Badwater Basin, Death Valley National Park, Inyo County, California, USA Royalty-Free Stock Photo

Badwater Basin is an endorheic basin in Death Valley National Park, Death Valley, Inyo County, California, USA noted as the lowest point in North America and the United States, with a depth of 282 ft 86 m below sea level. The site itself consists of a small spring-fed pool of `bad water` next to the road in a sink; the accumulated salts of the surrounding basin make it undrinkable, thus giving it the name. The pool does have animal and plant life, including pickleweed, aquatic insects, and the Badwater snail. Adjacent to the pool, where water is not always present at the surface, repeated freeze–thaw and evaporation cycles gradually push the thin salt crust into hexagonal honeycomb shapes.