Tuffa, Storm

This high Californian lake once covered this salt tuffa completely. In the 1950's, the lake's source was diverted to feed the massive Los Angeles aquaduct. Years later, the salty water had receded so much that a large offshore island was accessible by land, allowing hungry coyotes access to an important shorebird nesting site.

This photograph looks up at this dry, ragged column towards the waning storm, weakly imagining it still submerged. A volume of water is noticeably absent from the lake, but we can see it, transparent like a spirit, mixing uneasily in the broken evening sky.