Badwater Reflections
by George Buxbaum
Title
Badwater Reflections
Artist
George Buxbaum
Medium
Photograph
Description
I was completely focused shooting the dry polygonal designs at Badwater Basin when I turned around to face the setting sun and the thin layer of water remaining in the basin. I was fortunate enough to catch this one image before the sun ducked below the mountain range.
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 12th, 2020
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Comments (1)
Jan Mulherin
Congratulations!! This beautiful image has been selected to be featured for the week in the “Shadow Silhouettes and Reflections Outdoors” Group Home Page. You are welcome to add a preview of this featured image to the group’s discussion post titled “2020 March: Stunning Group Featured Images and Thank-you’s” for a permanent display within the group, to share this achievement with others. You are also welcome to share your featured image on our new Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/247552766180931/ Thank you for your participation in the group! (March 9, 2020)