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Timbisha Shoshone Furnace Creek salt pan (Death Valley National Park)
Description: Alkali sink, salt pans, and desert playa "dry lake" ecosystems are subject to periodic flooding, often leaving a thick layer of Caliche (hard calcium deposits) in the soil. When it rains small ponds and pools form on the soil surface. When the water evaporates a salt crust is left behind. This highly saline environment, along with the desert's low precipitation, restricts the types of plants which can grow here.
Plant Associations: Saltbush are common in alkali sink areas. Saltbush plants grow in a variety of habitats and elevations. Some of their habitats include desert scrubland, alkali flats, salt pans, slopes, and washes. They grow at elevations ranging from below sea level (in Death Valley National Park) up to 7,500 ft.
There are many different species of saltbush in the Mojave Desert, including shadscale, desert saltbush, fourwing saltbush, quailbush, desert holly, and wheelscale. These plants have a high tolerance for alkali and saline soils, hence thier common name "saltbush".
Greasewood, rabbitbrush, Mojave seablite ("bush seepweed"), grasses such as alkali sacaton and saltgrass, western honey mesquite and screwbean mesquite can also be found growing in alkali sink and salt pans.
Wildlife: Coming Soon!
Amphibeans: Coming Soon!
Birds: Coming Soon!
Insects: Coming Soon!
Mammals: Coming Soon! Coyotes
Reptiles: Coming Soon! Desert tortoise
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