There is a parking lot at the mouth of the canyon suitable for passenger cars. Be sure to take enough water for your walk.
As with all locations in National Parks, everything is protected, so leave it as you found it.
Five million years ago Death Valley had not formed yet. Instead the ancient Panamint Mountains rose up to the west. Out of that mountain range an alluvial fan, just like the alluvial fans that are seen along the edges of Death Valley, was deposited at its base. Rocks in size from large boulders to fine-grained sand and silt piled up in the fan and were later buried and turned into the Furnace Creek Formation you see in the canyon walls today.
Continue further up the canyon the rocks that make up the canyon walls quickly become finer and finer grained. By the time you reach the next waypont (N36 25.330 W116 50.597) mud and siltstone make up the canyon walls. This grain size is characteristic of a calm lake since only fast moving water can transport large grains.
Additional evidence that this area was a lake comes from the ripple marks at the last waypont (N36 25.344 W116 50.556). Ripple marks are waves in the sediment formed by moving water. Ripples marks that form in water moving in one direction are asymmetrical (one side is steeper than the other), and ripples form in alternating currents such as on the edge of lakes are symmetrical. In asymmetrical ripples, the steeper side shows the direction of flow.
If you continue further up the canyon, you can find layers of white crystals between the fine-grained lake sediments. These crystals are evaporite minerals such as halite, gypsum, and borax. These layers were deposited in conditions similar to the floor of Death Valley today. Water laden with a variety of elements dissolved from the surrounding mountains flowed into the ancient lake. As the water evaporated, the elements precipitated out of solution into these mineral layers. The next influx of water deposits a layer of lake sediments on top of the minerals and process begins again.
Logging requirements:
Send me a note with :
- The text "GC2V552 Golden Canyon – Alluvial Fan to Lake " on the first line
- The number (including non-cachers) and names of the geocachers in your group.
- Just how big are the largest boulders in the Furnace Creek Formation?
- How steeply do the lake bottom sediments dip?
- Are the ripples symmetric or asymmetrical? Can you tell which way the water was flowing?
- What coordinates do you get for the evaporate minerals?
The following sources were used to generate this cache:
- NPS, 2004 – Death Valley Geology Field Trip Golden Canyon, http://geomaps.wr.usgs.gov/parks/deva/ftgol1.html This page was last updated on 01/13/04