The force of water

Although the Southwest presents an image of an arid, dusty region, water was a dominant force in the formation of two popular national parks there my wife and I visited recently in our fifth-wheel.

In Death Valley, the hottest, driest place in the country, you can see the effects of water everywhere. Death Valley’s sand dunes, playas, alluvial fans, debris cones, salt pan and canyons are all the result of various forces of water. Many of Death Valley’s rocks were created from ancient seas.

The infrequent rain in Death Valley often comes in downpours that cause flash floods. All around me on a hike above the Mesquite Spring campground, where we stayed, was evidence of these floods’ incredible power, such as boulders jumbled against one another. The top photo shows a flood-carved gully.

Grand Canyon, the other national park we were in, would not exist without the Colorado River. Geological uplifting, faulting and erosion were also necessary, but the constant downcutting of the river over the last several million years was the major agent. This is a scene of the Grand Canyon's South Rim and the Colorado.