Detrition - Zabriskie Point
by George Buxbaum
Title
Detrition - Zabriskie Point
Artist
George Buxbaum
Medium
Photograph
Description
Detrition - Zabriskie Point, Death Valley National Park, California - An intimate composition of the vastness of Zabriskie Point. Detrition is defined as the wearing down of rock particles by friction due to water or wind or ice. When it does rain in Death Valley, it sometimes arrives in the form of downpours, eroding the landscape and carving out the rills and gullies that you see in this image.
Millions of years prior to the actual sinking and widening of Death Valley and the existence of Lake Manly, another lake covered a large portion of Death Valley including the area around Zabriskie Point. This ancient lake began forming approximately nine million years ago. During several million years of the lake's existence, sediments were collecting at the bottom in the form of saline muds, gravels from nearby mountains, and ashfalls from the then-active Black Mountain volcanic field. These sediments combined to form what is now known as the Furnace Creek Formation. Detrition, weathering and alteration by thermal waters are also responsible for the variety of colors represented there.
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November 29th, 2016
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