Lake Elsman

Lake Elsman is a 6,200-acre-foot (7,600,000 m³)^[2] reservoir, created by an earthen dam called Austrian Dam^[5] on Los Gatos Creek in the Santa Cruz Mountains of California.^[1] At several points it is over 140' deep^[6] and its normal surface area is 96 acres.^[1] It provides 12% of San Jose Water Works’ total water capacity in some years.^[6] The lake and dam is owned by the San Jose Water Company,^[6]

Lake Elsman
Lake Elsman Show map of California Lake Elsman Show map of the United States
Location	Santa Clara County, California[2]
Coordinates	37°7′48″N 121°55′51″W
Type	Earth[2]
Primary outflows	Los Gatos Creek[2]
Catchment area	9.8 square miles (25 km2)[2]
Basin countries	United States
Managing agency	San Jose Water Agency[2]
Built	1950; 74 years ago (1950)[2]
Surface area	96 acres (39 ha)[2]
Surface elevation	1,119 feet (341 m)[3][4]

In 1988 and 1989, two earthquakes at M=5.3 and 5.4 respectively occurred at Lake Elsman that transferred stress that led to the 1989 M=6.9 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.^[7]

Austrian Dam

Construction of the Austrian Dam was completed in 1950.^[1] Beneath the reservoir are the remains of the settlements of Austrian Gulch and Germantown.^[8] The dam is more than 900 feet (270 m) long and 180 feet (55 m) high.^[6] The dam was damaged in the Loma Prieta quake.^[9] The performance of Austrian Dam during that earthquake reinforces concerns about damage to the tops of earth dams by earthquakes.^[9]

See also

• List of dams and reservoirs in California
• List of lakes in California

References

1. "Lake Elsman". Find Lakes. Retrieved 23 February 2012.
2. "Dams Within the Jurisdiction of the State of California (A-G)" (PDF). California Department of Water Resources. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 9, 2012. Retrieved September 28, 2012.
3. "Lake Elsman". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
4. "Lake Elsman - Santa Clara County, CA". Trails.com. Retrieved 2012-02-24.
5. "Austrian Dam". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
6. Wiley, Neil. "Lake Elsman". Mountain Network News. Retrieved 23 February 2012.
7. Perfettini, Hugo; Stein, Ross S.; Simpson, Robert; Cocco, Massimo (September 10, 1999). "Stress transfer by the 1988-1989 M=5.3 and 5.4 Lake Elsman foreshocks to the Loma Prieta fault' Unclamping at the site of peak mainshock slip" (PDF). Journal of Geophysical Research. 104 (B9): 20, 169–20, 182. Bibcode:1999JGR...10420169P. doi:10.1029/1999jb900092. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 April 2017. Retrieved 23 February 2012.
8. John V. Young (2002). Ghost Towns of the Santa Cruz Mountains. Great West Books. ISBN 9780944220122. Retrieved 2013-05-14.
9. Riverside County Integrated Project (PDF). Riverside County Integrated Project. 2000. pp. Appendix H, 3–41.