellington or Smith find Artesia Rd at the NW corner of the Smith Valley along the base of the PineNut Mountains. Just a bit of good dirt road past (Hinds) Nevada Hot Springs to turn at 38 55.589 -119 24.029 and then be careful at the cattle guard.

Please comply with any regulations concerning the managed use of this Wildlife Area: (visit link)

To successfully log a find for this EarthCache:
FIRST EMAIL acceptable answers to the following 4 questions (this may require some research as required by the USGS). PLEASE DO NOT USE THE MESSAGE CENTER LINK. (I will NOT reply nor communicate through the Message Center)
THEN, go ahead and log a tentative find
IF you can include a REQUESTED proof of find PHOTO of you or your GPS while anywhere in the area with a view of Artesia Lake in the background. (Bonus points for the best photos. Other Proof of Find may/may not be acceptable at our discression.)

QUESTIONS:
1. Name some wildlife you could or did see in this area?
2. How many acres make up the Artesia Lake Wildlife Area?
3. Between 1987 and 2007, how many years would you judge that Artesia Lake has been dry?
4. What is the result of “sump” lakes filling and evaporating?

I ride dirt bike, camp and have explored this area in the spring and fall seasons over the last 35 years which has given me the unique opportunity to view some dramatic Lake and wildlife variations. In any given year Artesia Lake may be filled with water and migratory birds or completely dry though the local hot springs have never stopped running. I have thoroughly explored many of the local mines and been amazed at the diverse geology of this area.

Artesia Lake
The Artesia Lake area is northeast of Hinds' Hot Springs and is a continuation of the thermal anomalies along the Pine Nut Mountains from Wellington to Artesia Lake. Warm-water wells and springs are reported in Secs. 25, 27, 34, Tl3N, R23E and Sec. 10, Tl2N, R23E. Well temperatures are up to 28°C for the Ambassador well; no temperature data are available for the springs, except that they are warm . The Ambassador well is 869 m deep and artesian. Measurements of uranium and radium in water from this well indicate that it may penetrate volcanic rocks at depth.
Nevada Hot Springs (Hinds')

The third hottest springs in Lyon County, after Hazen and Wabuska, are found near the edge of the Pine Nut Mountains along the western margin of Smith Valley. These springs are named for J.C. Hinds, the first settler in the north end of Smith Valley. Hinds utilized the springs as early as 1860 for agriculture and in a spa built on the site. The flow of the springs was also used to turn a water wheel, which powered a rock arrastre employed to mill various ores from mines in the vicinity.

The temperatures reported at Hinds' are as high as 65°C, although cool sulfur water reportedly issues from a spring only a few hundred feet away. Thermal springs are also found along the edge of the valley from half a mile south of the main springs at Hinds' to a point due south of the alkali flat. Generally the flow of each spring is less than 19 L/min and the temperature is a little less than 21°C. The water from these springs is probably rising from depth along a system of faults. The fluoride content of Hinds' Hot Springs has been reported as 2.7 and 3.1 ppm. Most water in Smith Valley whose temperature indicates little if any mixing with thermal water contained only 0.2 to 0.4 ppm fluoride. It appears that high contents of fluoride in this area are associated with the thermal water found along the south and west sides of Smith Valley, presumably along fault planes. An estimate of the reservoir temperature of Hinds' Hot Springs, using the Na-K-Ca geothermometer, is 86°C, and deposits of travertine are reported.

In the early 1960s, U.S. Steel Corp. drilled three geothermal exploration wells at Hinds' Hot Springs. The temperatures encountered in these wells were reportedly lower than the maximum temperatures from nearby springs. Today the water from Hinds' Hot Springs is used to irrigate pasture and other salt-tolerant grasses, and in a swimming pool near the site of two of the geothermal wells. The third geothermal well is a short distance to the south of the pool.

Hinds' Hot Springs are only one of several thermal water areas along the eastern edge of the Pine Nut Mountains. The contact between alluvium and bedrock along the mountain front is a series of faults. Recent faulting is indicated in this area by discordant breaks in slope on some alluvial fans, such as on the small fan just south of Hinds' Hot Springs. The other thermal areas are the Wellington area, 16 km to the south,

Alkali Lake, aka Artesia Lake
Artesia Lake and the Alkali Lake Wildlife Management Area (WMA) include 3,447 acres of high desert land. It is owned by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and managed by the Nevada Department of Wildlife. There are no water rights associated with Artesia, and it is fed almost entirely from agricultural runoff—with minimal water input from runoff out of the Pine Nut Mountains. During wet years, however, the alkali flat becomes a shallow wetland and is heavily used by waterfowl and shorebird species. The lake is a wintering and resting area for a variety of waterfowl, as well as many other birds throughout the year when water is present. It is separated west from east by a dike. Agricultural runoff is not enough to maintain Artesia as a wetland during dry years. In recent years, the lakebed is commonly a playa, particularly in years of low precipitation, when surplus water is not available from neighboring farmlands. When there is no water, habitat is not available to wetland-associated wildlife. When flooded, however, this playa hosts a complement of species including birds, mammals, and herpetofauna.

Sediments in Artesia Lake, a playa in the northwest part of the valley, consist primarily of silt, clay, and evaporate salts and minerals. Like most of the other basins in the Walker River flow system, low-permeability consolidated rocks underlie and bound the alluvial aquifers such that little groundwater enters or leaves Smith Valley. In general, transmissivity of the alluvial aquifers ranges from less than 50,000 to greater than 100,000 gallons per day per foot for the top 500 feet of valley-fill deposits. These values correspond to a range in hydraulic conductivity of about 10 to 60 feet per day. Little, if any, pond water on the Artesia Lake playa recharges the alluvial aquifers.

Alkali lakes of the Great Basin and Mojave deserts are harsh environments that support few plant species due in part to their highly saline soils. Flora that occur in Nevada Great Basin alkali sink scrub environments and potentially in Artesia include species such as alkali pink (Nitrophila occidentalis), greasewood (Sarcobatus vermiculatus), alkali birds beak (Cordylanthus maritimus), Nevada saltbush (Atriplex lentiformis torreyi), and saltgrass (Distichlis spicata). A private parcel of land on the south end of the alkali lake harbors small ponds and sloughs.

Focal Species
Clark’s Grebe, Western Grebe, White-faced Ibis Snowy Plover Canada Goose, Cinnamon Teal, Redhead, Northern Pintail, and other ducks (as many as 30,000 ducks have been counted in high-water years) Most if not all birds can be seen from the dike running across the lake in a wet season. Contact with Local Knowledge is Jim Eidel of Great Basin Bird Observatory

Lithology and Stratigraphy. Quaternary alluvium predominates in this subsection. Bedrock in the Singatse Range and hills between the Wassuck Range and the Pine Nut Mountains is Triassic and Jurassic volcanic and sedimentary rocks and Tertiary andesite and tuffaceous sediments, plus some Jurassic and Cretaceous granitic rocks. Hills at the north end of the Pine Nut Range are mostly Tertiary andesite, basalt, and tuffaceous sediments.

Minerals list from local mines: Andradite, Brochantite, Chalcopyrite, Chalcosiderite, Chrysocolla, Clinochrysotile, Cornetite, Diopside, Grossular, Libethenite, Malachite, Paratacamite, Pseudomalachite, Pyrite, Quartz var: Amethyst, Tangeite, Tremolite, Volborthite.

Map views at State Parks. (visit link)
Link to Artesia Lake Map
Ariel Topo map Artesia Lake near bottom of frame (visit link)

Human History. Some stories written in rock hieroglyphs date humankind living in these hills back to more than 10,000 years ago. What kept Washoe Indians in this region for many thousands of years were the pinion nuts, a pine nut from the Pinion Pine Tree which covers the hillsides here. The meat of the pinion nut was harvested for its vast resources of protein, carbohydrates and fat. Some were dried and pounded into a powder, then rolled into animal fat and water to a doughy texture and then into balls. The balls of pinion meat were then placed into finely crafted willow and tule bags and baskets for use throughout the hard winter as a major food source.
The Indians used to pick the cones from the trees just before they began to drop in the fall. They used long forked willow sticks to force them from the limbs and the children would pick the fallen cones off the ground. The cones would then be placed into large sagebrush woven baskets and taken to camp where the nuts were carefully picked from their sap laden lair. Some of the tribes living near hot springs such as Nevada Hot Springs, used the heat of the water to melt the sticky sap from the cones and when left for a time, the cones would actually open enough to allow for easy nut picking. The nuts were then quickly boiled or roasted depending on if the camp was near a hot spring and stripped of their shells through a winnowing process.

Fossils of mammoth, sloth and the small north American horse that used to live in the area more than 60,000 years ago have been found.

Trail riding, hiking or 4x4 in the south Pine Nut Range, up through Rickey and Red canyons you’ll come upon many old mines and great views from Mount Siegle and Oreana Peak, both around 9400 feet in elevation. Check out our "High Gear..." caches for great views throughout the area.

FTF on 10/28/07 goes to uminski from 'New Joysee'

Additional Hints (No hints available.)



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