early morning slowly lights the south tufa area mono lake

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Early morning slowly lights up the South Tufa area of Mono Lake.

Early morning slowly lights up the South Tufa area of Mono Lake. Mono Lake, an alkaline and hypersaline lake in California between the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the Great Basin Desert. Calcium rich underwater springs mixed with lakewater rich in carbonates create the unusual limestone formations that grace Mono LakeÃ¢â¬â¢s shores, known to geologists as the tufa. Tufa grows exclusively underwater. Tufa around Mono Lake is visible today because the lake level fell dramatically after water diversions to meet the growing water demands of Los Angeles in 1941. Deprived of its freshwater sources, the volume of Mono Lake halved, while its salinity doubled.