Badwater Pool -- Badwater Basin, Death Valley National Park, CA
N 36° 13.797 W 116° 46.046
11S E 520899 N 4009478
One of several interpretive signs at this fascinating area in Death Valley national Park.
Waymark Code: WMQV4E
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 03/29/2016
Views: 14
This sign is located at the boardwalk at Blackwater Pool in Badwater Basin.
It reads as follows:
"BADWATER POOL
Good Life In Badwater
Water is rare and precious in Death Valley. Imagine the disappointment when the survey are mapping. This area could not get his mule to drink from this pool. He wrote on his map that the spring had “bad water,” and the name stuck.
Badwater Pool is not poisonous but salty, as the presence of pickle weed, aquatic insects, and larvae proves. It is also home to one of Death Valley's rarest animals -- the Badwater Snail. These tiny mollusks exist only in a few springs at the edge of Death Valley salt flats. To protect these creatures, please view the pool only from the boardwalk.
Ancient Aquifer
Ancient water fills this pool-round. Much of it began as Ice Age snow and rain hundreds of miles away in the mountains of central Nevada. The runoff seeped in the porous limestone bedrock and began a long underground flow through the regional aquifer. It emerges here at Badwater along the fault line at the mountain’s base. Salts dissolved from old deposits and float the surface, making the spring water “bad.”
The area around Badwater Pool has seen better days, as shown in this photo from the 1930s. Curious visitors have trampled salt crusted throne debris in the water. By viewing the pool only from this boardwalk, you can protect its inhabitants and help this area recover."
Group that erected the marker: National Park Service
URL of a web site with more information about the history mentioned on the sign: [Web Link]
Address of where the marker is located. Approximate if necessary:
Badwater Basin
Death Valley National ParkCA
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Visit Instructions:
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