This week I decided to head to Death Valley to check out the salt flats. Death Valley happens to be the lowest National Park in elevation and can have extremely high temperatures. That doesn't stop living things residing there, but in the salt flats, you'll find little to none. As suggested by its own name, the salt flats is essentially flat land made up of salt. The salt flats are located within the Badwater Basin and stretch for nearly 200 square miles. The top layer of salty crust is incredibly delicate and will easily give way and expose the muddy salt underneath. Because of this and it's sheer size, the salt flats within the Badwater Basin is one of the largest protected salt flats in the world.
What makes the salt flats so dry is that there is more evaporation then there is precipitation. This is also why so much salt was left behind. Salt water ran into the basin at one point in time and because basins have no outlets, the water evaporated leaving all of its salt behind. The salt that was left is the exact same salt that we have on our dinner tables or in our spice cabinet. I wanted to take some back home with me because I knew I was running a little low, but I decided against it since it is protected and all. Plus, it is quite fascinating to marvel at and who would want to disturb such a beautiful thing.
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