Bounty

One of this first things people notice about the Salton Sea, when they're walking toward the shoreline, is that the beach isn't made from sand. It's made from bones.

 

Along the shore there are always great silver shoals of dead fish, beached and bloating in the desert sun.

 

I have heard people say the fish die en masse because the water is polluted and poisonous but that is not true. This water is not especially toxic, and although area farmlands drain to this sea, it's not any more toxic than farmlands anywhere.

 

The farmland runoff is rich in nitrogen, causing periodic algae blooms that rob the water of oxygen and suffocate the fish. The fish are already stressed because the salinity of the sea is high--25% higher than the seawater the tilapia evolved to swim in.

 

The Salton Sea is only about 50 feet deep and at 220 feet below sea level in one of the world's hottest deserts, the water gets very hot in the summer. That, combined with the algae blooms and the salinity, creates massive periodic fish die offs. They sometimes wash ashore in the millions.

 

So the beach is literally made of bones.

Done