Thanks to some wonderful folks in our regional office we have a short Ash Meadows video to share. We LOVE the term ‘desert snow’ used in the video to describe the white layer of sodium carbonate that covers the ground. It does look like snow and it can take about 30 years to produce a one inch salt crust. When ground water evaporates a salt compound is left behind. About 3.7 grams (0.13 oz) of solid material is produced from every quart of evaporated water. This material is a combination of limestone (calcium and magnesium carbonates), sodium carbonates, sodium chloride, sodium-potassium sulfates, and a small amount of a clay mineral. The sodium chloride is just like table salt, the sodium carbonate is a mix of sodium carbonate and bicarbonate so could be used for baking soda and some detergents. The sodium sulfate also has some uses but mainly for the chemical industry. The thick salt crusts (limestone is not considered as a component) below Crystal Reservoir are intriguing. Some of the salt crusts are one inch thick. The evaporation rate determined by Laczniak et al. (1999) for this area was 2.58 feet per year. If we assume that the water evaporating was typical spring water, this would require about 30 years to produce a one inch salt crust. Enough science for today…….enjoy the video youtu.be/1AoJ8fgARYc
Posted on: Fri, 25 Apr 2014 17:00:00 +0000