Badwater Basin Information
Badwater Basin is an endorheic basin in Death Valley National Park, Death Valley, Inyo County, California, noted as the lowest point in North America, with an elevation of 282 ft (86 m) below sea level. Mount Whitney, the highest point in the contiguous 48 states, is only 84.6 miles (136 km) to the WNW.[1]
The site itself consists of a small spring-fed pool of "bad water" next to the road in a sink; the accumulated salts of the surrounding basin make it undrinkable, thus giving it the name. 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 push the thin salt crust into hexagonal honeycomb shapes.
The pool itself is not actually the lowest point of the basin: the lowest point (which is only slightly lower) 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), and so the sign is at the pool. The area is often mistakenly described as the lowest elevation in the Western Hemisphere, however, the record goes to Laguna del Carbón in Argentina at −105 m (−344 ft).
Geography
Badwater Basin following the rains of 2005 Sea Level sign above tourist area can be seen about two-thirds up the cliff faceAt 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 in (48 mm) of average rainfall is overwhelmed by a 150 in (3,800 mm) 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 the basin is flooded, some of the salt is dissolved; it is redeposited as clean crystals when the water evaporates.[2]
A popular site for tourists is the sign marking "sea level" on the cliff above Badwater.[3][4]
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 3 ft (1 m), and together with Cotton Bail Marsh and Middle Basin, made up the 80 mi (130 km) long, Lake Manly.[5] 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 from 3 to 60 in (8 to 152 cm).[2]
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Badwater Basin elevation sign |
Repeated freeze-thaw cycle pushes salt crust into approximately hexagonal honeycomb shape |
Salt pinnacles in Devil's Golf Course |
Tourist area flooded by ephemeral Lake Badwater, Death Valley National Park, California. Spring of 2005. |
See also
References
- ^ "Find Distance and Azimuths Between 2 Sets of Coordinates". Federal Communications Commission. http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/bickel/distance.html. Retrieved 2010-08-13.
- ^ a b United States Geological Survey (2004-01-13). "Badwater". Death Valley Geology Field Trip. US Department of the Interior. Archived from the original on 2007-12-24. http://web.archive.org/web/20071224063142/http://geology.wr.usgs.gov/parks/deva/ftbad2.html. Retrieved 2009-09-05.
- ^ "Badwater, Death Valley National Park". The American Southwest. 2010. http://www.americansouthwest.net/california/death_valley/badwater.html. Retrieved 15 November 2010.
- ^ "Badwater". Tripadvisor. 2010. http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g143021-d116979-Reviews-Badwater-Death_Valley_National_Park_California.html. Retrieved 15 November 2010.
- ^ Philip Stoffer (14 January 2004). "Changing Climates and Ancient Lakes". Desert Landforms and Surface Processes in the Mojave National Preserve and Vicinity. Open-File Report 2004-1007 (USGS, US Department of the Interior). http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2004/1007/climates.html. Retrieved 2009-09-12.
Further reading
- John McKinney: California's Desert Parks: A Day Hiker's Guide. Wilderness Press 2006, ISBN 0899973892, S. 54-55
- Don J. Easterbrook (Hrsg): Quaternary Geology of the United States. Geological Society of America 2003, ISBN 9459205046, S.63-64
External links
| Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Badwater |
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Categories: Death Valley | Death Valley National Park | Dry areas below sea level | Endorheic basins of the United States | Lakes of the Mojave Desert | Lowest points | Salt flats of the United States | Landforms of Inyo County, California | Landforms of San Bernardino County, California | Landforms of California
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