In this picture our group is standing on the salt playa surface at Badwater (280 feet below sea level) and looking up toward the sign on the side of the mountain where sea level is marked. Reflections behind the group are from the surface of a small pond that marks the level of the water table in the area. Rocks in the background are Proterozoic crystalline rocks. The rounded surface of the mountain is the locus of a folded detachment fault referred to as the Badwater Turtleback. The rocks above the detachment fault were younger and softer than the underlying crystalline rocks and they eroded away, leaving the detachment fault surface exposed.
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