DESERT WASH, PINACATE

A wide desert wash, with cinder overlying the sand. Desert washes are dry for extended periods but can receive large volumes of water draining from higher elevations after heavy rains. This periodic flooding usually prevents the establishment of perennial plants in the bed of the wash, but shrubs and trees thrive at the margins of the wash because there is usually some residual water in the soil profile. This image shows yellow-flowering paloverde (subtrees) and a shrub layer of brittlebush on one bank of the wash. On the opposite bank (image below) was a large ironwood tree.

Ironwood on the bank of a desert wash

GO TO:
Pinacate Thumbnail images?
Pinacate Volcanic Field: space radar image?
El Elegante crater?
Elegante crater rim?
"Bombs and cinders"?
Colorado crater?
Lava fields?
Pinacate desert floor?
Pinacate campsite?
Pinacate plants?
Pinacate playa?
Lava plants?