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 is 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 is 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 
creat 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 
