Before you enter the canyon, look across Death
Valley toward the Panamint Mountains. Great aprons of rocky debris partially bury this majestic range in its own eroded remains. Deposited by periodic floods, this blanket of sediment is actually composed of many individual, fanshaped deposits that radiate from each mountain canyon. Geologists come from throughout the world to study these magnificent alluvial fans.
And you are standing on one. Flash floods emerge from the narrow mouth of Golden Canyon and suddenly spread out into the open valley below. As the torrent slows, the water rapidly dumps its mixture of silt, sand, gravel and cobbles.
Imagine the size of the floods required to move the larger boulders! Although these dynamic fans shift
Valley toward the Panamint Mountains. Great aprons of rocky debris partially bury this majestic range in its own eroded remains. Deposited by periodic floods, this blanket of sediment is actually composed of many individual, fanshaped deposits that radiate from each mountain canyon. Geologists come from throughout the world to study these magnificent alluvial fans.
And you are standing on one. Flash floods emerge from the narrow mouth of Golden Canyon and suddenly spread out into the open valley below. As the torrent slows, the water rapidly dumps its mixture of silt, sand, gravel and cobbles.
Imagine the size of the floods required to move the larger boulders! Although these dynamic fans shift