Geology of the Death Valley Region

Introduction

Death Valley is perhaps the most geologically diverse region in the world. In terms of petrology, landforms, geologic structures, stratigraphy and tectonic history, the region has geologic variety matched only by its geographic extremes of topography and climate. As such, the Death Valley area has been a popular destination for geology field trips for many years. There are many geologic guides available for the Death Valley region that range from extremely technical refereed journal articles to pamphlets written for the general public. We have attempted to summarize this information as well as include some information not always found in other guides. First, since the advent of GPS tracking devices, the exact location of a particular geologic feature is easy to locate. Secondly, color photographs are now easily transmitted via computer. Thirdly, detailed location descriptions should also include timing and access information for the best time (in terms of weather and lighting) and route to visit a particular site. This virtual field trip and guide is an attempt to offer these last items for some of the better geologic sites in and around Death Valley National Park. Thus each location described is given the latitude and longitude in degrees and minutes, road directions, best time of day and year to visit, an explanation of what is there, a photograph of the site and a few pertinent references.

We have been using many of these sites for field trips for our students for many years. Others have been added because research by many of the authors cited in the references has revealed their significance only in recent years. The references cited for each are not meant to be exhaustive. We have tried to list references that should generally be obtainable at any university library. For a general overview of the geology of Death Valley, we recommend Wright and Miller (2004), Miller and Wright (2004), the Death Valley National Park website, and Sharp and Glasner (1997). For more detail on each selected site, please refer to the references cited for many of the locations.

The organization of the site descriptions generally starts in the far south of the national park and then proceeds north. We have provided mileages to each site from major, easily locatable landmarks such as towns and major road intersections. Latitude and longitude locations are given in degrees, minutes and decimals of minutes rather than seconds because that is the system that seems to be used by most people navigating in their vehicles using GPS. Speaking of vehicles, some of these sites are quite remote from pavement and thus if any high clearance or four-wheel-drive vehicle is needed, it is so noted this in the description.

To best use this guide in the field, one will need a good map. We recommend the Automobile Club’s Death Valley National Park Map. Also, the Trails Illustrated and other topography-based general maps are also very useful. While most of the locations are obvious once you are within a few hundred yards, the GPS coordinates will help you find the location more precisely if you are unsure of what you’re looking for. Of course, with the GPS coordinates, one can input the data into a good mapping program and obtain an exact location. Many will prefer this method. The National Park Service’s Death Valley Website contains some good information on geology (there is a joint USGS field trip available) and this site is most useful for current road information. We have included a very general satellite map with the site locations at the end of the website after the references.

Special thanks are due to the following people who pointed things out to us in the field or otherwise: Tom Clements, Bill Fischer, Carl Hansen, Robert Pease, Bob Reynolds, Larry Spear, Zeke Snow, Dick Stone, Alan Swarm, Bennie Troxel, Brian Wernicke, and Lauren Wright.

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