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How are the playa lakes ephemeral in nature?
They are ephemeral, meaning that they are only present at certain times of the year. The temporal nature of playa lakes led to confusion on the part of early European explorers, some of whom described the region as a desert and others a land of millions of small lakes.
What kind of water does a playa have?
Playa, (Spanish: shore or beach), also called pan, flat, or dry lake, flat-bottom depression found in interior desert basins and adjacent to coasts within arid and semiarid regions, periodically covered by water that slowly filtrates into the ground water system or evaporates into the atmosphere, causing the deposition of salt, sand,…
What kind of drainage does a playa need?
Playas occupy the flat central basins of desert plains. They require interior drainage to a zone where evaporation greatly exceeds inflow. When flooded, a playa lake forms where fine-grained sediment and salts concentrate. Terminology is quite confused for playas because of many local names.
What kind of deposits are found in a playa?
Very large playas may exhibit dry, sediment-dominated sections and moist, salt-dominated sections. The salt deposits of a salt pan are zoned like bathtub rings, with less-soluble sulfates and carbonates at the outer margin and highly soluble sodium chloride (table salt) at the centre.
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How are Playas formed and why are they so salty?
As the water evaporates, the salt is left behind in the increasingly salty playas. There are many theories as to the origin of playas, but the most widely accepted are that playas are either carved by wind or formed by land subsidence (they are sinkholes).
Why are Playas so important to the environment?
Playas are important because they store water in a part of the country that receives as little as twenty inches of rain a year and where there are no permanent rivers or streams. Consequently, playas support an astounding array of wildlife. Two million waterfowl commonly winter in the playa lakes of the Southern High Plains.
When do playa lakes fill up with water?
Most playas fill with water only after spring rainstorms when freshwater collects in the round depressions of the otherwise flat landscape of West Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Colorado, and Kansas. There are also a few saltwater-filled playas.