Worldbuilding Geography: Cold Deserts

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What painting is that in the thumbnail?

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Great video!

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Winter conditions can create other-worldly scenery naturally. One way is through frost heaving, which can leave geometric patterns on thin soils. Another is demonstrated by the sailing rocks of Death Valley which can be slid over thin layers of ice by the wind, leaving long tracks in their wake. Dry lake beds have become crucial in recent years as they concentrate salts dissolved from eroded mountains. These salts contain elements such as lithium, sodium, calcium, and potassium. There exists a desert succulent whose leaf tips have evolved to carry sunlight down to the photosynthetic part of the leaves, allowing most of the plant to hide in the soil.