Salton Sea

Accidental endorheic sea formed by engineering catastrophe in a sunken desert rift

Salton Sea & Imperial Valley Basin

33.3286°N, 115.8434°W

ELEV: -69m (-226 ft)

NAD83 / WGS84 (EPSG:4326)

Illustrative terrain study for Salton Sea & Imperial Valley Basin — Illustrative landscape study · not to scale

DERIVED SPATIAL STORY

Born of human error in 1905, blossomed as a 1950s celebrity resort paradise, and now evaporating into a desiccated toxic dust bowl flanked by lithium brine fields.

3DEP RELIEF

1351m

Peak: 4200 ft · Base: -235 ft

IMPERVIOUS GROWTH

+3.2%

Surface: 2.8% Paved

NIGHT RADIANCE

18.4 nW/cm²

Bortle Class 4 / 9

PAD-US OVERLAP

38.4%

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Sonny Bono Salton Sea NWR) / California State Parks