Levi Fatzinger Noble was an American geologist. His entire career was spent as a member of the United States Geological Survey (USGS). Noble is largely known for his work in the American southwest, particularly as a pioneer geologist in the Death Valley region.
Levi F. Noble (left) with Henry G. Ferguson (center) and James Gilluly (right), 1950s.
Lake Manly is a pluvial lake in Death Valley, California. It forms occasionally in Badwater Basin after heavy rainfall, but at its maximum extent during the so-called "Blackwelder stand," ending approximately 120,000 years before present, the lake covered much of Death Valley with a surface area of 1,600 square kilometres (620 sq mi). Water levels varied through its history, and the chronology is further complicated by active tectonic processes that have modified the elevations of the various shorelines of Lake Manly; during the Blackwelder stage they reached 47–90 metres (154–295 ft) above sea level. The lake received water mainly from the Amargosa River and at various points from the Mojave River and Owens River. The lake and its substantial catchment favoured the spread of a number of aquatic species, including some lizards, pupfish and springsnails. The lake probably supported a substantial ecosystem, and a number of diatoms developed there.
Lake Manly occasionally reforms after strong precipitation
Lake Manly from Badwater, Death Valley, Dec 2023 a few months after floods from Hurricane Hilary
Shoreline Butte, close with shorelines visible
Salts left behind by Lake Manly, in Badwater Basin