What's New in the World: #22 (Page 7)

Highs and Lows

What forces created the mountains and the valley itself? Why is there such a dramatic difference in elevation? With a better understanding of some of the individual features of the valley, I posed these questions to Glazner. "The really interesting thing that has attracted attention to Death Valley and that part of California for so long is that you have the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere at Badwater, and the highest point in the continental United States at Mount Whitney, and they're less than 100 miles apart. That seems kind of contradictory but it's not, because the same forces that produce the high elevation at Mount Whitney are producing the low elevation at Death Valley. Those forces are basically the stretching of the [earth's] crust."

Graphic provided by the U.S. Geological Survey.

Allen Glazner explains how Death Valley and the surrounding mountains have been formed.

The whole western United States is being stretched apart. This is caused by plate tectonics. Two massive plates are involved, the Pacific and North American. The Pacific plate is sliding north past the North American plate, producing the well-known San Andreas fault. This movement is also what causes earthquakes. In addition to moving north, the Pacific plate is also pulling away from the North American plate. This is literally stretching the entire region.

Glazner told me, "Death Valley represents a place where the faults are pulling the crust apart and the valley proper is kind of a keystone block that has fallen down in between the mountains on the east side and the mountains on the west side of Death Valley. So the great relief that you get represents the difference in level between the old land surface and the top of that keystone block that is now buried deep below the valley floor."

Final Thoughts
From its low altitude to its high temperatures, and from its "racing" rocks to its rippled dunes, Death Valley is a fascinating and beautiful place. But dig beneath it to learn more about what you're seeing and how it was created, and you gain an even deeper appreciation of it. Thanks to people like Allen Glazner, I'm armed with new knowledge about Death Valley, and I'm looking forward to visiting it again.

Bibliography & Suggested Reading Geology Underfoot

Sharp, Robert P., and Allen F. Glazner. Geology Underfoot in Death Valley and Owens Valley . Mountain Press Publishing Company , 1997.

Collier, Michael. An Introduction to the Geology of Death Valley. Death Valley Natural History Association, 1990.

Bryan, Scott T., and Betty Tucker-Bryan. The Explorer's Guide to Death Valley National Park. University of Colorado, 1995.

Reference & Suggested Sites

Death Valley National Park -- The National Park Service page. Essential for those planning to visit the park.

The U.S. Geological Survey --The online home of the USGS.

Allen Glazner -- The homepage of University of North Carolina geologist Allen Glazner.

Death Valley: A Guide -- Originally printed in 1939, this online version of the guide has sections on the geology, climate, flora and fauna, as well information about the history and human inhabitants (past and present) of the valley.

Death Valley: Flythrough -- This site contains QuickTime and VRML-formatted computer flythroughs of the valley. In addition, a series of models show different valley features.

The Racetrack in Death Valley -- Information and photos of the moving rocks of the Racetrack Playa. In depth information about specific studies can be found here.

Virtual Reality Panoramas of Death Valley --QuickTime VR panoramas of Death Valley and the surrounding area.

"Geology in a Land of Extremes"