We're heading back in 3-4 weeks.

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Death Valley National Park.

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Lake Manly has gotten really small lately. Can you imagine someone wading around in Badwater Basin when the water was 8-12" deep, and stepping into this hole? It's about 6-8 feet wide and 6-7 feet deep.

Those round disks forming on the water's surface? When they get heavy enough to break the surface tension of the water, they sink. I've now seen them elsewhere on the salt playa, after the water recedes. They= texture that remains reminded me of fallen leaves in the fall.

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The rock salt playa in Badwater Basin can be 1000 feet deep in places, but that doesn't stop it from having a water table a short distance below the dry surface. And that water can seep up between expansion cracks in the playa surface and crystallize, growing salt ridges that increase over time.

I've seen the round "leaf" shapes form on the water's surface, then when they get large and heavy enough, they break the surface tension and fall, fluttering back and forth slowly as they sink in the dense, salty water.

Death Valley National Park.

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Death Valley National Park.

Tags:   Death Valley National Park Death Valley National Park sand dunes sunset Stovepipe Wells California USA landscape nature travel photography workshop Nikon Z8 Nikkor 28-400mm lens road trip Jeff Sullivan photo copyright December 2024 Nik Collection Silver Efex 3 black white

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