Thursday, March 26, 2015

The Bottom of the Continent

Death Valley National Park, CA
Canon PowerShot SX40 HS, 1/1250s, f/5, ISO: 160
Death Valley wasn't always a dry desert.  The valley floor was once a large, deep lake.  At its largest, it was roughly eighty miles long, six miles wide and six hundred feet deep at its deepest point.  It's known as Lake Manly, and it made a brief return in 2004 after a severe storm.  It only averaged a couple of feet in depth, but it covered most of the valley floor and people were actually able to kayak from one side of the valley to the other.  Wouldn't that have been something to experience?

Today there's a large aquifer beneath Death Valley.  That's why there are always pools of water at Badwater Basin and other places in the valley.  I believe the water in this picture springs from the aquifer as well.

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