Salton Sea topographic map
Interactive map
Click on the map to display elevation.
About this map
Name: Salton Sea topographic map, elevation, terrain.
Average elevation: 8 m
Minimum elevation: -73 m
Maximum elevation: 895 m
The Gulf of California would extend as far north as the city of Indio, were it not for the delta created by the Colorado River. Over three million years, through all of the Pleistocene, the river's delta expanded until it cut off the northern part of the gulf. Since then, the Colorado River has alternated between emptying into the basin, creating a freshwater lake, and emptying into the gulf, leaving the lake to dry and turn to desert. Wave-cut shorelines at various elevations record a repeated cycle of filling and drying over hundreds of thousands of years. The most recent freshwater lake was Lake Cahuilla, also known as the Blake Sea after American professor and geologist William Phipps Blake. It covered over 2,000 square miles (5,200 km2), six times the area of the Salton Sea.