182 THE SALTON SEA. 



waters of the lake in Salton Sink is therefore seen to be chiefly influenced by soil-water or 

 other edaphic conditions during the first year or two after emersion, after which the forma- 

 tions become increasingly open in the progression toward the extreme desert type. The 

 evaporating capacity of the air may be taken as being an agency of increasing importance 

 with the age of the formation. 



Submergence and consequent extermination of the flora of portions of the Salton 

 Sink have occurred many times in the last few centuries, and the reoccupation of the bared 

 strands has taken place with the complex interplay of biological and mechanical agencies 

 partly suggested and partly described in the preceding pages. 



