Death Valley

Death Valley is a very hot desert. It is in a place called California. The ground is very dry. The sun heats the dark sand. High mountains surround the valley. These mountains stop rain from reaching the land. This makes the valley even drier. Long ago, a big lake lived here. Now, the lake is gone. Only white salt stays on the ground.

Some small fish live in the water here. Many pretty flowers bloom in the spring.

Death Valley is a desert in California. It is one of the hottest places on Earth. In 1913, the air reached 134 °F. Some experts still argue about this number. The valley is very low. Badwater Basin is the lowest spot in North America. It sits below sea level.

Why is it so hot? Many things work together. First, the air is clear and dry. This lets the sun heat the dark ground. Next, high mountains surround the valley. These mountains act like walls. They trap warm air inside. The mountains also block rain. Moist air from the ocean hits the mountains first. It falls as rain on the other side. By the time the air reaches the valley, it is dry. This is called a rain shadow.

Long ago, a big lake called Lake Manly was here. As the land became a desert, the water dried up. It left behind white salt. This salt can look like snow when it mixes with rain. Even in this heat, life finds a way. Small pupfish live in some pools. Many flowers bloom in the spring.

Death Valley is a famous desert valley in California. It is part of the Mojave Desert. This place is known for many extremes. It holds the record for the hottest surface temperature on Earth. The lowest spot in North America is also here. It is called Badwater Basin. This area sits below sea level.

Many things work together to make the valley so hot. First, the air is very clear and dry. This allows the sun to heat the dark ground and rocks directly. The valley is also shaped like a long, narrow bowl. High, steep mountains act like walls around it. These walls trap warm air inside the basin. The air is recycled back to the floor instead of escaping.

Mountains also create a rain shadow. This is a way that mountains block moisture. Air from the Pacific Ocean moves toward the valley. It hits the large mountain ranges first. As the air moves up the mountains, it cools and drops rain or snow. By the time the air reaches the valley floor, it is very dry. This is why the valley sees so little rainfall.

People have a long history with this land. The Timbisha tribe has lived here for at least a thousand years. They call the valley Tümpisa, which means "rock paint." This name comes from red clay found there. Later, in the winter of 1849, a group of pioneers traveled through. They were part of the California gold rush. They called themselves the Death Valley 49ers because they feared they would not survive.

Even in this heat, life can be found. In the spring, flowers often carpet the desert floor. You might see bighorn sheep or red-tailed hawks. Some small fish, called pupfish, live in isolated pools. Long ago, a large lake called Lake Manly covered the area. As the water evaporated, it left behind white salt pans. Sometimes, heavy rain can create a temporary lake.

These lakes eventually dry up again.

Death Valley is a desert valley located in eastern California within the northern Mojave Desert. It is a place defined by extreme geographic and climatic conditions. The valley contains the hottest surface temperature ever recorded on Earth. It also holds the lowest elevation in North America at Badwater Basin. This basin sits below sea level. Death Valley is a major part of Death Valley National Park. It also serves as a principal feature of the Mojave and Colorado Deserts Biosphere Reserve.

Geologically, Death Valley is classified as a graben. A graben is a block of land that has dropped down between two mountain ranges. The valley sits at the southern end of a geological trough called Walker Lane. This trough extends north toward Oregon. The valley floor is split by a right lateral strike-slip fault system. This system includes the Death Valley Fault and the Furnace Creek Fault. The eastern end of the Garlock Fault intersects with the Death Valley Fault. Water from the Furnace Creek and Amargosa River flows through the valley. These waters eventually disappear into the valley sands.

During the middle of the Pleistocene era, the valley looked very different. This geological period ended roughly 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. At that time, an inland lake called Lake Manly existed in the valley.

This lake was part of a long chain of lakes. This chain began with Mono Lake in the north. It continued through the Owens River Valley and various other basins. As the climate changed, the area turned into a desert. The water evaporated over time. This left behind large amounts of evaporitic salts. These include common sodium salts and borax. People exploited these salts between 1883 and 1907.

The climate in Death Valley is a subtropical, hot desert climate. It features long, extremely hot summers and short, warm winters. There is very little rainfall in the region. This dryness is caused by a rain shadow effect from four major mountain ranges. These include the Sierra Nevada and the Panamint Range. Air masses move inland from the Pacific Ocean toward the valley. As these air masses are forced upward by the mountains, they cool. The moisture condenses and falls as rain or snow on the western slopes. By the time the air reaches Death Valley, most moisture is gone. This leaves very little left to fall as precipitation.

Several factors work together to create the extreme heat. First, intense solar heating occurs because the air is clear and dry. The land is dark and has very little plant cover. This allows the sun to heat the soil and rocks directly. Second, the high, steep valley walls trap warm air. This air is subject to continual reheating as it is recycled back to the floor. The north-south orientation of the valley also traps air. Third, warm air moves in from adjacent desert regions through advection. Finally, warm mountain winds, known as foehn winds, blow into the area. These winds are warmed when water vapor condenses into clouds. The low elevation also compresses the air, which heats it further.

Temperature records in the valley are quite remarkable. On July 10, 1913, the United States Weather Bureau recorded 134 °F at Furnace Creek. This is the highest ambient air temperature ever recorded on Earth's surface. However, some modern experts dispute the accuracy of this 1913 reading. On June 30, 2013, a verified temperature of 129 °F was recorded. This tied with Mitribah, Kuwait, for the hottest reliably measured air temperature. The highest ground surface temperature was recorded on July 15, 1972. That temperature reached 170 °F at Furnace Creek. The valley can also be very dry for long periods. Between 1931 and 1934, the valley saw only 0.52 inches of rain over 40 months.

Despite the harsh environment, Death Valley supports various life forms. It has over 600 springs and ponds. In the spring, flowers can carpet the desert floor. You can find bighorn sheep, red-tailed hawks, and feral donkeys here. Some species, like the Death Valley pupfish, live in isolated pools. These fish are remnants of the wetter Pleistocene climate. The Timbisha tribe has inhabited this valley for at least a millennium. They call the valley Tümpisa, which means "rock paint." This refers to the red ochre found in the valley. Even rare weather events create change. In 2005, heavy rain created a temporary lake in Badwater Basin.

This lake eventually evaporated, leaving behind salt flats once again.