El Mirage Dry Lake

abraxas · Oct 21, 2006

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

lostprophet · Oct 21, 2006

2 and 5 are winners

LaFoto · Oct 21, 2006

For me it's 3 and 5 ... what is the bright stripe in 2? And 5 is my absolute winner of this series here.
So does this lake ever have water at all?

abraxas · Oct 21, 2006

LaFoto said:
For me it's 3 and 5 ... what is the bright stripe in 2? And 5 is my absolute winner of this series here.
So does this lake ever have water at all?

The bright stripe in #2 is a bit of a dust storm settling down on the playa surface. It is called hardpan made up of very fine particles. The further toward the center of the lake, the less vegetation there is that grows and the finer the particles. Water binds these particles nearly as hard as concrete. So water does occasionally fill the lake. Since the surface is so flat and near level the larger, course materials (rock, then pebbles..) stop in the washes (dry creeks), sand near the edges (banks) and the little-tiny particles stay suspended in the now slow flowing water as it spreads out. There is no outlet to the lake, so when the water evaporates, the fine particles turn to mud and harden. At the deepest point the lake nearly ever exceeds a depth of about 4". At most dry lakes, sand dunes (low ones here, although I suspect inactive paleo-dunes exist as bajadas) form at the edges...

... I could go on. I love to over-explain. Most don't care to hear it, the grand-daughters are totally engaged (or very good actors).

Summary: Thanks, Dust, Yes.

Tantalus · Oct 22, 2006

I like 5's pattern and texture though I wish it has 3's horizon.

JTHphoto · Oct 25, 2006

awesome series, abrax, some of your best stuff yet. #5 is my favorite, i love the last (or is it first?) of the daylight you captured creating those long shadows. i like the horizon - perfectly flat - really gives the sense of a vast desert.

off topic, these remind me of the movie "Holes"...

abraxas · Oct 27, 2006

Cool. Thanks!

'Holes' was filmed up at Cuddeback. I've been through there a few times but never stayed long. I couldn't bare the movie, I know too much about the lake formation where it was filmed to run with the story.