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<br /> <br />c.~. <br /> <br />, ; <br />, <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />'.-,,' <br /> <br /> <br />',.1 <br />'1 <br />, <br />, i <br />I, <br /> <br />i <br /> <br /> <br />Figure 12. Alkali ground below farmstead, near Price, Utah. <br /> <br />Water loss by transpiration from thick stands of salt cedar along the <br />stream, as shown in Figure 15, adds further to the salt concentration. <br /> <br />"i' <br /> <br />A typical badlands area of Mancos shale is covered for long periods <br />between storms by a fluffy layer of expanded shale. During a rain, or the <br />melting of the snow cover, water penetrates a few inches into the shale, <br />and swells it into a layer of mud, which dries into the fluff. The salts in <br />the layer, temporarily in solution during the wetting, remain as a cement <br />to the dried-out fluff, or even concentrate as a white efflorescence in the <br />areas last to dry out, appearing as scattered patches of white on the early <br />spring landscape (Fig. 16). Later in the season, they are less <br />conspicuous, probably partly blown away by the wind, or partly covered <br />by gray dust. <br /> <br />When a torrential summer rain strikes the badlands, the loose fluff <br />is quickly swept into the small channels and on down to the river, <br />supplying it immediately with a suspended load of clay and silt and a <br />solution load, mostly of CA ++ and 50,-- ions, but also with considerable <br />Na+ and CI-. The water that penetrates a few inches into the shale <br />prepares the next fluff. <br /> <br /> <br />Over much of the outcrop area of Mancos shale, where it is little <br />disturbed. the shale at shallow depths is probably relatively tight, and <br />penetration of water is limited to the few inches that produce the fluff. In <br /> <br />. .. . <br /> <br />Ii <br /> <br />12 <br /> <br />". ...,.......,,-': '.y-,'i;"~ <br /> <br />