Yucca Mountain Oversight
For the period of 1903-1994, the USGS estimated that approximately 30 percent of Walker Lake's total salt "load" (i.e., its total quantity of salts) has come from the redissolution of salts embedded in lakebed sediment layers. These salts have accumulated over time in the lake's bed due to prior desiccations of Walker Lake, as well as from salt deposition from wind-blown salts falling onto the lakebed during such dry periods. It was also estimated that groundwater inflows within the lake have accounted for approximately 20 percent of the lake's present salt load, while the remaining 50 percent of Walker Lake's total salt loading has come from the Walker River itself.
