Badwater salt pan
Photo credit: USGS
The Badwater
stop shows large salt flats in its image gallery. I have to wonder about the source of all this
salt. Perhaps a geologic map could tell
me the types of rocks that lead to this basin.
The nearly pure sodium chloride supersedes all other minerals so could
volcanic activity have created such high heat that mostly only recrystallization
of sodium chloride remained?
Furnace Creek alluvial fan
Photo credit: USGS
The alluvial
fans seen from photos at the Furnace Creek stop show multiple layers of
deposited sediment. Drilling a core
sample in this area would answer my question of whether there is still water
flowing in this area forming these alluvial fans or whether these fans are left
over from long ago stream flow. Alluvial
fans often have water trapped in depths of soil that cannot seep past an
impermeable layer. Water levels are
replenished from subsequent rainfall. Core
samples showing moisture would indicate that these alluvial fans are still a
channel for stream flow and water has not eroded a new path to some other area
of the desert.
Saratoga Springs marsh pond
Photo Credit: USGS
A photo from
the Saratoga Springs stop on the tour shows one of three marshlands within the desert
park. It is said that these ponds are
fed by multiple springs. It would be
interesting to know the continual source of these springs that feed these ponds
such as is represented at Saratoga Springs.
Would water analysis of the feeder springs yield mineral content that
matches a certain type of rock such as igneous, sedimentary, or metamorphic
rocks specific to a certain layer in the bedrock and thus tell me whether these
springs are more surface related in origin or come from a deeper aquifer? A geologic map may tell me whether there were
faults or volcanoes giving clues to rock types to be expected.
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