This little geological vignette intrigued me. While exploring an area in Death Valley featuring very dark, fine gravel that almost has the appearance of shallow dunes, I came across low flat areas where water has obviously collected in the past. Now there was a surface of old mud, cracked into separate pieces as it dried, a familiar desert sight. But here this surface was pockmarked with small black stones.
Often when I look at interesting geology in places like this I can see how they came about, especially after visiting this area for decades. But I’m still hard-pressed to explain this. Is the mud so shallow that the stones poke up from below? Was it so windy at some point that the small stones were deposited into the mud. Is this a very old formation, much older than it would appear, that was created this way? (In all likelihood, the stones are volcanic ejecta from a nearby crater.)
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G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email
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