Death Valley is the lowest, driest and hottest valley in the United States. In Geology, a valley (also called a vale, dale, glen or strath and near or in Appalachia, a draw) is A US state is any one of the fifty subnational entities of the United States of America that share Sovereignty with the federal government It is the location of the lowest elevation in North America at 85. The elevation of a Geographic location is its height above a fixed reference point often the mean sea level. 5 m (281 ft) below sea level. The metre or meter is a unit of Length. It is the basic unit of Length in the Metric system and in the International The foot is an Anatomical structure found in many Animals It is the terminal portion of a limb which bears weight and allows Locomotion. Mean sea level (MSL is the average (mean height of the Sea, with reference to a suitable reference surface It holds the record highest temperature in Western hemisphere and world's second highest. The Western Hemisphere, also Western hemisphere or western hemisphere, is a geographical term for the half of the Earth that lies West Located southeast of the Sierra Nevada range in the Great Basin and the Mojave Desert, it constitutes much of Death Valley National Park. The Sierra Nevada ( Spanish for "Snowy Range" is a Mountain range located in the U The Great Basin is a large arid region of the western United States. For the indigenous American tribe see Mohave. The Mojave Desert (moʊˈhɑːvi or /məˈhɑːvi/ ( Hayikwiir Mat'aar in Mojave Death Valley National Park is a mostly Arid United States National Park located east of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in southern Inyo County It runs north-south between the Amargosa Range to the east and the Panamint Range to the west; the Sylvania Mountains and the Owlshead Mountains form its northern and southern boundaries, respectively. The Amargosa Range is a Mountain range in Inyo County California and Nye County Nevada. The Panamint Range is a short rugged Fault-block mountain range on the northern edge of the Mojave Desert in eastern California in the western The Sylvania Mountains are located in California and Nevada in the United States. The Owlshead Mountains are located at the southern end of Death Valley National Park near the border of the Fort Irwin Military Reservation in San Bernardino Borders define geographic boundaries of political entities or legal jurisdictions such as Governments States or subnational administrative It has an area of about 3,000 square miles (~7,800 km²). ^[1]

Death Valley Dunes

Geography

Death Valley

Geologically, Death Valley is considered one of the best examples of the Basin and Range configuration. Geology (from Greek γη gê, "earth" and λόγος Logos, "speech" lit The Basin and Range Province is a large geologic province which includes parts of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, typified by Basin and It lies at the southern end of a geological trough known as the Walker Lane which runs north into Oregon. The Walker Lane (also known as the Eastern California Shear Zone)is a geological trough oriented north-northwest-south-southeast roughly aligned with the border of the states The valley is bisected by a right lateral strike slip fault system, represented by the Death Valley Fault and the Furnace Creek Fault. The Death Valley Fault Zone (DVFZ is a right lateral-moving (dextral geologic fault in eastern California. The Furnace Creek Fault Zone (FCFZ is a right lateral-moving (dextral Geologic fault which extends for some 200 km (124 miles in eastern California. The eastern end of the left lateral Garlock Fault intersects the Death Valley Fault. The Garlock Fault is a left-lateral strike-slip fault line running approximately northeast - southwest in southern California. Located on the border of California and Nevada, Death Valley is the principal feature of the Mojave and Colorado Deserts Biosphere Reserve. The Mojave and Colorado Deserts Biosphere Reserve is a Biosphere reserve designated by UNESCO in 1984 to promote the ecological conservation of a cluster of areas Death valley also contains salt pans. Millions of years ago, there was an inland sea located over where Death Valley is today, but as the area turned to desert, the water evaporated, leaving behind the salt.

Temperatures in the Valley can range from up to 130 °F (54 °C) in the day in the summer, to below freezing at night in the winter. Fahrenheit is a temperature scale named after Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686–1736 a German Physicist who proposed it in 1724 The Celsius Temperature scale was previously known as the centigrade scale. The lowest temperature on record at Furnace Creek Inn is 15 °F (-9 °C). The National Climatic Center reports that temperatures at Furnace Creek reach 90 °F (32 °C) on an average of 189. 3 days annually and 100 °F (38 °C) on an average of 138. 0 days annually. Freezing temperatures occur on an average of 11. 7 days each year.

Many of Death Valley's narrow, serpentine roads were built in the 1930s and cannot be driven on at high speed. Badwater, located within Death Valley, is the specific location of the lowest point in North America. Badwater is a basin in California 's Death Valley, noted as the lowest point in North America, with an Elevation of below sea (Surprisingly, the highest point in the contiguous United States, Mount Whitney, is just 76 miles (123 km) west of Death Valley). The term continental United States refers to the 48 contiguous states located on the North American continent south of the border with Canada plus the District Mount Whitney is the highest summit in the Contiguous United States with an elevation of. At 282 feet (86 m) below sea level, Death Valley shares most of the characteristics found in other places around the world that lie below sea level. Mean sea level (MSL is the average (mean height of the Sea, with reference to a suitable reference surface The following is a list of places below mean Sea level that are on land not in tunnels mines or under water

Sometimes after winter rains Death Valley does not look like a desert for a few weeks

Generally, the lower the altitude of a place, the higher the temperatures tend to be. This is especially true in Death Valley, due to the mountains that encircle the valley. The valley radiates extreme amounts of heat, creating temperatures that are among the highest on earth. The hottest temperature ever recorded in the United States was 134 °F (56. This is a list of Weather records, a list of the most extreme occurrences of weather phenomena for various categories 7 °C) at Furnace Creek (then known as Greenland Ranch), during a sandstorm (according to National Weather Service records), on July 10, 1913. Furnace Creek is a Census-designated place (CDP in Inyo County, California, United States. Events 48 BC - Battle of Dyrrhachium, Julius Caesar barely avoids a catastrophic defeat to Pompey in Macedonia. Year 1913 ( MCMXIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common The highest average high temperature in July is 117 °F (47 °C) with temperatures of 122 °F (50 °C) or higher being very common. Parts of the valley receive less than 2 in (50 mm) of rain annually. Inches redirects here To see the Les Savy Fav album see Inches. The Millimetre ( American spelling: millimeter, symbol mm) is a unit of Length in the Metric system, equal to At Furnace Creek Inn, average annual precipitation is 2. 33 inches and there are an average of 18. 1 days annually with measurable precipitation. The greatest monthly precipitation was 2. 59 inches in January 1995 and 1. 47 inch of precipitation fell on April 15, 1988, the one-day record. The Amargosa River and Furnace Creek flow through the valley, disappearing into the sands of the valley floor. The Amargosa River is an intermittent stream approximately 200 mi (320 km long in southern Nevada and eastern California in the United States

During very wet periods, the Amargosa River can flow at the surface, as it did in Death Valley during the wet winter of 2005.

Winter storms moving inland from the Pacific Ocean must pass over mountain ranges to continue east. As the clouds rise up they cool and the moisture condenses to fall as rain or snow on the western side of the ranges. By the time the clouds reach the mountain's east side they no longer have as much available moisture, creating a dry "rainshadow". Four major mountain ranges lie between Death Valley and the ocean, each one adding to an increasingly drier rainshadow effect.

The depth and shape of Death Valley influence its summer temperatures. The valley is a long, narrow basin 85. 5 m (282 feet) 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. Heat radiates back from the rocks and soil, then becomes trapped in the valley's depths. Summer nights provide little relief as overnight lows may only dip into the 30°C to 35°C (85°F to 95°F) range. Heated air rises, yet is trapped by the high valley walls, is cooled and recycled back down to the valley floor. These pockets of descending air are only slightly cooler than the surrounding hot air. As they descend, they are compressed and heated even more by the low elevation air pressure. These moving masses of super heated air blow through the valley creating extreme high temperatures. [1] The average evaporation rate in the bottom of Death Valley is 150 inches a year.

While Death Valley gets very little rain, it is prone to flooding during heavy rains because the soil is unable to absorb the bulk of the water. The runoff can produce dangerous flash floods. A flash flood is a rapid flooding of geomorphic lowlying areas - washes rivers and streams In August 2004, such flooding caused two deaths and shut down the national park.

The National Climatic Center reports that, on a few rare occasions, light snow has fallen on the valley floor. The most recent snow flurries at Furnace Creek Inn were on January 5, 1974.

During the late Pleistocene, the valley was inundated by prehistoric Lake Manly. The Pleistocene ('plaɪstəsin is the epoch from 18 million to 10000 years BP covering the world's recent period Lake Manly was a large Freshwater Lake which filled the Death Valley ( United States) basin prior to the dry climatic period which has prevailed The valley received its name in 1849 during the California Gold Rush by emigrants who sought to cross the valley on their way to the gold fields. The California Gold Rush (1848&ndash1855 began on January 24 1848 when Gold was discovered by James Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California During the 1850s, gold and silver were extracted in the valley. In the 1880s, borax was discovered and extracted by mule-drawn wagons. Borax (from Persian burah) also known as sodium borate, sodium tetraborate, or disodium tetraborate, is an important Boron

Native population

Death Valley is home to the Timbisha tribe, who have inhabited the valley for at least the past 1000 years. The Timbisha ("red rock facepaint" are a Native American people who have lived in Death Valley California region of North America for over 1000 Some families still live in the valley at Furnace Creek. The name of the valley, tümpisa, means 'rock paint' and refers to the valley as a source of red ochre paint. Red ochre and yellow ochre (pronounced /'əʊkə/ from the Greek ὄχρος yellow are Pigments made from naturally tinted Clay. Another village in the valley was located in Grapevine Canyon near the present site of Scotty's Castle. Grapevine is an unincorporated community in Kern County located at the foot of a road grade known as the Grapevine through Tejon Pass in the Tehachapi Scotty's Castle is a two-story Spanish Villa located in northern Death Valley National Park, California, USA It was called maahunu in the Timbisha language, the meaning of which is uncertain although hunu means 'canyon'

In popular culture

Landsat 7 imagery of Death Valley. The Timbisha language (also called Panamint and spelled Tümpisa) is the language of the Native American people who have inhabited the region in and Landsat 7, launched on April 15, 1999, is the latest satellite of the Landsat program.

• The song Death Valley '69 by Sonic Youth mentions both Death Valley and the Charles Manson murders that took place in California in 1969. " Death Valley '69 " is a song by the American Alternative rock band Sonic Youth and is the eighth and final track on their 1985 album Sonic Youth is an American Alternative rock band formed in New York City in 1981 Murder is the unlawful killing of another human person with Malice aforethought, as defined in Common Law countries California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean.
• Mark Lanegan wrote a song called "Driving Death Valley Blues" on his 2004 album Bubblegum. Mark Lanegan (born November 25, 1964 in Ellensburg, Washington) is an American rock musician and Songwriter. Bubblegum is an album by Mark Lanegan, released in 2004 on the Beggars Banquet label under the name "Mark Lanegan Band" (see 2004 Bubblegum (or Bubble Gum) is a type of Chewing gum especially designed for blowing bubbles.
• Dir en grey has a song titled "Bottom of the Death Valley"
• Death Valley Days, a 420-episode television series ran from 1952 until 1975. Dir en grey is a Japanese band formed in 1997 and currently signed to Firewall Div Death Valley Days is a long-running American radio and Television anthology about true stories of the old American West However, some of it was shot in Apache Junction, Arizona. The State of Arizona ( is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States.
• The final chapters of Frank Norris's 1899 novel McTeague are set in Death Valley, and the final scenes of the film adaptation it inspired, Greed, were shot on location there. Benjamin Franklin Norris Jr ( March 5 1870 – October 25 1902) was an American novelist during the Progressive Era, writing The year 1899 in literature involved some significant new books McTeague is a novel by Frank Norris. First published in 1899, it is set in San Francisco. Greed is a 1924 dramatic Silent film. One of the most famous Lost films in cinema history it is also considered one of the greatest
• Death Valley is shown in the movies Death Valley, Queen of the Damned (where Lestat's concert took place), and Zabriskie Point (the location of the film's famous desert love scene). Queen of the Damned is a 2002 film adaptation of the third novel of Anne Rice 's The Vampire Chronicles series The Queen This article refers to the 1970 movie 'Zabriskie Point' For the soundtrack album see Zabriskie Point (album; for the natural monument see Zabriskie Point.
• It was a location for filming in the Star Wars films. Star Wars is an epic Space opera franchise initially conceived by George Lucas during the 1970s and significantly expanded
• It was a filming location for Six-String Samurai. Six-String Samurai is a 1998 post-apocalyptic action / Comedy Film directed by Lance Mungia. ^[2]
• WWE wrestler The Undertaker is billed from Death Valley, although he is really from Houston, Texas. World Wrestling Entertainment Inc ( WWE) is a publicly traded privately controlled integrated media (focusing in Television, Internet, Mark William Calaway (born March 24 1965 is an American professional wrestler, better known by his Ring name The Undertaker.
• Death Valley is the name given when referring transported from Death Valley to the Clemson University campus. A well-known tradition in college football is players "rubbing the rock" and running down a hill into Death Valley before the start of football games during the fall season. College football is American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, Colleges and military academies
• Robot Jox (1990) takes place in Death Valley, where the giant robots of two opposed superpower nations fight for the contested claim of Alaska in a post-apocalyptic world. Robot Jox is a 1990 Science fiction Film directed by Stuart Gordon, and starring Gary Graham, Anne-Marie Johnson Word origin and usage The term "mecha" is derived from the Japanese abbreviation for the English word " mechanical " A superpower is a State with a leading position in the international system and the ability to Influence events and project power on a worldwide scale Alaska ( Аляска Alyaska) is a state in the United States of America, in the northwest of the North American continent
• Death Valley is featured in the BBC documentary series Planet Earth. Planet Earth is an Emmy Award and Peabody Award -winning BBC Nature documentary series narrated by David Attenborough and
• A segment of the Kate Bush Documentary, "Come Back Kate Bush" had an interview took place in Death Valley; which Melanie Nelson was featured. Kate Bush (born Catherine Bush on 30 July 1958 is an English singer songwriter musician and Record producer.
• A song called "Death Valley Nights" appears on the 1977 Blue Oyster Cult album, Spectres. Blue Öyster Cult is an American rock band formed in New York in 1967 and still active in 2008
• Left-field in Yankee Stadium, home of the New York Yankees, is known as 'Death Valley' due to the image that a fly ball hit there appears to 'die' suddenly and drop. The original Yankee Stadium is a Stadium located in The Bronx in New York City. The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the borough of The Bronx, in New York City, New York. It also refers to the fact that during a day game, the left-fielder cannot see the baseball because the sun is directly in their eyes. A left fielder (LF is an Outfielder in the sport of Baseball who plays defense in left field. Baseball is a Bat-and-ball Sport played between two teams of nine players each

See also

• Places of interest in the Death Valley area
• Death Valley National Park
• Geology of the Death Valley area
• Death Valley pupfish
• Racetrack Playa
• Richard Benyo
• Stan Jones (songwriter)
• Mark Calaway

External links

• Death Valley on the PBS show Nature
• Death Valley travel guide from Wikitravel
• Pictures from Death Valley
• Death Valley in a Week: 1000 photos 800x600

References