If that happens, Fallen Leaf Lake could be the proverbial canary in the coal mine. But he and other top researchers believe human-caused global warming might bring on another severe drought even faster in the future. Kent says the long Sierra drought happened naturally a thousand years ago. "And just wonder how the economies of California and Nevada are going to be affected by it." "So take the great Dust Bowl and extend it from 10 years to 200 and some years," explains Kent. That is similar to the devastating midwest "Dust Bowl" in the 1930s. The precipitation is believed to have been just 60 percent of normal. ![]() It lasted about 200 years - long enough for huge trees to grow where Fallen Leaf Lake now sits. Researchers say all this evidence confirms that a thousand years ago there was a prolonged drought in the Sierra. A sonar device shows slices of the ground under the lake bottom. "Side scan sonar technology is exactly the equipment that's used to find sunken ships," says Kent.Ī high-tech image shows the lake has seen big changes in the water level over many years. They're using state of the art sonar to map the mysterious forest and try to figure out why it's there. Scientists in a small submarine took photos showing just a few of the hundred or more trees on the bottom of the lake. "We have old wood from a thousand years ago, 2,000, 3,000 down there." ![]() Graham Kent of the University of Nevada, describing trees up to 100 feet tall, as high as a 10-story building, but covered by water. "What I like to call a ghost forest," says Prof. Now it turns out the lake also has a dramatic secret. ![]() Fallen Leaf Lake is already known for its spectacular beauty.
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