Mountain Lake, Virginia

Virginia has solely 2 natural lakes. Each alternative"lake" in Virginia besides Mountain Lake and Lake Drummond could be a human-created reservoir. The formation of Lake Drummond continues to be mysterious, however, geologists have finally deciphered the plumbing and origin of Mountain Lake. Whereas less mysterious currently, it's still an incredible story.

Mountain Lake is befittingly named, settled at nearly 4,000 feet in elevation and over 1/2 mile long (when full). 10,000 years ago, the stream we all know nowadays as Pond Drain was at the beginning of the Eastern Continental divide, flowing uninterrupted towards the New River and therefore the Gulf of Mexico. On the opposite aspect of Salt Pond Mountain, Johns Creek flowed northeast towards the James River and the Atlantic Ocean.

The rock layers close to Mountain Lake on Salt Pond Mountain embrace a skinny crust of Rose Hill arenaceous rock at the highest, 50-100' of Tuscarora (Clinch) arenaceous rock below it, then a layer of Juniata sandstone/mudstone concerning200' thick, with over 1500' of Reedsville-Trenton (Martinsburg) sedimentary rock at an all-time low. Salt Pond Mountain itself doesn't rock, however thermokarst topography at lower elevations in older rock bedrock.

The bottom of Mountain Lake is Juniata sandstone/mudstone. A contact between a purple sedimentary rock layer and a white/orange arenaceous rock layer is found below the sting of the perennial vegetation close to the lake. The sedimentary rock crumbles simply once squeezed by hand, whereas the arenaceous rock is considerably tougher to crack. At intervals, the Juniata, four "piping holes" drain water underground at the northern finish. These were exposed once the lake drained fully in 2008. A fifth "leak" was discovered in 2014, concerning 45 feet on top of the all-time low of the lake.