Tulare Lake
Tulare Lake (Spanish: "Laguna de Tache", Yokuts: "Pah-áh-su") is a freshwater dry lake with residual wetlands and marshes in the southern San Joaquin Valley, California, United States. After Lake Cahuilla disappeared in the 17th century, Tulare Lake was the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi River and the second-largest freshwater lake entirely in the United States (as parts of the Great Lakes belong to Canada), based upon surface area. A remnant of Pleistocene-era Lake Corcoran, Tulare Lake dried up after its tributary rivers were diverted for agricultural irrigation and municipal water uses.

The lake was named for the tule rush "(Schoenoplectus acutus)" that lined the marshes and sloughs of its shores. The lake was part of a partially endorheic basin, at the south end of the San Joaquin Valley, where it received water from the Kern, Tule, and Kaweah Rivers, as well as from southern distributaries of the Kings. It was separated from the rest of the San Joaquin Valley by tectonic subsidence and alluvial fans extending out from Los Gatos Creek in the Coast Ranges and the Kings River in the Sierra Nevada. Above a threshold elevation of 207 to 210 feet, it overflowed into the San Joaquin River. This happened in 19 of 29 years from 1850 to 1878. No overflows occurred after 1878 due to increasing diversions of tributary waters for agricultural irrigation and municipal water uses, and by 1899, the lake was dry except for residual wetlands and occasional floods.

Tulare Lake was the largest of several similar lakes in its lower basin. Most of the Kern River's flow first went into Kern Lake and Buena Vista Lake via the Kern River and Kern River Slough southwest and south of the site of Bakersfield. If they overflowed, it was through the Kern River channel northwest through tule marshland and Goose Lake, into Tulare Lake.
Q34249
Yokuts
Concept
Q14253637
dry lake
Concept
Q170321
wetland
Concept
Q30198
marsh
Concept
Q964198
San Joaquin Valley
LOC
Q99
California
LOC
Q30
United States
LOC
Q4217586
Lake Cahuilla
LOC
Q7347
Great Lakes
MEDIA
Q28232370
Lake Corcoran
LOC
Q15628951
Schoenoplectus acutus
Concept
Q194502
endorheic basin
Concept
Q964198
San Joaquin Valley
LOC
Q1126662
Kern
LOC
Q7851994
Tule
LOC
Q6379958
Kaweah River
LOC
Q591942
distributaries
Concept
Q1264687
Kings
LOC
Q7692853
tectonic subsidence
UNK
Q465088
alluvial fans
Concept
Q636706
Coast Ranges
LOC
Q26777
Sierra Nevada
LOC
Q751347
San Joaquin River
LOC
Q6394131
Kern Lake
LOC
Q4985456
Buena Vista Lake
LOC
Q6394154
Kern River Slough
LOC
Q49256
Bakersfield
LOC
None
Goose Lake
UNK
Q2459429
Tulare Lake
LOC
Q2459429
Tulare Lake
LOC
Q2459429
Tulare Lake
LOC
Q2459429
Tulare Lake
LOC
Q2459429
Tulare Lake
LOC
2029-01-19T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
19 of 29
DATE
1850-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1850
DATE
1878-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1878
DATE
1878-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1878
DATE
1899-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1899
DATE
+17^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
17
NUMBER
located in the administrative territorial entity
country
inflows
located in the administrative territorial entity
country
country
mouth of the watercourse