Artists
Drive is a one way paved road that winds up an alluvial fan and
then dips up, down, and around the various ravines in the fan. The
coordinates are for a small parking lot in front of an especially
colorful section.
As with all locations in National Parks, everything is
protected, so leave it as you found it. The colorful rocks of this
area are the Miocene Artists' Drive Formation. This formation is
made up of interlayered sedimentary rocks and volcanic tuffs were
deposited between 14 and 6 million years ago. The sedimentary
layers were deposited by an ancient river that flowed from the
Cottonwood Mountains (located to the northwest) and flowed
southeast though Death Valley and then east into Amargosa Valley.
Among the fluvial sedimentary deposits are volcanic ash and tuff
layers, pyroclastic flows and basalt flows. The combined thickness
of the entire formation exceeds 4,000 feet.
The various colors of the rocks are the result of the
degradation of volcanic minerals, the availability of oxygen at the
time of deposition, variable amounts of water and heat, and trace
elements transported into the formation. Analysis of the layers
show that a wide variety of elements are present in varying amounts
including iron, aluminum, magnesium, titanium, and other. Each
element tint the rocks a different color. Iron oxide colors the
rocks golden to pale yellow while oxidized iron-rich hematite tint
the rocks red and pink. The green layers are chemically altered
volcanic tuff and micas or chlorite. There are also purple rocks
colored from small amounts of manganese.
Logging requirements:
Send me a note with :
- The text "GC2W5ZY Artists Pallet" on the first line
- The number (including non-cachers) and names of the geocachers
in your group.
- Looking up to the north, what trace elements are present in the
rocks.
The following sources were used to generate this
cache:
- Reheis, Marith C., Robert Hershler, and David
M. Miller, Late Cenezoic Drainage History of the Southwestern Great
Basin and Lower Colorado River Region: Geologic and Biotic
Perspectives, Special Paper 439, Geologic Society of America
2008
- USGS, Death Valley Geology Field Trip, Artist's
Drive, http://geology.wr.usgs.gov/docs/usgsnps/index.html, This
page was last updated on 01/13/04
- Halilton, John, Death Valley National Park ABDO
Publishing Company, 2009
- California.Today.com, Artist's Pallet, Death
Valley National Park,
http://california.today.com/page/2/
- Spear, Steven G. Ph.D., 2009, Death Valley
Geology, A Field Guide and Virtual Tour of the Geology of Death
Velly National Park and Environs, California and Nevada, Last
Updated: August 25, 2009
http://www.palomar.edu/geology/DVWeb.htm