Searles Lake | |
---|---|
Location | Searles Valley, Mojave Desert San Bernardino County, California |
Coordinates | 35°42′31″N 117°19′15″W / 35.7087414°N 117.3209387°W |
Type | Endorheic basin |
Primary outflows | Terminal (evaporation) |
Basin countries | United States |
Max. length | 19 km (12 mi) |
Max. width | 13 km (8.1 mi) |
Shore length1 | 50 km (31 mi) |
Surface elevation | 493 m (1,617 ft) |
Settlements | Trona, California |
References | U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Searles Lake |
1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure. |
Searles Lake is an endorheic dry lake in the Searles Valley of the Mojave Desert, in northwestern San Bernardino County, California. The lake in the past was also called Slate Range Lake and Borax Lake.
The mining community of Trona is on its western shore. The evaporite basin is approximately 19 km (12 mi) long and 13 km (8.1 mi) at its widest point, yielding 1.7 million tons annually of industrial minerals within the basin to the Searles Valley Minerals mining operations. Searles Lake is bounded by the Argus and Slate Mountains. Named after John Wemple Searles.[1]