"Coyote Springs"
Mike and Barbara Bilbo wrote:
In several locations there are mound springs (Meinzer and Hare 1915), features several or more feet in height, with a spring, usually in a central position. Vegetation grows around the spring pool margins and sparsely on the sides of mounds. Coyote Spring is a spring mound located on the playa near the southern edge and the Garrett Ranch. In the 1950's a well was dug at the ranch and soon after the flow in Coyote Spring was seen by area residents to have dropped noticeably. There is no record it its flow prior to that time. The water temperature has been recorded at 60°F and the flow rate about 1 gallon per minute (or less now, as the last known measurement was over 25 years ago) (Sinclair 1963, table 3). The spring mound is about 15 feet high and 50 feet wide. The mound was built as a result of wind blown sediment being captured by vegetation which had become established around the initial spring pool which most likely resembled a small water pool several feet in diameter. Over centuries sediment has accumulated around vegetation at Coyote Spring and more vegetation has grown resulting in the spring mound seen today. As the mound height increased, the spring became higher accompanied by upward development of tufa lining the spring channel or throat. Coyote Spring may eventually cease to exist. The slow flow rate could be suppressed when sediment fills in the pool basin as a result of human-induced impact at the spring pool rim. Several mound or dune areas are composed of particles, usually angular, of quartz, feldspar and mafic minerals derived from weathered igneous rocks and deposited by water and wind action.
"Coyote Spring (dry)" is shown on topo maps as 1 of 3 small mounds on the playa, about 1 mile north of Frog (Garrett_Ranch) Springs.
In 2009, Friends of the Black Rock/High Rock fenced the dunes to prevent vehicle traffic.
References
- Mike Bilbo and Barbara Bilbo."The Black Rock Desert Landscape. Friends of the Black Rock/High Rock website. January, 2008
- W.C. Sinclair. "Ground water appraisal of the Black Rock Desert area of northwestern Nevada." Ground Water Resources Reconnaissance Series Report 20. 1963 (Cover includes a photo of Leonard Creek Ranch)
Links
- Maps