Lake Elsinore
Encyclopedia
Lake Elsinore, originally named Laguna Grande by the Spanish explorers, renamed for the town Lake Elsinore, California
established on its northeastern shore April 9, 1888.
and is situated at the lowest point within the San Jacinto River watershed of 750 square miles (1,942.5 km²) at the terminus of the San Jacinto River
.
Lake levels are healthy at 1244 feet (379 m) (above sea level) with a volume of 30000 acre.ft that often fluctuate, although much has been done recently to prevent the lake from drying up, flooding, or becoming stagnant.
At 1255 feet (383 m), the lake will spill into the outflow channel on its northeastern shore, known properly as Temescal Wash, flowing northwest through Temescal Canyon
feeding Aberhill Creek which joins Temescal Creek, which in turn dumps into the Santa Ana River
just northwest of Corona
.
Lake Elsinore is the largest sag pond
in the Elsinore Fault Zone
.
.
Elsinore's northwestern shore rises to the foothills of the mountains and the saddle between them and the line of hills that closely enclose the lake along its northeastern shore until they decline and end short near the shore of the Aberhill Creek outlet from the lake that passes through downtown Lake Elsinore.
watershed by a slight ridge running across the valley south of the lake between the Sedco Hills and the mountains to the west.
Lake Elsinore, California
For the lake see Lake Elsinore.Lake Elsinore or LE is a city in western Riverside County, California. The population was 51,821 at the 2010 census...
established on its northeastern shore April 9, 1888.
Limnology
Lake Elsinore is the largest natural freshwater lake in Southern CaliforniaSouthern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
and is situated at the lowest point within the San Jacinto River watershed of 750 square miles (1,942.5 km²) at the terminus of the San Jacinto River
San Jacinto River (California)
The San Jacinto River is a river in Riverside County, California. The river's headwaters are in San Bernardino National Forest, but the lower portion of the watershed is urban and agricultural land....
.
Lake levels are healthy at 1244 feet (379 m) (above sea level) with a volume of 30000 acre.ft that often fluctuate, although much has been done recently to prevent the lake from drying up, flooding, or becoming stagnant.
At 1255 feet (383 m), the lake will spill into the outflow channel on its northeastern shore, known properly as Temescal Wash, flowing northwest through Temescal Canyon
Temescal Canyon
Temescal Canyon may refer to:* The valley carrying Temescal Creek in Riverside County, California*Temescal Canyon, Los Angeles County, California...
feeding Aberhill Creek which joins Temescal Creek, which in turn dumps into the Santa Ana River
Santa Ana River
The Santa Ana River is the largest river of Southern California in the United States. Its drainage basin spans four counties. It rises in the San Bernardino Mountains and flows past the cities of San Bernardino and Riverside, before cutting through the northern tip of the Santa Ana Mountains and...
just northwest of Corona
Corona, California
Corona is a city in Riverside County, California, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 152,374, up from 124,966 at the 2000 census...
.
Lake Elsinore is the largest sag pond
Sag pond
A sag pond is a body of water, which forms as water collects in the lowest parts of the depression that forms between two strands of an active strike-slip fault. The relative motion of the two fault strands results in a stretching of the land between them, causing the land between them to...
in the Elsinore Fault Zone
Elsinore Fault Zone
The Elsinore Fault Zone is a large right-lateral strike-slip geological fault structure in Southern California. The fault is part of the trilateral split of the San Andreas fault system and is one of the largest, though quietest faults in Southern California....
.
Course
It sits in a basin bordered to the southwest and west by the Elsinore Mountains, which are a part of the larger Santa Ana Mountain RangeSanta Ana Mountains
The Santa Ana Mountains are a short peninsular mountain range along the coast of Southern California in the United States. They extend for approximately 36 mi southeast of the Los Angeles Basin largely along the border between Orange and Riverside counties.- Geography :The range starts in the...
.
Elsinore's northwestern shore rises to the foothills of the mountains and the saddle between them and the line of hills that closely enclose the lake along its northeastern shore until they decline and end short near the shore of the Aberhill Creek outlet from the lake that passes through downtown Lake Elsinore.
Discharge
The lake south of the outlet lies in an open area at the mouth of the San Jacinto River, distantly bounded to the east by the Tuscany and Sedco Hills. Much of it has been cut off from the lake and river by a flood control levee, and that only permits the isolated section to fill after an extremely large rainfall event. This Lake Elsinore basin is the northwestern extremity of the Temecula Valley cut off from its Santa Margarita RiverSanta Margarita River
The Santa Margarita River is a short intermittent river on the Pacific coast of southern California in the United States, approximately long. One of the last free-flowing rivers in southern California, it drains an arid region of the Coast Ranges between Los Angeles and San Diego at the southern...
watershed by a slight ridge running across the valley south of the lake between the Sedco Hills and the mountains to the west.