For my first destination, in my virtual trip to the Death Valleys, I stopped at the Devil’s Golf Course. In one of the photos that displays a feature of this landmark is of the jagged salt pinnacles; which are formed due to when Bad Water plains flood every so often then evaporate, causing the salt water, from under the mud, to rise up and crystalize. An interesting fact that I read is that these upward actions could take as much as up to 35 years to grow an inch! But with the limited information, I would at least like to know if the Devil’s golf course is the only place in the world where this naturally occurs. And what are the environment conditions that build up to these phenomena? I suppose a way to figure this out is by observing the environment and the conditions of the area over a span of years, knowing what the ground beneath is like to be able to conclude how one factor affects the other. And then observing other places in the world with similar conditions and drawing conclusions on where or maybe how a field like the Devil’s Golf Course can happen elsewhere or nowhere else at all.
(Devil’s Golf Course Photo, from the NPS archives)
For my second destination, I’ve decided to stop at Race Track Playa. This is so unique because of their sliding rocks. One of this surface’s most unique features is also one of its most mysterious. The rocks or maybe even boulders, that come from surrounding mountains are located miles from the edge. And from the trail that they leave behind, it almost seems as though they ‘slide’ across the playa by itself as if it were alive. At the time, when this site was first made mid 2000’s, there was not a legit reason as to why these rocks moved; although some speculated that the rocks were pushed by the winds when the mud was slippery enough for it to just slide across but it was not able to explain why the boulders, several a few hundred pounds, were also able to do so. But in recent discoveries, roughly around the year 2013, it was proven that it is due to wind and ICE that help move the rocks several hundred feet! But I would like to know is, because the playa is described as a “short- lived lake”, how can ice freeze over in a desert and be able to provide a smooth, strong-enough surface for a heavy boulder to be able to slide across? If I looked at observations of what scientists recorded of days recording rock movements, type of condition water/weather/environment of the days the rocks moved, how fast water is absorbed into the ground/evaporated, then I think I will be able to answer my curiosities.
(Race Track Photo, from Marli Miller)
For my third and last destination is the Ubehebe Crater. This crater was created by a hydro-volcanic eruption over 2 millennia ago. Where magma is making its way up the weakened earth crust but then meets large amounts water. Then, as a result, due to the sudden force of steam that is created, the reaction violently bursts through the rest of the crust and to the surface, leaving a very big dent/change to the mountain side. What I would like to know from this interesting little fact is how much pressure and energy must this explosive reaction must have to be able to burst from deep beneath the ground? To be able to answer this myself, I would probably for information on how much energy must be produced underground and how deep in the ground where magma meets water to calculate how strong the psi of the steam created must be to burst through the ground.
(Ubehebe Crater Photo, from W.R. Jones)
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