Artist's Palette

Death Valley

They call this bizarly coloured rock formation Artist's Palette. Knowning Death Valley's preference for naming conventions and its hellish temperatures, my choice would've been 'Devil's Palette'

The formation is evidence of vulcanic history and made up of cemented gravel, salty deposits and much volcanic debris. Weathering (oxydation) is responsible for the variety of colors. Reddish and yellow are from iron salts (oxides & chlorides), green is from silicates and purple from potassium permanganete salts.

And that concludes this course in salt chemistry...