Trona Pinnacles

Trona Pinnacles
Map showing the location of Trona Pinnacles
Map showing the location of Trona Pinnacles
LocationCalifornia, United States
Nearest cityTrona, California
Coordinates35°37′00″N 117°22′13″W / 35.6168°N 117.3703°W / 35.6168; -117.3703
Area3,800 acres (15 km2)
Established1968
Governing bodyBureau of Land Management
Designated1967

The Trona Pinnacles are an unusual geological feature in the California Desert National Conservation Area.[1] The landscape consists of more than 500 tufa spires (porous rock formed as a deposit when springs interact with other bodies of water), some as high as 140 ft (43 m), rising from the bed of the Searles Lake (dry) basin. The pinnacles vary in size and shape from short and squat to tall and thin, and are composed primarily of calcium carbonate (tufa). They now sit isolated and slowly crumbling away near the south end of the valley, surrounded by many square miles of flat, dried mud and with stark mountain ranges at either side.

  1. ^ "Trona Pinnacles". Bureau of Land Management. Retrieved 19 August 2019.