Death Valley

In this below-sea-level basin, steady

drought and record summer heat make Death
Valley a land of extremes. Yet, each extreme
has a striking contrast. Towering peaks are
frosted with winter snow. Rare rainstorms bring
vast fields of wildflowers. Lush oases harbor
tiny fish and refuge for wildlife and humans.
Despite its morbid name, a great diversity of life
survives in Death Valley.
Long before it was established as a national park, Death Valley received its name from a group
of 49ers who attempted to cross the desert as a shortcut to gold in California. Dehydration set in
quickly; one person died, and several others were rescued before they followed their friend to his desert
grave. One of the 49ers turned around as they prepared to leave the desert and is quoted as saying,
Goodbye, Death Valley.
Average summer temperatures in Death Valley frequently exceed 100F (37C) and the
average August high temperature for Furnace Creek is 113 .9F (45.5C). By contrast, the average
January low is 39.3F (4.1C).
Death Valley is the lowest point in US. It is surrounded by dry high mountains. The
topography of Death Valley is constructed based on the fault movement. It leads the valley to go down
and makes it as the lowest point in the country. The Bad water Death Valley region is approximately 36
meters deep, or -282 feet below sea level. While this pales in comparison to the Dead Sea in the Middle
East, there are no other natural valleys this deep in the United States.
Once, Death Valley was a large inland set in the era of Pleistocene epoch. It is proved by the
presence of salt pans. In Holocene era, earth is warm so that the water in Death Valley evaporated.
Death Valley occupies the land about 7,800 square kilometers or 3,000 square miles. Death
Valley is bounded by Owls head Mountains to the south, Panamint Range to the west, Amargosa Range
to the east, and Sylvania Mountains to the north.
Mount Whitney spans 76 miles or 123 kilometers away from Death Valley. The mountain is
considered as the highest point in US. The elevation
is measured at 4,421 meters or 14,505 feet.
The climate of Death Valley is arid and
because it is bounded by mountains on all sides, hot,
dry air masses often get trapped in the valley.
Therefore, extremely hot temperatures are not
uncommon in the area. The hottest temperature ever
recorded in Death Valley was 134F (57.1C) at Furnace Creek on July 10, 1913.
Other Death Valley National Park facts include the wildlife. Because it is an arid region, many
people dont expect to run into many animals. But, Death Valley is home to over 35 different species of
animals, including the Pupfish which only lives in this park. You can see kit foxes, bobcats, coyotes,
mountain lions and big horn sheep living here. More than 900 varieties of plants live in the Death
Valley National Park. This is twice as many as the average botanical gardens facility; for the desert,
this is quite extraordinary.
Sailing stones. The sailing
stones are a geological phenomenon
found in the Racetrack. Slabs of
dolomite and syenite ranging from a
few hundred grams to hundreds of
kilograms inscribe visible tracks as
they slide across the playa surface,
without human or animal intervention.
The tracks have been observed and
studied since the early 1900s, yet no
one has seen the stones in motion.
Racetrack stones only move once
every two or three years and most
tracks last for three or four years.
Stones with rough bottoms leave
straight striated tracks while those with smooth bottoms wander. An alternate hypothesis builds upon
the first. As rain water accumulates, strong winds blow thin sheets of water quickly over the relatively
flat surface of the playa. Sheets of ice form on the surface as night temperatures fall below freezing.
Wind then drives these floating ice floes, their aggregate inertia and large area providing the necessary
force required to move both small and large stones. Rock trails would again remain parallel to the
southwest winds. According to investigator Brian Dunning, "Solid ice, moving with the surface of the
lake and with the inertia of a whole surrounding ice sheet, would have no trouble pushing a rock along
the slick muddy floor."
A more recent theory is that ice collars form around rocks and the rocks along with ice are buoyantly
floated off the soft bed. The minimal friction allows the rocks to be moved by arbitrarily light winds.
[8]

A most recent theory focused on observations and measurements of narrowing trails, heat conductivity
of the playa's rocks, water, ice and sediments, missing rocks from ends of the trails, and an intermittent
spring system in the playa. Kletetschka with his team identified three groups of Racetrack playa spring
lineaments, Spinal Springs, Edge Springs, and Gindarja Springs, through which additional water flows
into the playa once the ice forms on the water inside the playa. This mechanism, in addition to the raft
hypothesis, allows lifting the rocks by adding additional amount of water via these springs.