Badwater fans

Badwater is an area of perennial saline springs along the range front of the Black Mountains in Death Valley. Badwater is close to the lowest point in Death Valley (and North America) at -282 feet below sea level ( lower left part of this image). Note the series of small alluvial fans along the range front where small streams drain onto the valley floor. Most of the valley floor is a saltpan of a former great lake bed (prehistoric Lake Manly; see Hunt and Mabey, 1966, Sharp and Glazner, 1997). The saltpan is called the "Devil's Golf Course." Scale (1:48,000).