Death Valley National Park - December 2017

Foy, I am not going to get much work done today! :)

Chaos best describes the landforms here as we'll see in the upcoming Part Three.

I will reread the quoted narrative several times and hope that some of it starts sinking into my pea brain. It is very informative and a couple of sections were "ah ha" moments for me such as -
​
"In response to the shifting tectonic plates, strike-slip faults developed in Death Valley. Between two strike slip faults, tension gashes opened up, forming the modern basins of Death Valley. The rocks that would become the Panamint Range were stacked on top of the rocks that would become the Black Mountains."​
​
Two of your comments helped - "water-laid tuff"

and - Subaerial deposition over an alluvial fan or braided stream deposit in a valley floor

This could help explain this series we came upon around one corner -


DVNP-Dec-2017-219-copy.jpg



DVNP-Dec-2017-220-copy.jpg


chaos, but oh so much fun!

I'll see if I can locate detailed geologic maps based on the 7.5's.

Thanks again!
 
I am fortunate to be married to a retired veterinarian (DVM & MPVM, U.C. Davis) and a horticulturist (B.S., Cal Poly SLO) who humors me when I ask her (usually on other peoples behalf) "what's the name of this or that plant?". If I'm asking for myself, I'm wondering how good that plant might taste after some time on the grill.

And, in her spare time she is employed at a wholesale plant nursery growing plants appropriate to California's Mediterranean climate, including many California native plants, as well as vines, trees, shrubs, ferns, perennials, succulents, ornamental grasses and grass-like plants from other areas around the world .

If she doesn't know she will consult with one of the nursery owner's. She then relays to me the best guess answer (sort of like a guess from Spock, i.e., 99.99999% accurate) and then I can report back.

While the overall photos that are most often shown are good for seeing the plant in its natural surroundings, it would be really good if the photographer got down close with their MACRO LENS and provided some detail about the plant in question. This will really, really, really help in the identification process.

Given that the two most recent photos of plants from the Death Valley area do not have those close up details here are the best guesses from my stable of plant experts.

For the one from Ski3pin...

gallery_2702_1188_13676.jpg


"Would guess the picture of the twiggy brownish plant to be of a Buckwheat, possibly Eriogonum rixfordii. Close up details would really help."

And, for Lighthawk's photo from his recent epic DV trip report...

gallery_2702_1188_2341.jpg



And, the more succulent plant a Pickleweed, Salicornia pacifica, or Iodine Bush, Allenrolfea occidentalis, Pickleweed is not common in Death Valley but Iodine Bush is, so, it is likely this.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I'm just the messenger on this, so, don't shoot me.
However, get those close up photos to obtain better and more accurate results for the next round of plant taxonomy.
 
Alley-Kat said:
"Would guess the picture of the twiggy brownish plant to be of a Buckwheat, possibly Eriogonum rixfordii. Close up details would really help."
Click to expand...
Pagoda buckwheat, Rixford's buckwheat - Eriogonum rixfordii

That's it! Thanks Alley-Kat!

from Calfora - Eriogonum rixfordii
 
Yessir, the close-up looks like what I'd expect an alluvial fan or braided stream deposit to look like (and in many ways, they're slightly different forms of the same kind of deposit, no? The fan is deposited abutting the bedrock face close to and right up against the fault surface and it's deposited on a sloping plane dipping down to the valley floor, while the braided stream is overloaded with coarse sediments such that its stream flow lies atop of the jumble of sediments, but on a flatter incline downstream). Other fan/braided stream attributes are lack of rounding of the clasts, poor sorting (meaning clasts of all sizes and shapes--but mostly angular to subangular-- are scattered willy-nilly throughout the rock), relative absence of prominent bedding horizons......that sediment was just sitting there minding its own business when an ash flow covered it up........

MAN, do I ever need to visit DVNP!

Foy
 
And, for Lighthawk's photo from his recent epic DV trip report...

gallery_2702_1188_2341.jpg



And, the more succulent plant a Pickleweed, Salicornia pacifica, or Iodine Bush, Allenrolfea occidentalis, Pickleweed is not common in Death Valley but Iodine Bush is, so, it is likely this.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -



Iodine Bush it is!

Thank your wife A-K!
 
[SIZE=small]"Ted, did we ever share that with you?"[/SIZE]

[SIZE=small]So I'm sitting in camp with my wife and friends that I believed, up to this point, to be rational and intelligent people. And they are all excited and gushing about the UFO's they are seeing. I try logic and they completely blow it off. I don't know what to think. Turns out they are all just playing with me. :cautious: Might need to find a new crowd to hang out with. :p [/SIZE]

[SIZE=small]"No way," Ted said and shook his head. "It'll never happen. Let's go find ancient purple mud!"[/SIZE]

Yup, I'm a buzz kill. Can't help myself - Anal-101 was a required course.
 
Ski thank you for all your great report on this last trip.
What a treat for us who don't make it there as regular as you.
Your geology info is very much appreciated.
Great moon shot.
Thank you for taking the time to share your trip with us.
Frank
 
I'm thinking we need to have meet up in DV with our resident geologists to guide us. Akin to the Carizzo Plains trip. As with that trip just don't have a quiz afterwards :)

I love having the engineers along to explain stuff. Makes it that much more interesting when they go "uh, I have no idea what that is".
 
If there is a geologist/anthropologist trip in the future I would love to join if possible. Throw in an astronomer for good measure too.

I always get a kick out of people when I tell them I'm headed to Death Valley and they cringe and say "why?". Truly a magical place and your reports are fantastic.
 
Ski, very nice. This report is very special due to the contributing geological knowledge of our elite members of WTW. Thanks for a great read. jd
 
Enjoyed the geology class and Foy's contributions also. Nice photos- I especially like the panoramas and the moon shots. Death Valley has a lot of hidden charm that you folks are good at finding. Thanks for your report! :)
 
And a word of caution for those following along on google earth. Make sure you put in death valley. Johnson canyon, ca took me directly to the johnson canyon landfill :(
 
craig333 said:
And a word of caution for those following along on google earth. Make sure you put in death valley. Johnson canyon, ca took me directly to the johnson canyon landfill :(
Click to expand...
Find a level spot to camp? :p

Paul

ps. Took me a couple of tries to guesstimate their general camping area.
 
craig333 said:
And a word of caution for those following along on google earth. Make sure you put in death valley. Johnson canyon, ca took me directly to the johnson canyon landfill :(
Click to expand...
Craig I thought that landfill sounded familiar. It's close to my home where the old "Fat City" feed lot used to be.
Frank
 
Everyone, thank you for the nice comments. Both of us appreciate it!

A big thank you to Alley-Kat and Foy (and many others!) who add their expertise to fill in our knowledge of these wondrous places we love to visit! :)

Oh, and a couple of others who help with my very rusty spanish.
 
Did someone mention needing an anthropologist? Sure enjoyed all those pictures Ski and all that great dialog! Great TR gang. Boy we sure are a bunch of smart fellows and gals :giggle: !!!

Smoke
 
Smokecreek1 said:
Did someone mention needing an anthropologist? Sure enjoyed all those pictures Ski and all that great dialog! Great TR gang. Boy we sure are a bunch of smart fellows and gals :giggle: !!!

Smoke
Click to expand...
Mr. Smoke, thank you for the kind comments. Someday we'll have to start in depth poking around that special northwest chunk of Nevada you know about. :)
 
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