NO surprise…this was Kaatje’s favourite place in the park. Artist’s Drive rises up to the top of an alluvial fan fed by a deep canyon cut into the Black Mountains. Artist’s Palette is on the face of the Black Mountains and is noted for having various colors of rock. These colors are caused by the oxidation of different metals (red, pink...
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What existed before Death Valley? Therocks of Golden Canyon provide evidence of an older basin. The tilted layers surrounding us were nearly horizontal when they were initially deposited. Movement along the major faults of Death Valley has created a large fold. In the process, these basin sediments have been uplifted and tilted, and erosion now carries sediment out...
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Ubehebe Crater is a large volcanic crater 600 feet deep and half a mile across. How did these crater originate? Ubehebe is known as maar volcano. A maar is a broad, low-relief volcanic crater that is caused by a phreatomagmatic eruption, which is an explosion caused by groundwater coming into contact with hot lava or magma. The intense heat flashes the water into...
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