Week Three - Deserts

Credit: www.mojavedesert.com

My family and I lived in the Mojave Desert for a few years and really enjoyed our time there. The Mojave Desert, located primarily in southern California and southern Nevada, is considered the driest and smallest desert in the United States, with a size of around 43,000 sq. miles. 

Credit: Britanica 

Credit: Britanica

The Mojave Desert formed in the southern parts of California and Nevada as a result of a rain - shadow. This beautiful mountain-basin area always provided wonderful scenery when my family and I would be out and about. One of the most notable geological sites to visit was the Borax Mines, located in Boron, California. My youngest childs' school had yearly field trips the mines. 

Credit: www.borax.com

Sand and gravel flowing into the central salt flats formed borax and other elements. The sand and gravel and other elements found throughout the Mojave Desert consist of igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks.

Credit: americansouthwest.net

One landform that we never got to visit, and always wanted to, was Rainbow Basin. Rainbow Basin is a notch in a mountain wall. True to its name, layers of sandstone and sediments formed by wind and water over time, formed a colorful geologial landform.