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Death Valley's Soft Pallet

The badlands formation seen from Zabriskie Point is made up of sediment from an ancient lake that dried up some nine million years ago. The chemicals absorbed by the mud create a very soft pallet in the eroding lakebed. The dark larva deposit capping the mountains in the background is the result of volcanic eruptions three to five millions years ago.

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Uploaded on December 2, 2014
Taken on February 26, 2011