Playas occupy the flat central basins of desert plains. They require interior drainage to a zone where evaporation greatly exceeds inflow. When flooded, a playa lake forms where fine-grained sediment and salts concentrate. Terminology is quite confused for playas because of …

Jun 20, 2025 · There are many theories as to the origin of playas, but the most widely accepted are that playas are either carved by wind or formed by land subsidence (they are sinkholes). Whatever their origin, playas are important to humans, animals and plants of the High Plains.

Another term for dry lake bed is playa. The Spanish word playa (pronounced [ˈplaʝa]) literally means "beach". Dry lakes are known by this name in some parts of Mexico and the western United States.

Playas are sources of great plant and animal biodiversity, providing critical habitat for millions of migratory birds and waterfowl, as well as providing essential habitat for amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and several species of unique invertebrates (MacKay et …

These wetland data were analyzed for each state in the PLJV region — Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas — to create the most comprehensive playa location map possible using remote sources. The playas layer contains locations of more than 70,000 playas across the PLJV region.

1 day ago · If so, you might first want to check Playas MX, a new smartphone application designed to provide real-time updates on seawater quality at 289 beaches in 17 coastal states.

Playas are shallow, circular-shaped wetlands that are primarily filled by rainfall, although some playas found in cropland settings may also receive water from irrigation runoff. Playas average slightly more than 15 acres in size.

Playa is a flat-bottom depression found in interior desert basins and adjacent to coasts in arid and semiarid regions, periodically covered by water that slowly filtrates into the groundwater system or evaporates into the atmosphere, causing salt, sand, and mud deposition along the bottom and around the depression's edges.

Playas — also called mud holes, buffalo wallows, and lagoons — are round, shallow depressions found at the lowest point of a watershed. Their basins, which are lined with clay soil, collect and hold water from rainfall and runoff, creating temporary wetlands.

Jun 1, 1995 · Playas are shallow, disc-shaped basins etched in the southern Great Plains. Lakes are formed when surface runoff fills the basins. In Spanish, playa means "beach," and the word was perhaps chosen because the lakes represent essentially all of the naturally occurring surface water in a vast semiarid region-the "only beach in town."