Badwater Creations
by George Buxbaum
Title
Badwater Creations
Artist
George Buxbaum
Medium
Photograph
Description
An amazing process unfolds at Badwater Basin as the elements flood the salt pan and then extreme evaporation removes the moisture creating a new canvas for Mother Nature with each cycle of rain / evaporation.
As the water in the salt flats evaporate, the salt flats contract and hence occupy less space. The basic form of contraction is that the ground contracts to a point in 6 directions, under ideal circumstances forming hexagons. However Mother Nature is not perfect, and hexagons are rare. The general term for the shapes produced by this drying out-related contraction is "polygon". 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 in of average rainfall is overwhelmed by a 150 in annual evaporation rate. Death Valley National Park has the greatest evaporation rate in the United States.
Uploaded
January 15th, 2020
Embed
Share
Similar Images
Comments (4)
Karen Adams
WOW! This is stunning! Amazing nature captured and revealed with great skill, George! . . .vf
Greg Hayhoe
I drove through it once as a teenager. I remember it was in an old van. It was cooler to have all the windows shut with the heat blasting(to try and keep the engine from overheating), than it was to open the windows. unfortunately have never been back, your pictures take me back though. :-)
Recently Viewed
