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It’s a desolate alluvial fan on the southern flanks of the Cady Mountains, where sparkling calcite crystals and pieces of quartz, jasper and agate are continually carried down the slopes by thunderstorms and flash floods.

In a new study, scientists have for the first time produced a detailed map of one of these paleovalleys, located on the Kings River alluvial fan between Fresno and Selma.

Perched on a broad alluvial fan dotted with rabbitbrush and Joshua trees, this ragtag community of artists, misanthropes and urban refugees has little time for politicians.

According to the California Department of Water Resources, the state experiences many types of flooding, including alluvial fan, riverine, coastal, flash, and localized floods, as well as debris flows and tsunamis.

Summer storms in Death Valley are usually more localized, closing a road or two and maybe causing an alluvial fan to flash flood, Jurado said, calling Friday’s downpour “exceptionally rare.”