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  Image: Geographic Location Direction Photo #: ISS061-E-31529 Date: Nov. 2019
Geographic Region: USA-CALIFORNIA
Feature: DESERT, SHORTLINE BUTTE

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  Death Valley Landscapes

Even without knowing the location of the scene below, the lack of vegetation and standing water reveal this to be an arid place. Death Valley is known for its extreme dryness and dangerous heat records. However, traces on the land indicate that water sometimes flows here.

An astronaut onboard the International Space Station captured this view of the southern end of Death Valley National Park. High-resolution photography of bare landscapes can expose complex geology. Shadows accentuate the sharp angles and slot canyons of the Owlshead Mountains.

Surrounding those rocky textured outcrops, alluvial fans and dry lake beds appear as smoother landscapes. When rare rains do fall, sediment is carried from the mountains and deposited as alluvial fans in the valleys. Dry lakes - such as Lost and Owl - can appear at the junctions of multiple alluvial fans, where water accumulates and then quickly evaporates away.

Variations in rock colors and mountain shapes provide clues of previous seismic and volcanic activity here. The Owlshead Mountains are made of light-colored, older plutonic rocks and darker, younger volcanic rocks. The Amargosa River follows along a large fault zone leading to Badwater Basin, the lowest point in North America (north of this photo).

Badwater Road appears in faint traces cutting across the fan. Between the road and the Owlshead Mountains, smaller strike-slip faults create slot canyons where people can hike through the remote area.


References & Resources

 
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Images: All Available Images Low-Resolution 498k
Mission: ISS061  
Roll - Frame: E - 31529
Geographical Name: USA-CALIFORNIA  
Features: DESERT, SHORTLINE BUTTE  
Center Lat x Lon: 35.8N x 116.7W
Film Exposure:   N=Normal exposure, U=Under exposed, O=Over exposed, F=out of Focus
Percentage of Cloud Cover-CLDP: 10
 
Camera: N8
 
Camera Tilt: 17   LO=Low Oblique, HO=High Oblique, NV=Near Vertical
Camera Focal Length: 400  
 
Nadir to Photo Center Direction: SE   The direction from the nadir to the center point, N=North, S=South, E=East, W=West
Stereo?:   Y=Yes there is an adjacent picture of the same area, N=No there isn't
Orbit Number:  
 
Date: 20191105   YYYYMMDD
Time: 154644   GMT HHMMSS
Nadir Lat: 36.7N  
Latitude of suborbital point of spacecraft
Nadir Lon: 117.4W  
Longitude of suborbital point of spacecraft
Sun Azimuth: 124   Clockwise angle in degrees from north to the sun measured at the nadir point
Space Craft Altitude: 222   nautical miles
Sun Elevation: 15   Angle in degrees between the horizon and the sun, measured at the nadir point
Land Views: BASIN, FAULT, MOUNTAIN, MOUNTAINS, VALLEY  
Water Views: LAKE, RIVER, SEDIMENT  
Atmosphere Views:  
Man Made Views:  
City Views:  
Photo is not associated with any sequences


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