Badwater Basin Death Valley National Park, California, USA

Death Valley National Park USA - Salt pan polygons at sunset, Badwater Basin Death Valley National Park, California, USA


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by Neale And Judith Clark

Title

Badwater Basin Death Valley National Park, California, USA

Artist

Neale And Judith Clark

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

Death Valley National Park USA - Salt pan polygons at sunset, Badwater Basin Death Valley National Park, California, USA


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Badwater Basin is a drainage basin in Death Valley National Park, Death Valley, Inyo County, California, noted as the lowest point in North America and the United States, with a depth of 282 ft (86 m) below sea level.
The site itself consists of a small spring-fed pool of "bad water" next to the road in a sink; the accumulated salts of the surrounding basin make it undrinkable, thus giving it the name. The pool does have animal and plant life, including pickleweed, aquatic insects, and the Badwater snail
Adjacent to the pool, where water is not always present at the surface, repeated freeze–thaw and evaporation cycles gradually push the thin salt crust into hexagonal honeycomb shapes.
The pool is not the lowest point of the basin: the lowest point is several miles to the west and varies in position, depending on rainfall and evaporation patterns. The salt flats are hazardous to traverse (in many cases being only a thin white crust over mud), and so the sign marking the low point is at the pool instead.
Several salt trails and shallow seasonal streams lead towards other pools out across the valley. During occasional rainy periods, a large shallow lake forms, several miles across and only a few inches deep, but most of the water soon evaporates or sinks below ground. Badwater never dries out completely, and even manages to support a unique species of fish - the Death Valley pupfish, a small bluish creature which has evolved to survive in the hot saline conditions.
Apart from the extreme temperatures that prevail most of the year at Badwater, one unusual feeling when walking around is the heaviness of the air, augmented by the localized humidity from evaporation of the salty water - all movement seems more laboured and difficult than usual. The shade temperature is often above 120°F

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March 30th, 2023