Alkali Lake (Oregon)

Alkali Lake is believed to have reached a prehistoric maximum depth of 270.7 feet (82.5 meters) and covered about 1,448.4 square miles (3,751 square kilometers). Since then, its water level has fluctuated, with a general trend towards drying. Notable features include dissolved alkaline salts averaging 10% of total brine weight in its seasonal waters and a nearby chemical disaster, Alkali Lake Chemical Waste Dump.

Plants

Plants known to occur in the dunes immediately north of the lake include:

• Buckwheat Family
  • Broom Buckwheat
• Goosefoot Family
  • Spiny Hopsage
• Mustard Family
  • Stanleya or Guillenia sp.
• Evening-primrose family
  • Desert Evening-primrose
• Parsley Family
  • Rhysopterus plurijugus
• Phlox Family
  • Dainty gilia
• Borage Family
  • Matted Cryptantha
• Sunflower Family
  • Desert Pincushion
  • Gray Rabbitbrush
  • Showy Townsend Daisy