Tufas, Mono Lake, California

This is the land of the finest contrasts, where the desert meets snow-covered mountain peaks. Fabulous tuff columns rise from a huge salt lake. Peace and tranquility elevated to the absolute - this is what can be said about the surroundings of such a natural miracle as Lake Mono in California. The landscapes of the lake, the wonderful islands, the relaxing silence on it make up such a charm of this place that people from all over the United States and from all over the world come here. Mono Lake is one of the most visited places in California.

Mono Lake in the USA is one of California's unique attractions, a large salt water pool at the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. It is believed that the lake is over a million years old, making it the oldest lake in North America. Perhaps the charm of Lake Mono was not so attractive if there were no islands here. The largest island on the lake is Pahoa. It owes its existence to light volcanic magma. By the way, tourists can contemplate emissions of hot steam and hot springs near this island, because the magma that created Pahoa is not asleep to this day.

The second largest island, Mono - Negit, has become a peninsula due to shallowing, and now it can be reached on foot. On the one hand, for tourists it is very good, because on the quaint stones and curved rocks of Negita you get great photos. But on the other hand, this indicates that Mono Lake is, indeed, in danger of serious desiccation.

The famous tuff columns along the banks of the reservoir were not so long ago under water, but the shallowing of the lake allowed the current generation of tourists to enjoy their bizarre views, vaguely reminiscent of Gaudi's Gothic creations. But Sagrada Familia is just one cathedral in the world in Barcelona, and there are hundreds of such mini-creations created not by the architect's genius, but by Mother Nature. They look just fascinating.

The lake enchants with stunning landscapes of indescribable beauty and tuff columns. Due to the high salinity in the Mono Lake, the fish does not live; the attempt to resettle it was not crowned with success. At the same time, a large number of crustaceans are found in its waters, which are the most important feeding element of birds living on the lake. On the banks of the Mono nest up to 2 million birds of not less than 35 species.

Among the birds should first of all be called the American Avocet and chibis; in addition, the black-necked grebe, the American snipe and other birds use the lake for recreation during annual migrations to the tropical regions. Here you can relax. A quiet and relaxing retreat is what is famous for Lake Mono in California. In the special center located right here, one can get acquainted with the history of the sights, order the services of a guide or a survival expert in wild places.

In 2009, NASA scientists discovered in the Mono Lake a microorganism that can exist in a toxic environment. Mono Lake was chosen for research due to the unusual chemical composition of water: it has a high content of salts, alkalis and arsenic due to the fact that the lake has been isolated from fresh water for 50 years.

Mono Lake just great to sail, you can do rowing. Yes, and swim in super-saline water, which supposedly "pushes" you out, is a separate pleasure. Also, the lake is very popular with ornithologists and naturalists. Still, there are a lot of interesting birds, and they are very much brightened up by tourists, making it entertaining and joyful.

The statement "the sea is the cradle of life" is not at all as obvious as it may seem. In recent years, a hypothesis has become popular among scientists, according to which life arose not in the ocean, but in small surface water bodies. There are several biochemical arguments in favor of this hypothesis. But even if living cells arose on land, after that they quickly populated the sea. By most parameters, the marine environment is much more comfortable than the terrestrial one: there is always enough water in it and ultraviolet rays, which are dangerous for cells, hardly penetrate into it.

Now the ultraviolet component of sunlight is shielded by an atmosphere layer enriched with ozone, which is constantly formed in small amounts from atmospheric oxygen. Before the oxygen revolution, there was no ozone layer on Earth, so only water could protect cells from ultraviolet rays. It turns out that the ocean was not the cradle of life, but its refuge for the first several billion years of evolution. The first direct evidence of terrestrial life is the remains of filamentous blue-green algae in a fossil cave 1.2 billion years old.

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