Sunday, December 6, 2020

week 7 - Badwater Salts

 

Among the largest protected salt flats in the world, the salt flats in the Badwater Basin cover almost 200 square miles. For most plants and animals, salt flats are too hard to survive, but they are very delicate. It is easy to crush fragile crystals and the comparatively thin upper salt crust will crack through the mud layer underneath, leaving tracks of tires and even footprints. For this cause, cars on existing roads in the Death Valley are forbidden. Badwater's salts come from the 9,000-square-mile Death Valley irrigation area. Rain falling on remote ranges causes rivers that flow down. On the way, the minerals are disbanded and joined by the flood. At the lowest altitude, here, floods are resting and temporary lakes are forming. The minerals are concentrated as the water is evaporated before the salts are left. After centuries, enough salts were washed in to render salt layer by layer.




Says:, P., & Says:, M. (2018, May 02). Death Valley: Badwater, Salt Polygons, Devil's Golf Course. Retrieved December 04, 2020, from https://mishmoments.com/2018/05/02/death-valley-badwater-salt-polygons-devils-golf-course/



No comments:

Post a Comment