TOPOGRAPHIC FEATURES OF THE DESERT BASINS, 13 



because of the recency of outward drainage it is not to be expected that this playa or 

 the basin will contain any considerable amount of salt. The area of the present basin 

 is 445 square miles. 



THE GRANITE SPRING BASIN. 



The Granite Spring Basin is essentially similar to the Kumiva, and is similarly 

 barred from the Black Rock Desert by a low alluvial divide which was overtopped 

 by Lake Lahontan. This divide is higher than that which limits the Kumiva Basin, 

 and probably it is more ancient, but the previous connection with Lahontan destroys 

 any possibility of important salt concentration. The area of the present basin is 890 

 square miles. Its lowest depression is occupied by a playa of usual character, cover- 

 ing about 30 square miles. 



THE JUNGO BASIN. 



The Jungo Basin is a small depression in the strait which once connected the Black 

 Rock and Humboldt-Carson water bodies north of Humboldt Station. At present the 

 basin is separated from the Humboldt Valley by an alluvial divide west of the Eugene 

 Mountains and from the Black Rock Basin by a similar and inconspicuous divide 

 on an approximately east-west line passing through the Dunisher Hills. This second 

 divide is the lower and the Jungo Basin probably retained connection with the Black 

 Rock Basin some time after its connection with the Humboldt-Carson was broken. 

 Indeed, this northern divide, though now about 125 feet above the bottom of the 

 basin, has probably been considerably raised by recent alluviation and perhaps also 

 by dune movement, and it is by no means certain that the divide existed in Lahontan 

 time. At any rate, there was connection with the larger lake body over the divide 

 and any great retention of salt in the Jungo is not to be expected. The present basin 

 area is 340 square miles, and the typical playa which occupies its lowest depression 

 covers about 5 square miles. 



THE HOT SPRINGS BASIN. 



West of the Granite Creek Desert and just north of Granite Peak there ia a small 

 pocket in the mountains into which extends an arm of the Black Rock playa. This 

 arm is now cut off from the main desert by a low and recent divide and contains an 

 "alkali" flat which owes its salinity mainly to the evaporation of the waters of several 

 hot springs rising within and around it. Its saline accumulations are probably very 

 superficial and of no importance. The drainage area ia 270 square miles and the 

 area of the alkali flat about 10 square miles. 



THE HONEY LAKE BASIN. 



The depression which forms the Honey Lake Basin has perhaps closer topographic 

 affiliations with the basins of the lava plateau region than with the Lahontan group, 

 but, chancing to have a low pass opening eastward, it was filled by an arm of the 

 great lake during most of the lake's existence. The direction of water movement 

 between the two bodies is not fully certain, but that matter is beyond the scope 

 of the present report. The present basin has an area of 2,660 square miles, in 

 which is included the tributary basin of Eagle Lake. The waters of this lake 

 do not now reach the central basin, but they did so very recently. The main 

 present tributaries are the Susan River from the west and Long Valley Creek 

 from the south. The bottom of the basin is an extensive playa diversified by some 

 vegetation and a number of old dune areas. In the deepest depression of this playa 

 is the present Honey Lake, a shallow body of slightly brackish water and very varia- 

 ble in size. East of the lake the playa stretches out in a broad area known as Flan- 

 nigan Flat, nearly level and with few visible drainage lines. Many portions of this 

 flat are now alkaline from local drainage concentration, but the salinity has been 



