Badwater Basin
| Badwater Basin | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Location | Death Valley Inyo County, California |
| Coordinates | 36°15′01″N 116°49′33″W / 36.250278°N 116.825833°W |
| Type | Endorheic basin |
| Primary inflows | Amargosa River |
| Primary outflows | Terminal (evaporation) |
| Basin countries | United States of America |
| Max. length | 12 km (7.5 mi) |
| Max. width | 8 km (5.0 mi) |
| Surface elevation | −282 feet (−86 m)[1] |
| Settlements | Badwater, California |
| References | U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Badwater Basin |
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.[2]
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 marking the low point is at the pool instead. The basin was considered the lowest elevation in the Western Hemisphere until the discovery of Laguna del Carbón in Argentina at −344 ft (−105 m).[when?]
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 in (48 mm) of average rainfall is overwhelmed by a 150 in (3,800 mm) annual evaporation rate. This is the greatest evaporation potential in the United States, meaning that a 12 ft (3.7 m) lake could 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.[3]
A popular site for tourists is the sign marking "sea level" on the cliff above Badwater.[4][5]
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.[6] 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).[3]
Gallery
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Desolation at Badwater Salt Flats -
Hexagonal salt crust at Badwater -
The elevation sign at Badwater.
See also
- Outline of California
- Index of California-related articles
- Death Valley pupfish
- List of elevation extremes by country
- List of lakes in California
- List of U.S. states by elevation
References
- ^ "Elevations and Distances in the United States". Reston, Virginia: USGS. April 29, 2005. Retrieved October 24, 2011. Originally published in 1995.
- ^ "Find Distance and Azimuths Between 2 Sets of Coordinates (Badwater 36-15-01-N, 116-49-33-W and Mount Whitney 36-34-43-N, 118-17-31-W)". Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved August 13, 2010.
- ^ a b United States Geological Survey (January 13, 2004). "Badwater". Death Valley Geology Field Trip. US Department of the Interior. Archived from the original on December 24, 2007. Retrieved September 5, 2009.
- ^ "Badwater, Death Valley National Park". The American Southwest. 2010. Retrieved November 15, 2010.
- ^ "Badwater". Tripadvisor. 2010. Retrieved November 15, 2010.
- ^ Philip Stoffer (January 14, 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. Archived from the original on October 23 2009. Retrieved September 12, 2009.
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Further reading
- John McKinney: California's Desert Parks: A Day Hiker's Guide. Wilderness Press 2006, ISBN 0-89997-389-2, S. 54–55
- Don J. Easterbrook (Hrsg): Quaternary Geology of the United States. Geological Society of America 2003, ISBN 94-592-0504-6, S.63–64
External links
