Lake Tahoe

Lake Tahoe is a large freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada, straddling the border between California and Nevada. Its surface covers 191 sq mi (490 km2), it measures roughly 22 mi (35 km) long and 12 mi (19 km) wide, and it sits at an elevation of 6,225 ft (1,897 m) above sea level. With a maximum depth of 1,645 ft (501 m), Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in North America and — after Oregon's Crater Lake — the second-deepest lake in the United States. By volume, it ranks second only to the Great Lakes among U.S. water bodies. The basin formed by tectonic faulting roughly two million years ago, when normal faulting created uplifted ranges flanking a subsiding depression; the lake itself is held in place by Miocene volcanic deposits that dammed the southern end. Surrounding glaciers later sculpted features such as Emerald Bay and Fallen Leaf Lake, though the lake basin itself was never glaciated. The Truckee River is Tahoe's sole outlet, draining northeast through Reno toward Pyramid Lake in Nevada. Lake Tahoe is internationally known for the clarity of its water, a defining characteristic monitored continuously by the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center and the basis for ongoing watershed-protection efforts on both the California and Nevada shores.