Nature
4
Crystallized salts form the jagged, forbidding landscape of Devils Golf Course. Deposited by ancient salt lakes and shaped by wind and rain, the crystals are constantly changing. On warm days, expanding and contracting salt pinnacles may produce a metallic cracking sound. The Death Valley saltpan is one of the largest protected saltpans in North America, and salt continues to accumulate through recurring floods that sometimes submerge the lowest parts of the valley floor. Among the harsh, rigid spires are delicate salt formations that can crumble at a touch. Beneath Devils Golf Course, interbedded salt and water-bearing gravels are more than 1,000 feet thick, and great horizontal forces from crystallizing salt push the columns upward before wind and rain carve them into fantastic shapes.
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