The Grandstand

The Grandstand
The Grandstand
	The Grandstand as seen from the western entry road to the Racetrack Playa - below Teakettle Junction
Highest point
Elevation	73 ft (22 m)
Coordinates	36°41′35″N117°34′00″W / 36.6931°N 117.5668°W [1]
Geography
Location	Racetrack Valley, Death Valley National Park, Inyo County, California, United States
Parent range	Cottonwood Mountains

Last updated February 27, 2019

The Grandstand is a natural rock monolith located near the northerly end of Racetrack Playa, north of Death Valley in the Cottonwood Mountains of Death Valley National Park, in Inyo County, California.

A monolith is a geological feature consisting of a single massive stone or rock, such as some mountains, or a single large piece of rock placed as, or within, a monument or building. Erosion usually exposes the geological formations, which are often made of very hard and solid igneous or metamorphic rock.

The Racetrack Playa, or The Racetrack, is a scenic dry lake feature with "sailing stones" that inscribe linear "racetrack" imprints. It is located above the northwestern side of Death Valley, in Death Valley National Park, Inyo County, California, U.S..

Death Valley is a desert valley located in Eastern California, in the northern Mojave Desert bordering the Great Basin Desert. It is one of the hottest places in the world at the height of summertime along with deserts in the Middle East.

Description

The Grandstand consists of two distinct mounds of very dark gray rock with a shallow saddle between them, surrounded on all sides by the nearly featureless, light tan-colored clay sediment of Racetrack Playa. The contrast of the dark rock against the light playa makes The Grandstand appear nearly black in bright sunlight. Due to this contrast, The Grandstand is easily discernible, and unmistakable, from great distances. It can be easily seen from aircraft flying within 100 miles (160 km), even at a 40,000-foot (12 km) altitude.

Geography

The Grandstand is located in the northwest corner of Racetrack Playa and is the only feature, other than small scattered rocks and a dolomite outcrop on the northernmost shore, that interrupt the playa. The southernmost of the two rock mounds that compose The Grandstand is the tallest, by a few feet. It rises approximately 20-metre (66 ft) above the very flat surface of the playa, whose north end is only 1.5-inch (3.8 cm) higher than the southern end. Racetrack Playa is at an elevation of 3,714 feet (1,132 m)^[2] above sea level, and is 2.8-mile (4.5 km) long (north-south), and 1.3-mile (2.1 km) wide (east-west).

A dry lake is either a basin or depression that formerly contained a standing surface water body, which disappeared when evaporation processes exceeded recharge. If the floor of a dry lake is covered by deposits of alkaline compounds, it is known as an alkali flat. If covered with salt, it is known as a salt flat.

Mean sea level (MSL) is an average level of the surface of one or more of Earth's oceans from which heights such as elevation may be measured. MSL is a type of vertical datum – a standardised geodetic datum – that is used, for example, as a chart datum in cartography and marine navigation, or, in aviation, as the standard sea level at which atmospheric pressure is measured to calibrate altitude and, consequently, aircraft flight levels. A common and relatively straightforward mean sea-level standard is the midpoint between a mean low and mean high tide at a particular location.

Geology

The Grandstand is composed of Quartz-Monzonite, also called Adamellite. It is an intrusive igneous rock that cooled slowly deep underground. Quartz monzonite consists of quartz and the two types of feldspar, but has less quartz than the 20% in granite. Such composites having less than 20% quartz composition are referred to as granitoids. It was exposed on the surface during the Pleistocene epoch, as were Ubehebe Peak and the Panamint Range Mountains to the west, and the Cottonwood Mountains to the east, but solidified in the latter part of the Mesozoic Era.^[3]

Quartz is a mineral composed of silicon and oxygen atoms in a continuous framework of SiO₄ silicon–oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical formula of SiO₂. Quartz is the second most abundant mineral in Earth's continental crust, behind feldspar.

Monzonite Igneous intrusive rock with low quartz and equal plagioclase and alkali feldspar

Monzonite is an igneous intrusive rock. It is composed of approximately equal amounts of plagioclase and alkali feldspar, with less than 5% quartz by weight. It may contain minor amounts of hornblende, biotite and other minerals. If quartz constitutes greater than 5%, the rock is termed a quartz monzonite.

Quartz monzonite or adamellite is an intrusive, felsic, igneous rock that has an approximately equal proportion of orthoclase and plagioclase feldspars. It is typically a light colored phaneritic (coarse-grained) to porphyritic granitic rock. The plagioclase is typically intermediate to sodic in composition, andesine to oligoclase. Quartz is present in significant amounts. Biotite and/or hornblende constitute the dark minerals. Because of its coloring, it is often confused with granite, but whereas granite contains more than 20% quartz, quartz monzonite is only 5–20% quartz. Rock with less than five percent quartz is classified as monzonite. A rock with more alkali feldspar is a syenite whereas one with more plagioclase is a quartz diorite. The fine grained volcanic rock equivalent of quartz monzonite is quartz latite.

On the south side of The Grandstand, obvious signs of wave-cut erosion are visible, creating a noticeable overhang of 30 feet above the Racetrack Playa's elevation. The formation indicates the Racetrack Playa region experienced much more precipitation in past geologic eras.

While The Grandstand may seem imposing to someone standing nearby, as it rises abruptly out of the flat surface of playa, this outcropping is dwarfed by the height of the surrounding mountains. It is the light colored clay sediment forming the playa surface surrounding the dark grey Grandstand that creates its prominence.

Natural history

As with the rest of Death Valley National Park, The Racetrack and The Grandstand receive very scant rainfall, rarely more than 2 inches in most years. Due to its elevation of 3,000-foot (910 m), the climate at The Grandstand averages slightly cooler than that of the floor of Death Valley; however, daytime high temperatures are commonly above 100 °F in mid-summer. Winds can be extreme also, due to the north-south orientation of The Racetrack, as the "moving rocks" at the south end of the playa demonstrate.

Great blue herons have been sighted atop the highest part of The Grandstand, en route during their annual migration. ^{[ citation needed ]}

The great blue heron is a large wading bird in the heron family Ardeidae, common near the shores of open water and in wetlands over most of North America and Central America, as well as the Caribbean and the Galápagos Islands. It is a rare vagrant to coastal Spain, the Azores, and areas of far southern Europe. An all-white population found only in south Florida and the Florida Keys is known as the great white heron. Debate exists about whether it is a white color morph of the great blue heron, a subspecies of it, or an entirely separate species.

Visiting

There are three roads providing vehicular access to The Grandstand. The primary route is Racetrack Road, a 27-mile (43 km) gravel road starting from the end of pavement at Ubehebe Crater, north of Scotty's Castle. This road is graded and maintained by the National Park Service and is passable by most autos, SUVs, and light trucks with at least 7 inches of ground clearance. Due to the very rough volcanic nature of the gravel road bed, all-terrain tires in good condition are highly recommended (Racetrack Road is notorious for damaging light-duty passenger car tires). The Grandstand can also be accessed from Saline Valley to the west, via Lippincott Road or Hunter Mountain Road. These roads are much rougher than Racetrack Road, and Lippincott Road in particular should only be attempted by drivers with off-road experience, in high-clearance, short-wheelbase, 4WD vehicles.

Ubehebe Crater is a large volcanic crater of the Ubehebe Craters volcanic field in the northern half of Death Valley, in Death Valley National Park, California, USA.

Scotty's Castle is a two-story Mission Revival and Spanish Colonial Revival style villa located in the Grapevine Mountains of northern Death Valley in Death Valley National Park, California, US. "Scotty's Castle" is named for gold prospector Walter E. Scott, although Scott never owned it, nor is it an actual castle.

National Park Service United States federal agency

The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations. It was created on August 25, 1916, by Congress through the National Park Service Organic Act and is an agency of the United States Department of the Interior. The NPS is charged with a dual role of preserving the ecological and historical integrity of the places entrusted to its management, while also making them available and accessible for public use and enjoyment.

At The Grandstand, the National Park Service provides parking and descriptive signage, and docents provided a bench there to view the Grandstand, Racetrack Playa, and to the east the Cottonwood Mountains. South of The Grandstand, at the south end of The Racetrack, there is another parking area from which visitors may hike 3/4 mile east across the playa to view the "moving rocks". Racetrack Road ends two miles south of this parking area at Homestake Campground and the eastern end of Lippincott Road. Homestake is a "dry" campground, meaning there is no water, and no garbage pickup, but there is a portable toilet.

The lakebed surface is usually dry and can be freely walked upon; however the National Park Service requests that visitors not walk on the surface when it is moist enough to leave distinctive footprints. Wheeled vehicles, including bicycles, are strictly prohibited on the playa at all times.

No camping is allowed on or adjacent to the playa, however "primitive camping" is permitted to the north and south of the area. Signage along Racetrack Road indicates the limits of "no-camping" zones. Ubehebe Crater is another distinctive geologic feature and visual landmark in this northern section of the park. Saline Valley is located to the west, and the Eureka Valley Sand Dunes to the north. The south end of Eureka Valley Road is nearby, located 2.5 miles east of Ubehebe Crater, so visitors planning to tour both The Racetrack and Eureka Valley may wish to plan accordingly.

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References

↑ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: The Grandstand
↑ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: The Racetrack
↑ Miller, Marli; Wright, Lauren (2007). Geology of Death Valley National Park (2nd ed.). Dubuque, IA: Kendall Hunt. p. xi. ISBN 978-0-7575-0950-6.

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[1] U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: The Grandstand

[2] U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: The Racetrack

[3] Miller, Marli; Wright, Lauren (2007). Geology of Death Valley National Park (2nd ed.). Dubuque, IA: Kendall Hunt. p. xi. ISBN 978-0-7575-0950-6.