Inyo Volcanic Hazard Zone

My last adventure to the east side of the Sierra Nevada included a visit to Mammoth Lakes. There is a cluster of lakes above town, and at the end of the road is this “dead zone”. Due to a shift underground, carbon dioxide has saturated the soils here, killing off all plant life, since 1989. It’s kind of amazing that these snags have stood for so long. Maybe the rotting agents have also died off? This area also gets deep snow and has high winds during the winter, way up there at 9000 feet.

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There is this big sign along the road.

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Here is the interpretive sign at the parking lot, which is directly adjacent to this dead area. I do know that Mammoth Mountain had a very tragic accident with a volcanic vent on their ski mountain. The Mammoth area is still quite hot, with a resurgent dome forming in the old caldera.

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