Badwater Basin: Difference between revisions
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Revision as of 23:09, 12 August 2009
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Badwater is a basin in California's Death Valley, noted as the lowest point in North America, with an elevation of 282 feet (86.0 m) below sea level.
The site itself consists of a small spring-fed pool of water next to the road; however, the accumulated salts of the surrounding basin make it undrinkable, thus the name "Badwater". The pool does have animal and plant life, including pickleweed, aquatic insects, and the Badwater snail.
Adjacent to the pool, where water is not always present at the surface, repeated freeze-thaw and evaporation cycles gradually pushes the thin salt crust into hexagonal honeycomb shapes.
The pool itself is not actually the lowest point of the basin: the lowest point is several miles to the west and varies in position. However, the salt flats are hazardous to traverse (in many cases being only a thin white crust over mud),[citation needed] and so the sign is at the pool.
Geography
At Badwater, significant rainstorms flood the valley bottom periodically, covering the salt pan with a thin sheet of standing water. Each newly-formed lake does not last long though, because the 1.9 inch average rainfall is overwhelmed by a 150-inch annual evaporation rate. This, the United States' greatest evaporation potential, means that even a 12-foot-deep, 30-mile-long lake would dry up in a single year. While flooded, some of the salt is dissolved, then is redeposited as clean, sparkling crystals when the water evaporates.[3]
History
During the Holocene, when the regional climate was less dry, streams running from nearby mountains gradually filled Death Valley to a depth of almost 30 feet (10m). Some of the minerals left behind by earlier Death Valley lakes dissolved in the shallow water, creating a briny solution.
The wet times did not last as the climate warmed and rainfall declined. The lake began to dry up and minerals dissolved in the lake became increasingly concentrated as water evaporated. Eventually, only a briny soup remained, forming salty pools on the lowest parts of Death Valley's floor. Salts (95% table salt - NaCl) began to crystallize, coating the surface with a thick crust about three to five feet thick (1-1.7m).[3]
See also
References
- ^ "Elevations and Distances in the United States". U.S Geological Survey. 29 April 2005. Retrieved November 9 2006.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=and|date=(help); Unknown parameter|dateformat=ignored (help) - ^ Badwater, 7.5-minute 1:24,000 topographic map, U.S. Geological Survey, 1994.
- ^ a b "Badwater". Death Valley geology field trip. USA.gov. 2004-01-13. Retrieved 21 April 2008.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help); Unknown parameter|dateformat=ignored (help)
- John McKinney: California's Desert Parks: A Day Hiker's Guide. Wilderness Press 2006, ISBN 0899973892, S. 54-55 (restricted nline version (Google Books))
- Don J. Easterbrook (Hrsg): Quaternary Geology of the United States. Geological Society of America 2003, ISBN 9459205046, S.63-64 (restricted online version (Google Books))