Badwater
| Badwater | ||
|---|---|---|
 Badwater Basin |
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| height | 86 m below sea level | |
| location | Death Valley , California , USA | |
| Mountains | Death Valley | |
| Coordinates | 36 ° 14 '24 " N , 116 ° 49' 54" W | |
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| rock | Graben , Basin and Range | |
| particularities | Lowest point in North America | |
Badwater is a valley in Death Valley in California and the lowest point in North America with a height of 85.5 meters below sea level . Badwater is a holdover from ancient Lake Manly .
In the depression there is a spring-fed pool next to the road; the surrounding salt makes the water inedible - hence the name Badwater (English: "bad water"). Animals and plants live in the pool , such as B. Samphire , water insects and the Badwater snail. In the area around the basin, which is not permanently covered by water, the crust of the bottom forms hexagonal structures.
The basin is currently not the deepest point of the depression: it is several kilometers to the west and is changing its position. The salt flats of crossing is dangerous, often the salt crust is above the mud thinly and unsustainable.
geography
Heavy downpours periodically flood the valley floor and cover the salt flat with a thin layer of standing water. Every new lake does not last long because of an annual rainfall of 48 mm with an annual evaporation rate of 3810 mm. It is the highest rate of evaporation in the United States, meaning that a 3½ meter deep lake would evaporate in a year. Because of the flooding, the salt is partially dissolved and then settles in crystalline form when the water evaporates.
history
During the Holocene , when the regional climate was less arid, streams flowed from the nearby mountains and gradually filled Death Valley to a depth of ten meters. Some minerals were left behind by some of the previous lakes in Death Valley, which dissolved in the shallow water to form a salty solution.
The humid periods last occurred when the climate warmed and the rain came to an end. The lake began to dry up and the minerals dissolved in the lake began to concentrate more and more as the water evaporated. What was left was a salty soup that forms the salt basins and lower parts of the floor of Death Valley. The salt (95 percent common salt (NaCl)) began to crystallize and covered the surface with a crust 1 to 1.7 meters thick.
Others
Badwater is the start of the Badwater Ultramarathon , which ends at the Whitney Portal, the beginning of the trail for the ascent of Mount Whitney (the highest point in the continental United States ), 137 kilometers further west and 2,634 meters higher.
literature
- John McKinney: California's Desert Parks: A Day Hiker's Guide . Wilderness Press 2006, ISBN 0899973892 , pp. 54–55 ( restricted online version (Google Books) )
- Don J. Easterbrook (Ed.): Quaternary Geology of the United States . Geological Society of America 2003, ISBN 9459205046 , pp. 63–64 ( restricted online version (Google Books) )
