Zabriskie Point — Badlands Made From an Ancient Lake
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Transcript
The ridges below Zabriskie Point are carved from sediments of the Furnace Creek Formation. Long before the modern valley reached its present depth and dryness, lakes, streams and volcanic ash deposited layers here. Later uplift and erosion cut those soft sediments into sharply fluted badlands. The viewpoint is named for Christian Brevoort Zabriskie, an executive of the Pacific Coast Borax Company, which ties the scenery to mining history as well as geology. What looks like a timeless desert surface is therefore comparatively young topography carved from much older deposits. The landscape is dramatic because soft rock erodes quickly once tectonics and climate expose it.