Mythology and hydrology at Paoha Island, Mono Lake Volcanic Field
How did Paoha Island in the Mono Lake Volcanic Field get its name? It didn't just spring up from nowhere...but it is related to hot springs!
Early USGS researchers, including Gerald A. Waring and Israel C. Russell, made particular note of the hot springs that can be found on the southeastern point of the island (Hot Spring Cove, pictured here in a USGS photo by Deb Bergfeld). Waring, in his 1915 "Springs of California", observed that spring temperatures could reach up to 176°F when the lake level was high, and that when it interacted with alkaline lake water it created an oily appearance on the water's surface. Compared to Mono Lake, the springs were relatively pure, and provided a water source for various residents of the island throughout recent history. The springs were associated with dacite to rhyodacite lava flows and pyroclastic rocks that were erupted around 200-300 years ago.
But what about the name? In "The Quaternary history of Mono Valley, California (1889)", Russel writes:
"On the larger island there are hot springs and orifices through which heated vapors escape, which are among the most interesting features of the basin. In the legends of the Pa-vi-o-osi [modern-day Paiute] people, who still inhabit the region in scattered bands, there is a story about diminutive spirits, having long, wavy hair, that are sometimes seen in the vapor wreaths ascending from hot springs. The word Pa-o-ha, by which these spirits are known, is also used at times to designate hot springs in general. We may therefore name the larger island Paoha Island, in remembrance, perhaps, of the children of the mist that held their revels there on moonlit nights in times long past. The island second in size we call Negit Island, the name being the Pa-vi-o-osi word for blue-winged goose."
Because Paoha Island formed through uplift and eruptions around 200-300 years ago, the people who named it likely observed the formation of the hot springs themselves. Though the original word has been Anglicized, the prefix pa- refers to "water" or "spring" in several Paiute languages.
To read more about the Mono Lake Volcanic Field, visit https://www.usgs.gov/volcanoes/mono-lake-volcanic-field
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