2018 Map of Silver Lake

About this map

Monument Hills rise above a landscape of high-desert basins in this Elko County quadrangle, where the ephemeral hydrology of the Great Basin is on full display. The northern section is dominated by the vast Twelvemile Flat, while the central and southern portions of the map are defined by seasonal water bodies including Silver Lake and Shallow Lake. These dry lake beds, or playas, signify a topography shaped by internal drainage, characteristic of the northern reaches of the Owyhee Desert. The map reveals a remote area primarily utilized for grazing and land management, delineated by the Public Land Survey System grids across several townships, with little in the way of permanent human settlement but significant evidence of the region's complex natural drainage patterns.