PaintingThis photograph captures “Artist’s Palette” in Death Valley National Park
PaintingThis photograph captures “Artist’s Palette” in Death Valley National Park in just about the right light to illuminate the features. Artists Palette sits on the edge of the Black Mountains, one of the ranges that surround Death Valley and create its unique microclimate. It can be accessed easily from the main park roads.During the Miocene about 20 million years ago, the western part of the North American continent was being pulled apart, creating rift zones and opening space where the mantle could rise up. When the mantle rose up, it melted, giving rise to volcanic rocks that intruded the continent and erupted in many places, including what would become Death Valley. Those volcanic rocks came up in a combination of formats – some intruding the surrounding rocks and staying below ground while others erupted at the surface as ashes or lava flows and were inter-layered with the sediments already landing in the area.These rocks brought elements like iron and manganese with them as well as heat and fluids. As they cooled off and were exposed to the elements, they began to weather, creating the colors that paint this range today.Oxidized (rusted) iron gives rise to the red and gold colors (the gold is found when it seeps downward as a thin layer), volcanic ash layers are green and white; while the strong purple hue is due to oxidized manganese.-JBBImage credit: Paxson Woelberhttps://flic.kr/p/do58B3Read more:http://bit.ly/1BSPOfghttp://digital-desert.com/death-valley/geology/bw6.html -- source link
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