Lake Tahoe is a large freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada mountains of the United States. It is located along the border between California and Nevada, west of Carson City, Nevada. Lake Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in the United States. Its depth is 514 m making it America's second-deepest. The lake is known for the clarity of its water and the panorama of surrounding mountains on all sides.[citation needed]
The area surrounding the lake is also referred to as Lake Tahoe, or simply Tahoe. It is home to a number of ski resorts, summer outdoor recreation, and tourist attractions.
Geography
Lake Tahoe from the south shore
Lake Tahoe is the second deepest lake in the United States, with a maximum depth of 1,645 feet , trailing only Oregon's Crater Lake at 1,949 ft . Tahoe is also the 16th deepest lake in the world, and the fifth deepest in average depth. It is about 22 mi long and 12 mi wide and has 72 mi of shoreline and a surface area of 191 square miles .
Approximately two-thirds of the shoreline is in California. The south shore is dominated by the lake's largest city, South Lake Tahoe, California, which adjoins the town of Stateline, Nevada, while Tahoe City, California is located on the lake's northwest shore. Although highways run within sight of the lake shore for much of Tahoe's perimeter, many important parts of the shoreline now lie within state parks or are protected by the United States Forest Service.
Natural history
Geology
Lake Tahoe from space
The Lake Tahoe Basin was formed by a geologic block faulting about 2 million years ago. A geologic block fault is a fracture in the earth's crust causing blocks of land to move up or down. Uplifted blocks created the Carson Range on the east and the Sierra Nevada on the west. Down-dropped blocks created the Lake Tahoe Basin in between.
More technically, Lake Tahoe is the youngest of several extensional basins of the Walker Lane Deformation Belt that accommodates nearly 12 mm/yr of dextral shear between the Sierra Nevada Microplate and North America
