Two thousand years ago, Death Valley's Little Hebe Crater and adjacent Ubehebe Crater erupted. In contact with molten rock within the Earth, groundwater became superheated, exploding as it neared the surface. The blast episode was short, lasting days or perhaps weeks. It released volcanic rock and pulverized sedimentary limestone, mudstone, and quartzite, forming a sooty, gravelly coating that covered several square miles around the craters. Buried Native American artifacts indicate that the explosion’s ash landed in nearby Shoshone communities.

Later, the salt flat in this photograph began to form from sporadic heavy downpours that typically sweep through Death Valley, dissolving limestone and windblown dust while carving steep ravines into the soft, sedimentary shoulder of Tin Mountain. I wandered into a natural amphitheater at the mountain's base that captures rainwater within its basin. When the climate or season is wet, a temporary shallow lake forms from the runoff. The water evaporates, unable to soak into the ground, and the depression returns to a dry playa, leaving its surface with a surreal coating of calcite, gypsum, and salt.

Most plants find this arid climate and barren land inhospitable. However, a few species are well adapted to the salty soil and extreme dryness, including saltbush, desert trumpets, shadscale, sagebrush, creosote bush, and winter fat. On this damp, dark winter morning, a storm passing over nearby Tin Mountain lightens the mountains with a thin coating of snow, making them difficult to distinguish from the salt-whitened flats dotted with bright, glowing saltbush.

Location research and commentary by James Baker.