Explaining the Lake Lahontan Images

Today, the people in northern Nevada live and work upon the floor of a once gigantic lake. That lake, now long dried up, is referred to as Ancient Lake Lahontan. Quite unlike the modern Lake Lahontan in Silver Springs, Nevada today, which is a small reservoir off the Carson River. Ancient Lake Lahontan was 900 feet deep and contained 8,500 sq. miles of open water. The water transformed northern Nevada into a water world of peninsulas, islands and thousand-mile coastlines. Lake Lahontan was one of two enormous lakes that inundated the “Great Basin”.

Why a lake in northern Nevada?

Most of northern Nevada lies within the area known as “The Great Basin,” which is descriptive of the terrain being shaped like a sink basin. Any water entering this area naturally flows to the lowest elevation and begins to pond. Looking at a topologic map, this terrain feature is deceptive in appearance because of all the mountain ranges running throughout it. However it is a basin where water flows in and does not flow out. The northwest United States drains to the ocean via the Columbia River, and the southwest United States drains into the Colorado River. The Great Basin has no direct outlet to the sea. Like any basin holding water, if the amount of water entering exceeds the percolation rate (how much water soaks into the soil) and the evaporation rate, it will pool at the bottom. As northern Nevada valleys filled with water, spill over events occurred into adjacent valleys creating the ancient Lake Lahontan imaged below.

This map was created by USGS Geologist Martha Reheis. The fieldwork to establish all these lake elevations is impressive. I spoke to her on the phone once to get permission to use this image. When I called she answered from her roof where she was fixing a window. She is a rugged individual I think. In this map, if you look closely, you can see that Ancient Lake Lahontan is a “donut” shaped lake. The Lake has islands galore popping up everywhere. Surrounding Lahontan are dozens of smaller but still significant sized bodies of water.

I have placed camera icons near the location of each of my renders. Here you can see that Ancient Lake Lahontan is a huge regional lake that was vast across the Nevada territory. A single photo or render of this lake cannot convey all its intricacy and beauty. I am never without something to work on.

How does the driest state in America develop a lake the size of New Hampshire?

As a result of Noah’s flood and its volcanism in moving the continents, the oceans were much warmer. Warmer oceans caused greater evaporation of water from the ocean surface. Moisture in the atmosphere resulted in much greater rain and snowfall. Temperatures dropped worldwide as particulates from volcanism cooled summers and kept the ice buildup from melting. Noah’s flood was the catalyst for the Ice Age which lasted several hundred years. The ice gradually built up over hundreds of years before receding. As it did, weather patterns developed around the continents in different ways. Paleo wind studies reveal strong winds and storms in the Great Basin from the south southeast. This means moist air from the Gulf of Mexico deposited much greater precipitation in our area than we currently experience.

In addition to the climate patterns changing due to a receding ice age, glacial runoff from mountain ranges was much greater than we experience today. Transporting the glacial runoff and rain into Ancient Lake Lahontan are six rivers we still know today. The Susan River fed Lahontan from Susanville, California. The Quinn River, from southern Oregon and Idaho emptied into the Black Rock Desert area. The Humboldt River from Nevada’s Ruby Mountains spilled into Lahontan from the east. And perhaps the biggest source of water for Lahontan, the Sierra Nevada Mountains also fed Lahontan with three large rivers; the Truckee River, the Carson River and the Walker River. This colossal amount of water flowed for centuries and filled valley after valley to create Ancient Lake Lahontan.

For more Information on the ice age that preceded the creation of the Ancient Lake Lahontan. I highly recommend Dr. Jake Hebert’s “The Ice Age and Climate Change, A Creation Perspective”. The consequences of the Noahic flood are visible to the naked eye all over the globe. Dr. Hebert’s book is fabulous place to explore these issues. It carefully walks through the climate change issues step by step citing relevant scientific studies throughout as a basis for the conclusions offered.

Dr. Hebert demonstrates in his book that “young earth” believing Christians actually have the superior model for understanding the ice age and climate change.

Dr, Jake Hebert is a scientist at Institute for Creation Research. www.icr.org