Why is Crater Lake so deep?

Crater Lake partially fills the collapsed caldera of the ancient Mount Mazama Volcano. The caldera is a bowl-shape depression of about 1,219 m (4,000 ft) deep. The maximum depth of Crater Lake recorded at the time of the July 2000 multibeam survey was 594 m ( 1,949 ft).



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Does the lake level change? Not much. The lake experiences twice as much precipitation as evaporation, but the caldera doesn't fill up because water seeps out through a porous rock layer along the north shore.

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Evaporation and seepage are equal forces which keep Crater Lake from filling beyond an average depth of 1,943 ft (592 m) or 4.9 trillion gal (18.6 trillion L) of water. About 34 billion gal (128 billion L) are gained and lost each year.

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Tribe members recognize Crater Lake as a site of power and danger and fear the dangerous beings that are believed to live inside the lake. According to legend, the lake was a sort of doorway or crossroads between the darkness of the Below-World, or Hell.

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However, between 1888 and 1941 the lake was stocked with seven different species of fish, only two of those species thrive today. It is currently estimated that the lake supports approximately 60,000 kokanee salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka; landlocked sockeye salmon) and rainbow trout.

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Visit the Lake Cleetwood Cove Trail is the only legal access to the shore of Crater Lake. Depending on snow conditions, the trail is usually open from mid-June to late October. Swimming, wading and fishing are permitted in the lake.

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