First Dinkey Lake Eutrophication - Places of Geologic Significance on Waymarking.com

First Dinkey Lake is reached by a moderate to strenuous hike into the Dinkey Lakes Wilderness. It is just a few miles from the parking area and at an elevation of about 9300 feet. The parking area is accessible by unpaved Forest Service access roads. The roads do get pretty rough, so a high clearance vehicle would be a very good idea. Winter snows make the EarthCache inaccessible.
First Dinkey Lake was carved out of the mountain by a glacier forming a cirque that filled in to become a tarn (see EarthCache). From the moment it formed, sediment began filling with sediment. The process of a lake gradually filling is called eutrophication. The rate at which this happens is related to the how much sediment is transported into the lake and the organic content of the lake.
Each spring, melting snow erodes sediment off the surrounding mountains and transports it to the streams that fill the lakes of the Dinkey Lakes Wilderness. While in the streams, the water flow is fast enough to keep the sediment moving. When the water reaches a lake, the speed of the water slows depositing the sediment in the lake. This sediment begins to fill the lake from the point where the stream enters the lake, forming a delta. This process alone will bring enough sediment to eventually fill the lake from its side. However, the in-filling process can be greatly increased by elevated biologic activity in the lake.
Biologic activity includes shore plants, underwater plants, freshwater plankton, algae, aquatic life, among other things. As these things die, they settle to the bottom of the lake filling it in and providing nutrients for more biologic growth. This process generally fills the lake in from the bottom up as material settles to the bottom.
Three stages of lake development have been developed by limnologists (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limnology) to describe the aging of a lake. These stages are called trophic states, oligotrophic, mesotropic, and eutrophic. These states are most easily recognized by the amount of biologic activity in the lake. Oligotrophic lakes are clear with little biologic activity. Eutrophic lakes look cloudy and have a lot of biologic activity. Mesotropic lakes are somewhere in between.
Urban and agricultural runoff can contain various nutrients that can greatly increase biologic activity. The increased biologic activity then increases the rate of eutrophication of the lake. This artificial increase is called cultural eutrophication.
All the stages of eutrophication are natural processes and each has its own benefits. Oligotrophic lakes would be great swimming lakes and provide beautiful picturesque landscapes. An eutrophic lake would probably be an excellent fishery and wildlife habitat.

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Waymark is confirmed to be publicly accessible: yes Parking Coordinates: N 37° 09.078 W 119° 06.276 Requires a high clearance vehicle to visit.: yes Requires 4x4 vehicle to visit.: no Public Transport available: no Website reference: [Web Link] Access fee (In local currency): Not Listed

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