The Humboldt Sink is an intermittent dry lake bed, approximately 11 mi (18 km) long, and 4 mi (6 km) across, in northwestern Nevada in the United States. The body of water in the sink is known as Humboldt Lake. The sink and its surrounding area was a notorious and dreaded portion (called the Forty Mile Desert) of overland travel to California during the westward migrations of the mid-1800s, which were largely undertaken along the California Trail.[1]
Humboldt Sink is located between the West Humboldt Range (to the southeast) and the Trinity Range (to the northwest), on the border between Pershing and Churchill counties, approximately 50 mi (80 km) northeast of Reno. It is fed from the northeast by the 330 miles (530 km) long Humboldt River, the second longest river in the Great Basin of North America (after the Bear River). Interstate 80 passes along the northwest side of the sink.
The sink has no natural outlet. A channel connecting it with the Carson Sink was cut by the Nevada Department of Transportation in 1984 to prevent Interstate 80 and the town of Lovelock from flooding after heavy snowfall in the preceding three years. As of 2004, this channel has been dry since 1986. The sink, along with the Carson Sink, is remnants of the larger prehistoric Lake Lahontan that existed at the end of the last ice age, approximately 13,000 years ago.
The sink is protected as part of the Humboldt Wildlife Management Area. Wetlands in and near the sink, such as the Humboldt Salt Marsh provide important nesting, foraging, and resting habitat to large numbers of migratory birds.[2]
The sink has a long history of human habitation. In addition to Lovelock Cave, an outcrop in the West Humboldt Range in which 2000-year-old duck decoys have been found, there is also evidence of huts constructed in the bed of Lake Humboldt. Evidence from these important archaeological sites suggests that Native Americans hunted and fished in the Humboldt Sink during wetter climatic periods.[2][3]
These landforms are named for the Humboldt River, which is in turn named after German naturalist Alexander von Humboldt.
^"Oregon-California Trails Association". Archived from the original on 12 August 2014. Retrieved 7 January 2012.
^ ab"Humboldt Wildlife Management Area" (PDF). Nevada. Dept. of Wildlife. Retrieved 29 July 2011.
^Livingston, Stephanie D. (1986). "Archaeology of the Humboldt Lakebed Site". Journal of California and Great Basin Archaeology. 8.1: 99–115. JSTOR 27825259.
The HumboldtSink is an intermittent dry lake bed, approximately 11 mi (18 km) long, and 4 mi (6 km) across, in northwestern Nevada in the United States...
course and terminus-(Humboldt Lake) of the Humboldt River and the HumboldtSink on the northwest side from the expansive Carson Sink on the south and southeast...
Alexander von Humboldt, a German natural scientist. The lake receives the Humboldt River from the north but has no outlet. HumboldtSink, an intermittent...
its terminus in the HumboldtSink, approximately 225 direct miles away in northwest Churchill County. Most estimates put the Humboldt River at 300 to 330...
States Pico Humboldt – 4,940 m mountain in Mérida, Venezuela HumboldtSink – Dry lake bed in Nevada, United States East and West Humboldt Range in Nevada...
S.) HumboldtSink (northwestern Nevada, U.S.) Owens Lake (Eastern Sierra, California, U.S.) Pyramid Lake (western Nevada, U.S.) Quinn River Sink (northwestern...
is known today as the Carson Sink UFO incident. In 1984, the natural dike between the Carson Sink and the HumboldtSink was breached by the Nevada Department...
Lovelock Cave Station. The large rock shelter is north of modern-day HumboldtSink. Lovelock Cave is in the Lake Lahontan region, next to the former lakebed...
year to year in the Great Basin, the amount of water that reaches the HumboldtSink can vary enormously, from up to 25,000 acres (39 sq mi) during years...
years ago. The valley and the adjacent Carson Sink represent a small portion of the lake bed. Humboldt Lake is to the valley's northeast. Pyramid Lake...
route from the Great Salt Lake to California via the Humboldt River, the HumboldtSink, the Carson Sink, and then up into the Sierra Nevada by either the...
Great Salt Lake, Pyramid Lake, and the HumboldtSink are a few of the "drains" in the Great Basin. The Salton Sink is another closed basin within the Great...
playa. These playas include the Black Rock Desert, the Carson Sink, and the HumboldtSink. The only modern remnants existing as true lakes are Pyramid...
depleted. With nearly all his cattle gone, Wolfinger stopped at the HumboldtSink to cache (bury) his wagon; Reinhardt and Spitzer stayed behind to help...
— Reuben Cole Shaw, 1849 At the end of the Humboldt River, where it disappeared into the alkaline HumboldtSink, travelers had to cross the deadly Forty...
The Humboldt Salt Marsh in the HumboldtSink of northwestern Nevada is a wetland that is 1 of 2 salt marshes within the state (cf. Tonopah Wetland in the...
almost all his cattle, a German emigrant named Wolfinger stops at the HumboldtSink to cache his wagon. Two men, Joseph Reinhardt and Augustus Spitzer,...
The line first reaches the Humboldt River near Wells, which it loosely follows until the river's end in the HumboldtSink near Lovelock. Here, the tracks...
the state. The Humboldt River crosses the state from east to west across the northern part of the state, draining into the HumboldtSink near Lovelock...
River Humboldt River – HumboldtSink (Nevada), 151 mi-long (243 km) Little Humboldt River North Fork Humboldt River South Fork Humboldt River Reese River Jordan...
in the back of the van. Charlene then parked their van in the remote HumboldtSink area. Over the next couple of hours, Gerald rested and watched Charlene...
52 men traveled up the valley on their way back to the HumboldtSink, and back up the Humboldt River to the Rocky Mountains. In 1845, John C. Fremont...
of the Humboldt river at the HumboldtSink. From the end of the Humboldt, they continued east over the Great Basin Desert bordering the Humboldt River...
The Humboldt Current, also called the Peru Current, is a cold, low-salinity ocean current that flows north along the western coast of South America. It...
free-roaming horse in the Great Basin was by John Bidwell near the HumboldtSinks in 1841. Although John Charles Fremont noted thousands of horses in...
surrounding Lovelock, which is at the far downstream reach of the Humboldt, near the HumboldtSink. Since the Lovelock area receives a mere 5.76 inches (146 mm)...
prehistoric human coprolites in a Nevada cave, likely sourced from the HumboldtSink. In Mexico, C. explanatus is eaten roasted and salted to accompany tacos...
Global Information