Week 7- Death Valley- Kaleen Harrigan

Week 7- Death Valley- Kaleen Harrigan

Uberebe Crater USGSl Peter Sanchez, NPS

In this picture above is the first place I decided to visit, because of my fascination with volcanos. This was a place where the rocks actually weakened so much, that lava was able to flow easily. Though it hasn't happened in two thousand years we can see the flow the magma took with the ridges that were left in sight. In all my research I have not seen a hydro-volcanic eruption, until this one, but the valley shape it has made is quite interesting. The magma and water mixture was the cause of this. What I want to know is, what caused this event to take place in this specific spot? For this information we would have to look closely at the rocks that form this valley. Also we would need to look at the map of the tectonic plates and where this location falls on it. Lastly, we would need to know what caused the steam build up to be so high here. 

Racetrack Playa Marli Miller USGS

The next place I visited is shown above, Racetrack Playa. I picked here because I have never seen a place like this before, with the sliding rocks. Though people have never seen these rocks move, the proof is the land. There are trails left in this area showing the rock movement. This has been an area of heavy geological study, trying to prove why the rocks move. There has been many explanations as to why, the most recently accepted was because of wind and ice. So if researchers think they found the explanation and we know the rocks move, how has no one every seen it? Is there someway we can track this movement, to show us? Also with the movement, how is ice causing this movement of such heavy rocks?

NPS USGS

The last place I visited is in the picture above of the Death Valley Dunes. These dunes are surrounded by mountains on all sides. The rocks in the mountains continue to break down, from weathering. As the due they produced sand like rock fragments, that the wind blows to the mountain floor. This is how the sand dunes were produced. My question is what materials of rock and sand make up the dunes? For this we would need a sample of the rock and identify what's the consistence. Also a map of all the mountains in the surrounding area, with their rock make up would explain some of the materials in the dunes.