Lake Tahoe and Emerald Bay Photo

View of Lake Tahoe from high in the mountains looking over Emerald Bay. Lake Tahoe is the second deepest lake in the United States and the tenth deepest in the world. The Lake Tahoe Basin was formed by geologic block (normal) faulting about 2 to 3 million years ago. Snow, rain, and streams filled the southern and lowest part of the basin, forming the ancestral Lake Tahoe. Modern Lake Tahoe was shaped and landscaped by the scouring glaciers during the Ice Age. Many streams flow into Lake Tahoe, but the lake is drained only by the Truckee River, which flows northeast through Reno and into Pyramid Lake in Nevada.