Badwater Basin AKA Lake Manly

Badwater Basin AKA Lake Many (Courtesy)

Death Valley is beautiful right now with the rare Lake Manly.  Temperatures were perfect.  

Badwater Basin is the lowest point in North America at 282 ft (86 m) below sea level. The salt flats here cover nearly 200 square miles (518 square km), and are composed mostly of sodium chloride (table salt), along with calcite, gypsum, and borax.

Badwater Basin was once the site of the large ancient inland Lake Manly which evaporated tens of thousands of years before the arrival of the 1849er for whom it was named. The lake had no outlet, leading to the accumulation of sediment and salt over time. When the lake eventually evaporated, concentrated salt deposits were left behind. Today, fascinating geometric salt polygons form on the flats as groundwater rises up through these deposits and evaporates.  (Nsp.gov)

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Written by SBRocks

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