Death Valley Geology (2024)

FAQs

What is the geology of Death Valley? ›

Death Valley Geology. The exposed geology of the Death Valley area represents a diverse and complex set of igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks. The area has been subjected to several cycles of intense heat and pressure, folding and faulting, uplift and erosion, and glacial modification.

A research project has suggested that a rare combination of rain and wind conditions enable the rocks to move. A rain of about 1/2 inch, will wet the surface of the playa, providing a firm but extremely slippery surface. Strong winds of 50 mph or more, may skid the large boulders along the slick mud.

Death Valley is forming as the North American tectonic plate is ripping apart in the Basin and Range Province. NPS photo by Dale Pate.

Badwater Basin, which lies at the very bottom of Death Valley, is the remnant of a vast ancient lake that once existed tens of thousands of years ago. It normally averages a paltry 2in (5.08cm) of rain each year. But during the past six months, the valley floor has received nearly 5in (12.7 cm).

The limestones and sandstones found in the Funeral and Panamint Mountains indicate that this area was the site of a warm, shallow sea throughout most of the Paleozoic Era (542 - 251 million years ago.) Time passed and the sea began to slowly recede to the west as land was pushed up.

During the ice age, more rain and cooler temperatures than today caused the valley to fill with water, forming Lake Manly, which was about 90 miles (150 km) long and almost 600 feet (200 m) deep at its deepest.

Picking wildflowers, taking home stones or arrowheads as keepsakes, and defacing canyon walls with graffiti are all actions that degrade the parks for other visitors. In addition, it's against the law. When you visit any of the sites run by the National Park Service, you are viewing America's treasures.

Located on the border of California and Nevada, Death Valley National Park was designated in 1933, and is home to one of the world's strangest phenomena: rocks that move along the desert ground with no gravitational cause. Known as "sailing stones," the rocks vary in size from a few ounces to hundreds of pounds.

Normally, the white substance visible in this part of the valley is sodium chloride, or table salt. The source of Badwater's salts is Death Valley's 9,000 square mile drainage system. Rain at higher elevations flows and dissolves rocks carrying the finer materials into Death Valley to form temporary lakes.

The depth and shape of Death Valley influence its summer temperatures. The valley is a long, narrow basin 282 feet (86 m) below sea level, yet is walled by high, steep mountain ranges. The clear, dry air and sparse plant cover allow sunlight to heat the desert surface.

What fault created Death Valley? ›

Shear forces associated with the plate movement to the west caused strike-slip faults to develop on either side of Death Valley . The central part of Death Valley is a pull-apart basin between two right-lateral strike-slip faults, the Furnace Creek fault zone to the east and the Death Valley fault zone to the west.

Death Valley was given its forbidding name by a group of pioneers lost here in the winter of 1849-1850. Even though, as far as we know, only one of the group died here, they all assumed that this valley would be their grave.

Panamint City is a ghost town deep in the Panamint Mountains of Death Valley. It's historic, well preserved and hard to reach. More than 130 years after Panamint City's peak as a silver boomtown, it looks a lot like a post-modern apocalyptic summer camp.

Lake Manly is an extinct lake

In just one day, it dropped more than a year's worth of rain. The floodwater rushed into almost every basin in the national park. Photos showing the ghost lake in 2024 compared to the dry salt flat in 2021.

Explore the depths of Devils Hole, an underwater cave nestled in the vast desert of Death Valley National Park. Aside from its peculiar location, this complex cave system is home to the rarest fish in the world, the Devils Hole Pupfish. Get ready to dive a world unlike any other.

Death Valley hosts landscapes ranging from snow-covered mountains and dunes to wildflower-filled meadows and steep, rugged canyons. The 156-mile-long Death Valley formed between two major fault block mountain ranges.

Located on the border of California and Nevada, Death Valley National Park was designated in 1933, and is home to one of the world's strangest phenomena: rocks that move along the desert ground with no gravitational cause. Known as "sailing stones," the rocks vary in size from a few ounces to hundreds of pounds.

Borax. Dubbed “white gold,” borax is the mineral most synonymous with Death Valley. Discovered here during the 1870s, borax had more than 100 commercial uses — from detergents to preserving meats.

Geology and landscape

The valley has good exposures of the Lynton Beds (formally the 'Lynton Formation') that are among the oldest Devonian rocks in north Devon and are highly fossiliferous. Also of note are the periglacial features formed when this area was at the limit of glaciation during the last Ice Age.