[1] The landscape consists of more than 500 tufa spires (porous rock formed as a deposit when springs interact with other bodies of water), some as high as 140 ft (43 m), rising from the bed of the Searles Lake (dry) basin.

The pinnacles vary in size and shape from short and squat to tall and thin, and are composed primarily of calcium carbonate (tufa).

They now sit isolated and slowly crumbling away near the south end of the valley, surrounded by many square miles of flat, dried mud and with stark mountain ranges at either side.

The Trona Pinnacles are inside a BLM Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) designated to protect and preserve unique resources.

The small middle group claims only 100 spires, but boasts the tallest "tower", rising 140 ft (43 m).

Dumpy[clarification needed] and mounded, cone shapes lie scattered throughout the Trona Pinnacles.

Over thirty film projects a year are shot among the tufa pinnacles, including backdrops for car commercials and sci-fi movies and television series such as Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Disney's Dinosaur, The Gate II: Trespassers, Lost in Space, and Planet of the Apes.