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Badwater
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Badwater | |
|---|---|
 Badwater Basin elevation sign |
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| Elevation | −282 feet (−86.0 metres)[1] |
| Location | Death Valley, California, USA |
| Coordinates | |
| Type | Graben, Basin and Range |
Badwater is a basin in California's Death Valley, noted as the lowest point in North America, with an elevation of 282 feet (86 m) below sea level.
The site itself consists of a small spring-fed pool of water next to the road; however, the accumulated salts of the surrounding basin make it undrinkable, thus the name "Badwater". The pool does have animal and plant life, including pickleweed, aquatic insects, and the Badwater Snail.
Adjacent to the pool, where water is not always present at the surface, repeated freeze-thaw and evaporation cycles gradually pushed the thin salt crust into curiously hexagonal honeycomb shape.
The pool is not actually the lowest point of the basin, which is several miles to the west and varies in position. However, the salt flats are hazardous to traverse (in many cases being only a thin white crust over mud), and so the sign is at the pool.
Badwater is the starting point of the Badwater Ultramarathon, which ends high on Mount Whitney, 85 miles (137 kilometers) to the west.
- ^ Elevations and Distances in the United States. U.S Geological Survey (29 April 2005). Retrieved on November 9, 2006.
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| Fauna, Flora and Minerals | Borax • Chuckwalla • Death Valley monkeyflower • Death Valley pupfish • Devil's Hole pupfish • Salt Creek Pupfish |
| History | Death Valley Railroad • Greenwater • Lake Manly • Skidoo • Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad • Twenty mule team |
| Places | Amargosa Range / River / Valley • Ash Meadows NWR • Badwater • Ballarat • Beatty • Chloride City • Death Valley Junction • Eureka Dunes • Furnace Creek • Panamint City / Range / Springs / Valley • Racetrack • Rhyolite • Scotty's Castle • Stovepipe Wells • Telescope Peak • Trona • Ubehebe Crater • Zabriskie Point |
| Transportation | CA SR127 • CA SR178 • CA SR190 • NV SR373 •NV SR374 • Trona Railway • US 95 |