CALIFORNIA

The Colored Earth at Artists Palette

A few miles North of Badwater Basin in Death Valley National Park is the Artists Palette. Artists Palette is on the face of Black Mountains

Moon Over Black Mountain, Death Valley

and is noted for having various colors of exposed earth, well, like that of an artist’s palette.

Colored Earth @ Artist’s Palette

The Artist’s Palette is on Artists Drive which is a 9 mile one way drive that starts at the east side of the Badwater Road.  The road passes through narrow canyons and various colored hills. Being in the desert always feel surreal to me, it always make me feel I am in another planet, yet I know I still am very much in planet Earth.

Looking West from Artists Palette

This is why I so love Earth, for there is just so much to see and do here. And it is my sincerest wish to have more awareness of green living helping mother Earth to preserve and conserve its natural resources. Earth is just so beautiful, a lot of times, Earth makes me cry from the wonders of its natural beauty. I have not wandered around the globe, a lot of times I just wander here in California for financial reasons (cheaper to travel close to home), yet Earth already has shown me its different faces, its different beauty. Growing up in the Philippines closer to tropical rainforest, and moving to the North East coast of US before California, at first, I did not appreciate the desert. It is devoid of the vegetation I was used to and I did not look deeper into its hidden beauty. But in time, in my constant visits to these places, I felt a connection with the desert, as much as my favorite place on Earth, which is the ocean. For me, all these wonders, the mountains, the desert and the oceans are equal in beauty, we just have our own preferences. Growing up near the ocean (and also the mountains) has made me choose the ocean to be my sanctuary, yet, I could not deny the profound beauty found in the desert. The desert is just something magical for me, it is so beautiful yet it is also not for everybody because of its extremes. The desert shows us how we can develop depth in character and beauty after all the fiercests tests in time. And just like here in Death Valley, and among its many wonders is the Artist’s Palette.

The Exposed Colored Earth @ Artists Palette

The natural colors at Artists Palette results from the oxidation of different metals. The iron salts provide the red, pink and yellow coloration. The green is from mica and the purple is from Manganese. It is the example of all the oxidation reaction that occurs in the metals. Much of the Artists Palette is from volcanic debris, about 5000 ft thick.Chemical weathering and hydrothermal alteration are also responsible for the the variety of colors in this area.

Salt Deposits @ Badwater Basin, Death Valley

In my previous posts about Death Valley National Park, I covered The Northern Death Valley, The Mosaic Canyon, and the exciting Mesquite Sand Dunes. However, Death Valley is such a huge park, that I still have not shared its other amazing features. As what I mentioned in my previous posts, Death Valley is a geological wonderland of exposed multicolored rocks and layers of earth. The Badwater, however, does not showcase the exposed Earth, but rather what happens to all the surface water that sinks into the lowest point of North America and the second lowest in Northern Hemisphere.

Salt and Reflections

Because of the rapid moisture evaporation that occurs at the valley, the Badwater Basin brings a great salt pan comprised of the residue from the evaporation of water trapped in this lowest point. The sparkling white flat is due to sodium chloride, the table salt most people associate salt with. However, the salt deposits in Badwater are nearly 9000 ft deep, and not all are table salt, or sodium chloride. However, sodium chloride is the most soluble among the other salts that are dissolved in water, therefore it is evaporated last and formed the upper layer of the salt pan.

Below the sodium chloride layer are sulfate salts and carbonate salts.

A point in Badwater Basin lies 282 feet below sea level, the lowest point in North America and in the Western Hemisphere ( http://www.britannica.com/eb/topic-1086757/Badwater-Basin). Less than 20 miles west of Badwater Basin is the Telescope Peak, at 11,049 ft, the highest point within Death Valley National Park.

An interesting twist of nature, the lowest point in the western hemisphere (Badwater Basin) and the highest peak in contiguous US (Mt. Whitney) are less than 100 miles apart in Inyo County, California. This contrasting geography is brought about by the same stretching forces of the earth’s crust.

Again, Death Valley is an amazing place, it really is something to see at least even once in your life. Contrary to its name, the desert actually host a very fragile ecosystem, it is filled with living wonders, but to make your stay pleasant, only do come from late fall to early spring, since summer’s temperature is only for those who are prepared to brave the heat. And do not under-estimate the temperature of Death Valley in winter, you may think it is the hottest place in America, but it is only true in the summer. The winter temperature can drop to the tens during winter.