Salt Flats

Badwater Basin



What causes salt flats?
Three basic things are needed for salt flats to form:

  • source of salts, usually from a large drainage system
  • enclosed basin that doesn't drain to the sea and wash away the salts
  • arid climate where evaporation exceeds precipitation, leaving behind just the salts and fine silt
salt crystals
salt crystals
Salt of the Earth
Sodium Chloride—better known as table salt—makes up the majority of salts on Badwater Basin. Other evaporative minerals found here include calcite, gypsum, and borax.

Intense Concentration

The source of Badwater’s salts is Death Valley’s drainage system of 9,000 square miles—an area larger than New Hampshire. Rain falling on distant peaks creates floods that rush ever lower. Along the way, minerals dissolve from rocks and join the flood. Here, at the lowest elevation, floods come to rest, forming temporary lakes. As the water evaporates, minerals concentrate until only the salts remain. After thousands of years, enough salts have washed in to produce layer upon layer of salt crust.

Crystal Power

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P.O. Box 579
Death Valley, CA 92328


(760) 786-3200

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