"California has no shortage of geological marvels, many tucked within one of the state's national parks. But to view a fossilized, dry waterfall formed hundreds of thousands of years ago from an ancient river that once flowed over prehistoric lava, you just have to turn onto a short dirt road off Highway 395 and walk less than half a mile."
"The Coso volcanic field sits just below Owens Valley, adjacent to the modern 395 highway that shuttles Southern California northward to Mammoth Lakes and beyond. Six million years ago, the range was made up of several small volcanoes that would routinely burst with black basalt lava. It would flow through the region, spreading across the landscape and covering the ground in the thick substance. As it cooled, gases would get trapped, causing holes and inconsistencies in the formed rock."
"While it's difficult to picture this part of California teeming with water and life, the last ice age crafted an interconnected system of lakes and rivers flowing through this area of the high desert. Water from melting glaciers poured into Owens Lake, which would branch out into rivers that snaked throughout the region. The rushing water from the Owens River slowly smoothed the basalt in Fossil Falls as it flowed, sculpting the rocks with the ebbs of the stream."
Fossil Falls, reachable via a short dirt road off Highway 395, features a fossilized, dry waterfall formed hundreds of thousands of years ago when an ancient river flowed over basalt lava. The Coso volcanic field produced repeated basalt lava flows beginning six million years ago, creating thick, gas-pocked black rock across the region. The last eruptions occurred more than 20,000 years ago, leaving extensive basalt blankets that still dominate the landscape. During the last ice age, melting glaciers fed Owens Lake and branching rivers whose rushing water sculpted and smoothed the basalt at Fossil Falls, carving channels and unique rock formations.
Read at SFGATE
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