Badwater

Infobox Mountain
Name=Badwater
Photo=Badwater_elevation_sign.jpg
Caption=Badwater Basin elevation sign
Elevation=−282 feet (−85.5 metres)cite web| date =29 April 2005 | url =http://erg.usgs.gov/isb/pubs/booklets/elvadist/elvadist.html#Highest| title =Elevations and Distances in the United States| publisher =U.S Geological Survey| accessmonthday = November 9 | accessyear = 2006]
Location=Death Valley, California, USA
Type=Graben, Basin and Range
Coordinates=coord|36|13.961|N|116|46.700|W

Badwater is a basin in California's Death Valley, noted as the lowest point in North America, with an elevation of convert|282|ft|m|1 below sea level.

The site itself consists of a small spring-fed pool of water next to the road; however, the accumulated salts of the surrounding basin make it undrinkable, thus the name "Badwater". 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 pushed the thin salt crust into curiously hexagonal honeycomb shape.

The pool itself is not actually the lowest point of the basin, which is several miles to the west and varies in position. However, the salt flats are hazardous to traverse (in many cases being only a thin white crust over mud),Fact|22 Apr|date=April 2008 and so the sign is at the pool.

Geography

At Badwater, significant rainstorms flood the valley bottom periodically, covering the salt pan with a thin sheet of standing water. Each newly-formed lake does not last long though, because the 1.9 inch average rainfall is overwhelmed by a 150-inch annual evaporation rate. This, the United States' greatest evaporation potential, means that even a 12-foot-deep, 30-mile-long lake would dry up in a single year. While flooded, some of the salt is dissolved, then is redeposited as clean, sparkling crystals when the water evaporates.cite web
url=http://geology.wr.usgs.gov/parks/deva/ftbad2.html
title=Badwater
accessdate=
accessdaymonth= 21 April
accessmonthday=
accessyear= 2008
author= United States Geological Survey
last=
first=
authorlink=
coauthors=
date= 2004-01-13
work= Death Valley geology field trip
publisher= USA.gov
pages=
language=
doi=
archiveurl=
archivedate=
quote= ]

History

Not long ago, during the Holocene (about 2000-4000 years ago), the climate was quite a bit wetter than today. So wet that streams running from nearby mountains gradually filled Death Valley to a depth of almost 30 feet. Some of the minerals left behind by earlier Death Valley lakes dissolved in the shallow water, creating a briny solution.

The wet times did not last as the climate warmed and rainfall declined. The lake began to dry up and minerals dissolved in the lake became increasingly concentrated as water evaporated. Eventually, only a briny soup remained, forming salty pools on the lowest parts of Death Valley's floor. Salts (95% table salt - NaCl) began to crystallize, coating the surface with a thick crust about three to five feet thick.

Other

Badwater is the starting point of the Badwater Ultramarathon, which ends at Whitney Portal, the trailhead for Mount Whitney (the highest point in the Continental United States), convert|85|mi|km|0 to the west.

The multiplayer PC game Team Fortress 2 includes an official level named after Badwater Basin.

References

External links