Death Valley-Mandy Andraska

Three stops that I found interest in the Death Valley tour were the Titus Canyon, Dante's View, and the Death Valley Dunes. Visiting these stops left me with some additional questions.

1. Titus Canyon
    Titus Canyon has a great deal of geologic interest, it is very diverse. It has mountains, a ghost town, wildlife, plants, and narrow canyons. When researching this canyon, I found this to be an incredible place, but it also seemed to be a scary place to traverse. I found that is is necessary to take a car when traveling in the canyon but it is a dangerous place to visit. What are the conditions like in the summer? Is travel advised at all? Flash flooding seems like it would be a very serious concern. How many rangers are in the canyon and what is the process of assisting a guest in the event of an adverse trip?

Titus Canyon-www.nps.gov

2. Dante's View

 Dante's View is widely known as one of the most beautiful parts of Death Valley. When looking out visitors can see the salt flats below...it is breathtaking. I wonder how the traverse is to make it to Dante's point. I also wonder how different the weather is at this peak compared to the canyons.

Dante's View-www.hikespeak.com

3. Death Valley Dunes 

 When learning about Death Valley there were so many spots that make me anxious thinking about how to prepare myself for a visit. I found it is really important to pick the right time of year, have enough maps and appropriate gear, and to overall be prepared for a visit. Because of this, the Dunes caught my attention. What fun does this look like? I like that these dunes are one of the most easily accessible attraction in Death Valley. The dunes are primarily grains of quartz and feldspar. When thinking about an upcoming visit I am drawn to learn more about the fun of these dunes--can visitors sand surf? What kind of wildlife can I expect to see? Are they rattlesnakes or other potentially dangerous creatures? 

Death Valley Dunes-www.earthtrekkers.com

Week 7- Morgan Florence

Stop 1: Furnace Creek

If developments were created to successfully allot for a water supply, how much would the ecosystem and biological characteristics of the residential plant and animal live change?

Hydrology of the area is estimated at an annual rate of less than 5 inches of water a year. By creating a canal at the base or lowest elevation point- spring water could be discharged, although aquifer has been applied before. 

Stop 2: Mosaic Canyon

Periodic flash floods have occurred since the Paleozoic era, has the alluvial fan changed? Water and sediment pressure that is carried weakens the canyon curves by causing faults and hairline sculptures in the walls of the canyon.

Stop 3: Death Valley Dunes

Broken down sand-sized grains migrate by the wind, which can be from multiple directions and speeds. Sand mountains create transverse winds, thus changing the pattern of sand and creating a more complex trace- due to this interaction. Although sediment changes the form of these dunes throughout the valley, how does the dune itself stay anchored and remains resilient to the core?

https://geomaps.wr.usgs.gov/parks/deva/ftfur2.html

Week 8- 5000 Years into the Future

Despite warnings and evidence from various ice drilling expeditions, the world economy was too slow in its effort to reduce the carbon footprint, causing CO2 levels to skyrocket even higher than they were in 2019. The created a suffocating greenhouse effect, causing severe melting on both poles. The seas have risen several meters, throwing coastal economies into a tailspin. Many homes have gone into foreclosure because part of the land is underwater and there has been severe foundation damage, causing a major recession. It is spreading toward the center of each continent, quickly causing a worldwide economic panic. Several cold climate species have gone extinct, labeling this to be the most impacting extinction event ever.

However, there is hope. New science is churning to turn to hydrogen engines and solar batteries, with economists mad at working trying to figure out a way for mass production and distribution to eliminate all fossil fuels to prevent further damages. Due to coastal flooding, many communities have been forced together, eliminating many's need for fueled transportation, helping to reduce carbon footprints. At this point, anyone within a five mile radius of a town has been full restricted from driving any gas-powered vehicles to curb carbon emissions, and each household has a monthly electricity and gas limit, allocated according to residents.

Abdullah Alburaidi - week 7 Death Valley

I visited the Death Valley virtually to gather the information that can be used to construct a geological map. The three areas that interested me were The Racetrack, The Charlie Brown Outcrop and The Badwater.

The Racetrack stop is very attractive it is made up of rocks moving in weird directions. It is said to be a lake-bed that dried up (U.S National Park Service, 01). I would like to know what makes the rock move and the period of time it takes for the rocks to move because they are not in a constant motion. Gathering information on the classification of the moving rocks and the forces that are responsible for rock movement will help me answer the questions.

(Mysterious moving rocks, 2016)

 The Charlie Brown Outcrop is an interesting stop as it is a distinct road-cut that shows a volcanic band that is black in color (Tarman and Jessey 15). I would like to know how the band came to be and why it is black in color. Information that can help me answer my question is getting background details on volcanoes that take place of rock outcrops.

The Badwater comprises of the valley`s oldest rocks. The rocks are what remain of the volcanic mountain that was in existence many years ago (Tarman and Jessey 12). There are also salty remnants on the area that draws a lot of questions. My question is “How the salt crystals did come to be?” To answer my question, I will gather background information on the features surrounding the salt bed and learn about various ways that salt crystals are formed.

A geological map will give me the location of important surrounding features that will help me answer all the questions at the three chosen stops.

Reference

Mysterious moving rocks: U.S National Park Service. "The Racetrack." NPS.gov Homepage (U.S. National Park Service), 25 Sept. 2016, www.nps.gov/deva/planyourvisit/the-racetrack.htm.

Tarman, D., and D. Jessey. "Cal Poly Geology Club Death Valley Field Trip – 2004." Geological Sciences, www.cpp.edu/~sci/geological- sciences/docs/careers/DVT2004.pdf. Accessed 27 Apr. 2019.

U.S National Park Service. "The Racetrack." NPS.gov Homepage (U.S. National Park Service), 25 Sept. 2016, www.nps.gov/deva/planyourvisit/the-racetrack.htm.

Week 7- Death Valley Tour

The layers at Badwater are really cool. My first observation is that the layers are really thin and it brings to thought the question of whether this is because of the melting described on the website, or if it is because the magma traveled a relatively far distance, allowing it to thin out. Either way, it's neat!

https://geomaps.wr.usgs.gov/parks/deva/ftbad1.html

Zabriskie Canyon is my next stop. It says these rock "dunes" were formed by water sculpting due to the intense rainfall the area experiences and the lack of soil and vegetation to help absorb it. Silt and clay were deposited here and buried by other sediment, then compressed into mudstone. My question is where did these sediments come from? Are there underlying layers we can use for observation to better understand exactly how these came to be here?

https://geomaps.wr.usgs.gov/parks/deva/ftzab1.html

Thirdly, the Devil's Golf Course. Firstly, how cool is that title?! This area is covered in a thick layer of salt due to mineral-rich water evaporating and leaving the deposits behind. I am really interested in this area and what its history looks like. What are the underlying layers? How long did it take for the current salt layer to form (we'd have to know the evaporation rate of salt water)?

https://geomaps.wr.usgs.gov/parks/deva/ftdev1.html

Death Valley- Delia Madril

Death Valley 

My virtual field trip to Death Valley consisted of visiting three different locations. Devils Golf Course, Zabriskie Point, and the Death Valley Dunes. My first stop was to Devils Golf Course.

Devils Golf Course is made up of lumps salts that were left behind from the last significant lake in Death Valley. It is estimated around 2000 years ago. Minerals dissolved in the lake and then concentrated as the water evaporated thus creating salty pools. Devils Golf Course is made up of mostly salt pinnacles. Looking at how much salt there is in this location made me wonder if the salt pinnacles have changed over time or if they were formed that way and have stayed that way? I also wondered how long the lake existed in that area before is dried up? Having answers to those questions can help me determine why the salt pinnacles are made up the way that they are.

My second stop was at Zabriskie Point. Zabriskie Point are developed on a mudstone foundation. Fine-grained sediments such as silt and clay were deposited into a lake, and then buried by more sediment. Finally compressed and weakly cemented to form the soft rock. Zabriskie Point is made up of mostly mudstone that are shaped like a plate. The questions I had as I visited this location was how big of a role did water play in making Zabriskie Point? Did the slight rain in the valley have anything to do with how this was created? How much rain actually existed during the time of the formation? These questions would help me understand how all of the gullys and rills were formed and why they look different through out the area.

The third and final stop of my visit to Death Valley was to the Death Valley Dunes. The wind in the area is what put the sand into motion. A small breeze can blow the sand. The sand begins to pile up, and ripple. This is how the dunes are formed. A constant repeating cycle of sand blowing is what ensures the dunes still exist. The bedrock in the area is broken down and then natural events such as flash floods, or storm waters push it towards the valley floor. Questions that came to mind while visiting this location were how long does it take for the ripple to form, and how much force does it take to form the ripple? This would help with the understanding of why there are ripples in some areas and not others.

Week 7 - Igor's Field Trip in the Death Valley

Death Valley’s Cinder cone sliced by fault (M. Collier)

My first stop along my virtual field trip in Death Valley is the Split Cinder cone. I am curious to understand which method one could use to infer the spread of basaltic rock in a region of our cinder cone to build its geologic map. Indeed, given the explosiveness of the eruptions involved and the low fluidity of the mafic and intermediate lavas, how far would the resulting rock formations be observable? What do the many faulting processes in the Death Valley imply for how far this formation could be found from its crater of origin? Perhaps more much more extensive observations of rock outcrops and comparisons of their chemical signatures would be helpful.

Dry lakebed in Racetrack Playa, Death Valley (Atlas Obscura)

My next stop is the Racetrack Playa. On the outset, I want to understand the origins of the sediments int he lakebed. I would love to understand the composition of the fine-grained sediment that makes up the Racetrack Playa lake bed. I would compare this composition with that of the rocks forming the high mountains surrounding the lakebed. The result would allow me to confirm that the sediment is the result of the mountains’ weathering process.

 Multicolored rock of the Artist Drive Formation (Atlas Obscura)

My last stop is the Artist Drive Formation, a fascinating area on the face of the Black Mountains. It is said that it was formed following one of the Death Valley's most violently explosive volcanic periods. Which makes me curious to understand how, from the chemical composition of a rock formation, one can deduce that it was a result of ancient volcanic activity.