Death Valley National Park
Death Valley National Park | |
---|---|
Location | California and Nevada, United States |
Nearest city | Lone Pine, California Beatty, Nevada |
Coordinates | 36°14′31″N 116°49′33″W / 36.24194°N 116.82583°W |
Area | 3,422,024 acres (13,848.44 km2)[2] |
Established | February 11, 1933 October 31, 1994 as a national park [3] | as a national monument
Visitors | 1,128,862 (in 2022)[4] |
Governing body | National Park Service |
Website | nps |
Death Valley National Park is an American
The park occupies an interface zone between the arid Great Basin and Mojave deserts, protecting the northwest corner of the Mojave Desert and its diverse environment of salt-flats, sand dunes, badlands, valleys, canyons and mountains.
Death Valley is the largest national park in the
The park is home to many species of plants and animals that have adapted to the harsh desert environment including creosote bush, Joshua tree, bighorn sheep, coyote, and the endangered Death Valley pupfish, a survivor from much wetter times. UNESCO included Death Valley as the principal feature of its Mojave and Colorado Deserts Biosphere Reserve in 1984.[7]
A series of
Several short-lived boom towns sprang up during the late 19th and early 20th centuries to mine gold and silver. The only long-term profitable ore to be mined was borax, which was transported out of the valley with twenty-mule teams. The valley later became the subject of books, radio programs, television series, and movies. Tourism expanded in the 1920s when resorts were built around Stovepipe Wells and Furnace Creek. Death Valley National Monument was declared in 1933 and the park was substantially expanded and became a national park in 1994.[3]
The natural environment of the area has been shaped largely by its geology. The valley is actually a graben with the oldest rocks being extensively metamorphosed and at least 1.7 billion years old.[8] Ancient, warm, shallow seas deposited marine sediments until rifting opened the Pacific Ocean. Additional sedimentation occurred until a subduction zone formed off the coast. The subduction uplifted the region out of the sea and created a line of volcanoes. Later the crust started to pull apart, creating the current Basin and Range landform. Valleys filled with sediment and, during the wet times of glacial periods, with lakes, such as Lake Manly.
Death Valley is the fifth-largest
Geographic setting
There are two major valleys in the park,
Uplift of surrounding mountain ranges and subsidence of the valley floor are both occurring. The uplift on the Black Mountains is so fast that the alluvial fans (fan-shaped deposits at the mouth of canyons) there are small and steep compared to the huge alluvial fans coming off the Panamint Range. Fast uplift of a mountain range in an arid environment often does not allow its canyons enough time to cut a classic V-shape all the way down to the stream bed. Instead, a V-shape ends at a slot canyon halfway down, forming a 'wine glass canyon.' Sediment is deposited on a small and steep alluvial fan.
At 282 feet (86 m) below sea level at its lowest point,[12] Badwater Basin on Death Valley's floor is the second-lowest depression in the Western Hemisphere (behind Laguna del Carbón in Argentina), while Mount Whitney, only 85 miles (137 km) to the west, rises to 14,505 feet (4,421 m) and is the tallest mountain in the contiguous United States.[11] This topographic relief is the greatest elevation gradient in the contiguous United States and is the terminus point of the Great Basin's southwestern drainage.[8] Although the extreme lack of water in the Great Basin makes this distinction of little current practical use, it does mean that in wetter times the lake that once filled Death Valley (Lake Manly) was the last stop for water flowing in the region, meaning the water there was saturated in dissolved materials. Thus, the salt pans in Death Valley are among the largest in the world and are rich in minerals, such as borax and various salts and hydrates.[13] The largest salt pan in the park extends 40 miles (64 km) from the Ashford Mill Site to the Salt Creek Hills, covering some 200 square miles (520 km2) of the valley floor.[13][note 1] The best known playa in the park is the Racetrack, known for its moving rocks.
Climate
According to the
Death Valley is the hottest and driest place in North America due to its lack of surface water and low relief. It is so frequently the hottest spot in the United States that many tabulations of the highest daily temperatures in the country omit Death Valley as a matter of course.[15][16]
On the afternoon of July 10, 1913, the United States Weather Bureau recorded a high temperature of 134 °F (56.7 °C) at Greenland Ranch (now Furnace Creek) in Death Valley.[17] This temperature stands as the highest ambient air temperature ever recorded at the surface of the Earth. (A report of a temperature of 58 °C (136.4 °F) recorded in Libya in 1922 was later determined to be inaccurate.)[18] Daily summer temperatures of 120 °F (49 °C) or greater are common, as well as below freezing nightly temperatures in the winter.[8] July is the hottest month, with an average high of 117 °F (47 °C) and an average low of 91 °F (33 °C). December is the coldest month, with an average high of 66 °F (19 °C) and an average low of 41 °F (5 °C). The record low is 15 °F (−9.4 °C). There are an average of 197.3 days annually with highs of 90 °F (32.2 °C) or higher and 146.9 days annually with highs of 100 °F (37.8 °C) or higher. Freezing temperatures of 32 °F (0 °C) or lower occur on an average of 8.6 days annually.
Several of the larger Death Valley springs derive their water from a regional aquifer, which extends as far east as southern Nevada and Utah. Much of the water in this aquifer has been there for many thousands of years, since the Pleistocene ice ages, when the climate was cooler and wetter. Today's drier climate does not provide enough precipitation to recharge the aquifer at the rate at which water is being withdrawn.[19]
The highest range within the park is the Panamint Range, with
The exaggerated rain shadow effect for the Death Valley area makes it North America's driest spot, receiving about 1.5 inches (38 mm) of rainfall annually at Badwater, and some years fail to register any measurable rainfall.[20] Annual average precipitation varies from 1.92 inches (49 mm) overall below sea level to over 15 inches (380 mm) in the higher mountains that surround the valley.[21] When rain does arrive it often does so in intense storms that cause flash floods which remodel the landscape and sometimes create very shallow ephemeral lakes.[22]
The hot, dry climate makes it difficult for soil to form.
There are rare exceptions to the dry nature of the area. In 2005, an unusually wet winter created a 'lake' in the Badwater Basin and led to the greatest wildflower season in the park's history.[24] In October 2015, a "1000 year flood event" with over three inches of rain caused major damage in Death Valley National Park.[25] A similar widespread storm in August 2022 damaged pavement and deposited debris on nearly every road, trapping 1,000 residents and visitors overnight.[26]
Climate data for Death Valley National Park, California, 1991–2020 normals,[a] extremes 1911–present | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Record high °F (°C) | 90 (32) |
97 (36) |
103 (39) |
113 (45) |
122 (50) |
128 (53) |
134 (57) |
130 (54) |
125 (52) |
113 (45) |
98 (37) |
89 (32) |
134 (57) |
Mean maximum °F (°C) | 78.4 (25.8) |
85.1 (29.5) |
95.4 (35.2) |
106.0 (41.1) |
113.6 (45.3) |
122.0 (50.0) |
125.9 (52.2) |
123.4 (50.8) |
118.1 (47.8) |
106.2 (41.2) |
90.0 (32.2) |
77.8 (25.4) |
126.7 (52.6) |
Mean daily maximum °F (°C) | 67.2 (19.6) |
73.7 (23.2) |
82.6 (28.1) |
91.0 (32.8) |
100.7 (38.2) |
111.1 (43.9) |
117.4 (47.4) |
115.9 (46.6) |
107.7 (42.1) |
93.3 (34.1) |
77.4 (25.2) |
65.6 (18.7) |
92.0 (33.3) |
Daily mean °F (°C) | 54.9 (12.7) |
61.3 (16.3) |
69.8 (21.0) |
77.9 (25.5) |
87.8 (31.0) |
97.5 (36.4) |
104.2 (40.1) |
102.3 (39.1) |
93.4 (34.1) |
78.9 (26.1) |
64.0 (17.8) |
53.4 (11.9) |
78.8 (26.0) |
Mean daily minimum °F (°C) | 42.5 (5.8) |
49.0 (9.4) |
57.1 (13.9) |
64.8 (18.2) |
75.0 (23.9) |
84.0 (28.9) |
91.0 (32.8) |
88.7 (31.5) |
79.1 (26.2) |
64.4 (18.0) |
50.5 (10.3) |
41.1 (5.1) |
65.6 (18.7) |
Mean minimum °F (°C) | 30.5 (−0.8) |
36.1 (2.3) |
42.8 (6.0) |
49.8 (9.9) |
58.5 (14.7) |
67.9 (19.9) |
78.3 (25.7) |
75.3 (24.1) |
65.4 (18.6) |
49.5 (9.7) |
35.9 (2.2) |
29.0 (−1.7) |
28.0 (−2.2) |
Record low °F (°C) | 15 (−9) |
20 (−7) |
26 (−3) |
35 (2) |
42 (6) |
49 (9) |
62 (17) |
65 (18) |
41 (5) |
32 (0) |
24 (−4) |
19 (−7) |
15 (−9) |
Average precipitation inches (mm) | 0.37 (9.4) |
0.52 (13) |
0.25 (6.4) |
0.10 (2.5) |
0.03 (0.76) |
0.05 (1.3) |
0.10 (2.5) |
0.10 (2.5) |
0.20 (5.1) |
0.12 (3.0) |
0.10 (2.5) |
0.26 (6.6) |
2.20 (56) |
Average precipitation days (≥ 0.01 in) | 2.4 | 2.9 | 2.0 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 0.8 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 1.6 | 16.0 |
Source: NOAA[27][28] |
Climate data for Death Valley (Cow Creek Station) | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Record high °F (°C) | 84 (29) |
89 (32) |
100 (38) |
110 (43) |
120 (49) |
125 (52) |
126 (52) |
125 (52) |
123 (51) |
111 (44) |
95 (35) |
84 (29) |
126 (52) |
Mean daily maximum °F (°C) | 64.4 (18.0) |
71.6 (22.0) |
80.6 (27.0) |
90.9 (32.7) |
100.0 (37.8) |
109.3 (42.9) |
116.0 (46.7) |
113.8 (45.4) |
106.9 (41.6) |
92.1 (33.4) |
75.4 (24.1) |
65.9 (18.8) |
90.6 (32.6) |
Daily mean °F (°C) | 52.5 (11.4) |
59.1 (15.1) |
67.4 (19.7) |
77.5 (25.3) |
86.4 (30.2) |
95.3 (35.2) |
102.1 (38.9) |
99.9 (37.7) |
92.1 (33.4) |
78.1 (25.6) |
62.3 (16.8) |
54.1 (12.3) |
77.2 (25.1) |
Mean daily minimum °F (°C) | 40.6 (4.8) |
46.6 (8.1) |
54.3 (12.4) |
64.1 (17.8) |
72.7 (22.6) |
81.2 (27.3) |
88.4 (31.3) |
86.0 (30.0) |
77.4 (25.2) |
64.0 (17.8) |
49.3 (9.6) |
42.4 (5.8) |
63.9 (17.7) |
Record low °F (°C) | 19 (−7) |
30 (−1) |
33 (1) |
45 (7) |
52 (11) |
54 (12) |
69 (21) |
69 (21) |
57 (14) |
40 (4) |
32 (0) |
27 (−3) |
19 (−7) |
Average precipitation inches (mm) | 0.24 (6.1) |
0.32 (8.1) |
0.20 (5.1) |
0.20 (5.1) |
0.10 (2.5) |
0.02 (0.51) |
0.10 (2.5) |
0.11 (2.8) |
0.12 (3.0) |
0.11 (2.8) |
0.20 (5.1) |
0.29 (7.4) |
2.00 (51) |
Source: http://www.wrcc.dri.edu[29] |
Human history
Early inhabitants and transient populations
Four
One thousand years ago, the nomadic Timbisha (formerly called Shoshone and also known as Panamint or Koso) moved into the area and hunted game and gathered mesquite beans along with pinyon pine nuts.[8][30] Because of the wide altitude differential between the valley bottom and the mountain ridges, especially on the west, the Timbisha practiced a vertical migration pattern.[8] Their winter camps were located near water sources in the valley bottoms. As the spring and summer progressed and the weather warmed, grasses and other plant food sources ripened at progressively higher altitudes. November found them at the very top of the mountain ridges where they harvested pine nuts before moving back to the valley bottom for winter.
The
After abandoning their wagons, they eventually were able to hike out of the valley. Just after leaving the valley, one of the women in the group turned and said, "Goodbye Death Valley," giving the valley its name.
Boom and bust
The ores that are most famously associated with the area were also the easiest to collect and the most profitable: evaporite deposits such as salts, borate, and talc. Borax was found by Rosie and Aaron Winters near The Ranch at Death Valley (then called Greenland) in 1881.[32] Later that same year, the Eagle Borax Works became Death Valley's first commercial borax operation. William Tell Coleman built the Harmony Borax Works plant and began to process ore in late 1883 or early 1884, continuing until 1888.[33] This mining and smelting company produced borax to make soap and for industrial uses.[34] The end product was shipped out of the valley 165 miles (266 km) to the Mojave railhead in 10-ton-capacity wagons pulled by "twenty-mule teams" that were actually teams of 18 mules and two horses each.[34]
The teams averaged two miles (3 km) an hour and required about 30 days to complete a round trip.
Other visitors stayed to prospect for and mine deposits of copper, gold, lead, and silver.[8] These sporadic mining ventures were hampered by their remote location and the harsh desert environment. In December 1903, two men from Ballarat were prospecting for silver.[35] One was an out-of-work Irish miner named Jack Keane and the other was a one-eyed Basque butcher named Domingo Etcharren. Quite by accident, Keane discovered an immense ledge of free-milling gold by the duo's work site and named the claim the Keane Wonder Mine. This started a minor and short-lived gold rush into the area.[35] The Keane Wonder Mine, along with mines at Rhyolite, Skidoo and Harrisburg, were the only ones to extract enough metal ore to make them worthwhile. Outright shams such as Leadfield also occurred, but most ventures quickly ended after a short series of prospecting mines failed to yield evidence of significant ore (these mines now dot the entire area and are a significant hazard to anyone who enters them). The boom towns which sprang up around these mines flourished during the first decade of the 1900s, but soon declined after the Panic of 1907.[33]
Early tourism
The first documented tourist facilities in Death Valley were a set of tent houses built in the 1920s where Stovepipe Wells is now located. People flocked to resorts built around natural springs thought to have curative and restorative properties. In 1927, Pacific Coast Borax turned the crew quarters of its Furnace Creek Ranch into a resort, creating the Furnace Creek Inn and resort.[36] The spring at Furnace Creek was harnessed to develop the resort, and as the water was diverted, the surrounding marshes and wetlands started to shrink.[19]
Soon the valley was a popular winter destination. Other facilities started off as private getaways but were later opened to the public. Most notable among these was Death Valley Ranch, better known as
Protection and later history
President
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) developed infrastructure in Death Valley National Monument during the Great Depression and on into the early 1940s. The CCC built barracks, graded 500 miles (800 km) of roads, installed water and telephone lines, and a total of 76 buildings. Trails in the Panamint Range were built to points of scenic interest, and an adobe village, laundry and trading post were constructed for the Timbisha Shoshone Tribe. Five campgrounds, restrooms, an airplane landing field and picnic facilities were also built.[39]
The creation of the monument resulted in a temporary closing of the lands to prospecting and mining. However, Death Valley was quickly reopened to mining by
Death Valley National Monument was designated a
Many of the larger cities and towns within the boundary of the regional
In 1977, parts of Death Valley were used by director George Lucas as a filming location for Star Wars, providing the setting for the fictional planet Tatooine.[42][43]
Geologic history
Era | Rock Units/Formations | Principal Geologic Events |
---|---|---|
Cenozoic | Alluvial fans, stream, and playa deposits, dunes, numerous sedimentary, volcanic, and plutonic units in separate and interconnected basins and igneous fields (includes Artist Drive, Furnace Creek, Funeral, and Nova Formations). | Major unconformity, continued deposition in modern Death Valley, opening of modern Death Valley, continuing development of present ranges and basins, onset of major extension. |
Mesozoic | Granitic plutons, Butte Valley | Thrust faulting and intrusion of plutons related to Sierra Nevada batholith; shallow marine deposition; unconformity. |
Paleozoic | Resting spring Shale, Tin Mountain Limestone, Lost Burro, Hidden Valley Dolomite, Eureka Quartzite, Nopah, Bonanza King, Carrara, Zabriskie Quartzite, Wood Canyon. | Development of a long-continuing carbonate bank on a passive continental margin; numerous intervals of emergence, interrupted by deposition of a blanket of sandstone in Middle Ordovician time. Deposition of a wedge of silliciclastic sediment during and immediately following the rifting along a new continental margin. |
Proterozoic | Crystalline basement, Pahrump, Stirling Quartzite, Johnnie, Ibex, Noonday Dolomite, Kingston Peak, Beck Spring, Crystal Spring. | Regional metamorphism, Major unconformity, rapid uplift and erosion, shallow marine deposition, glacio-marine deposition, unconformity. Shallow to deep marine deposition along an incipient continental margin. |
The park has a diverse and complex geologic history. Since its formation, the area that comprises the park has experienced at least four major periods of extensive
Basement and Pahrump Group
Little is known about the history of the oldest exposed rocks in the area due to extensive metamorphism (alteration of rock by heat and pressure). Radiometric dating gives an age of 1,700 million years for the metamorphism during the Proterozoic.[8] About 1,400 million years ago a mass of granite now in the Panamint Range intruded this complex.[45] Uplift later exposed these rocks to nearly 500 million years of erosion.[45]
The Proterozoic sedimentary
Rifting and deposition
A rift opened and subsequently flooded the region as part of the breakup of the supercontinent Rodinia in the Neoproterozoic (by about 755 million years ago) and the creation of the Pacific Ocean. A shoreline similar to the present Atlantic Ocean margin of the United States lay to the east. An algal mat-covered carbonate bank was deposited, forming the Noonday Dolomite.[47] Subsidence of the region occurred as the continental crust thinned and the newly formed Pacific widened, forming the Ibex Formation. An angular unconformity (an uneven gap in the geologic record) followed.
A true
The sandy mudflats gave way about 550 million years ago to a carbonate platform (similar to the one around the present-day
Compression and uplift
In the early-to-mid-
A long period of uplift and erosion was concurrent with and followed the above events, creating a major unconformity, which is a large gap in the geologic record. Sediments worn off the Death Valley region were carried both east and west by wind and water.[51] No Jurassic- to Eocene-aged sedimentary formations exist in the area, except for some possibly Jurassic-age volcanic rocks (see the top of the timescale image).[51]
Stretching and lakes
Basin and Range-associated stretching of large parts of crust below southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico started around 16 million years ago and the region is still spreading.[8] This stretching began to affect the Death and Panamint valleys area by 3 million years ago.[52] Before this, rocks now in the Panamint Range were on top of rocks that would become the Black Mountains and the Cottonwood Mountains. Lateral and vertical transport of these blocks was accomplished by movement on normal faults. Right-lateral movement along strike-slip faults that run parallel to and at the base of the ranges also helped to develop the area.[53] Torsional forces, probably associated with northwesterly movement of the Pacific Plate along the San Andreas Fault (west of the region), is responsible for the lateral movement.[52]
Igneous activity associated with this stretching occurred from 12 million to 4 million years ago.[53] Sedimentation is concentrated in valleys (basins) from material eroded from adjacent ranges. The amount of sediment deposited has roughly kept up with this subsidence, resulting in the retention of more or less the same valley floor elevation over time.[54]
Pleistocene ice ages started 2 million years ago, and melt from alpine glaciers on the nearby Sierra Nevada Mountains fed a series of lakes that filled Death and Panamint valleys and surrounding basins (see the top of the timescale image). The lake that filled Death Valley was the last of a chain of lakes fed by the Amargosa and Mojave Rivers, and possibly also the Owens River. The large lake that covered much of Death Valley's floor, which geologists call Lake Manly, started to dry up 10,500 years ago.[55] Salt pans and playas were created as ice age glaciers retreated, thus drastically reducing the lakes' water source. Only faint shorelines are left.
Biology
Small mammals are more numerous than large mammals, such as bighorn sheep, coyotes, bobcats, kit foxes, cougars, and mule deer.[57] Mule deer are present in the pinyon/juniper associations of the Grapevine, Cottonwood, and Panamint ranges.[57] Bighorn sheep are a rare species of mountain-dwelling sheep that exist in isolated bands in the Sierra and in Death Valley. These are highly adaptable animals and can eat almost any plant. They have no known predators, but humans and burros compete for habitat.
The ancestors of the Death Valley pupfish swam to the area from the Colorado River via a long-since dried-up system of rivers and lakes (see Lake Manly). They now live in two separate populations: one in Salt Creek and another in Cottonball Marsh. Death Valley is one of the hottest and driest places in North America, yet it is home to over 1,000 species of plants; 23 of which, including the very rare rock lady (Holmgrenanthe), are not found anywhere else.[56]
Adaptation to the dry environment is key. For example, creosote bush and mesquite have tap-
Unlike more typical locations across the Mojave Desert, many of the water-dependent Death Valley habitats possess a diversity of plant and animal species that are not found anywhere else in the world.[19] The existence of these species is due largely to a unique geologic history and the process of evolution that has progressed in habitats that have been isolated from one another since the Pleistocene epoch.[59]
Activities
Sightseeing is available by personal automobile,
There are nine designated campgrounds within the park, and overnight backcountry camping permits are available at the Visitor Center..
Furnace Creek Visitor Center is located on CA-190. A 22-minute introductory slide program is shown every 30 minutes.[66] During the winter season—November through April—rangers offer interpretive tours and a wide variety of walks, talks, and slide presentations about Death Valley cultural and natural history. The visitor center has displays dealing with the park's geology, climate, wildlife and natural history. There are also specific sections dealing with the human history and pioneer experience. The Death Valley Natural History Association maintains a bookstore specifically geared to the natural and cultural history of the park.
The northeast corner of
Death Valley National Park is a popular location for
See also
- Henry Wade Exit Route California Historic Landmark
- List of nationally protected areas of the United States
- National parks in California
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Death Valley National Park
Notes
- ^ Mean maxima and minima (i.e. the highest and lowest temperature readings during an entire month or year) calculated based on data at said location from 1991 to 2020.
References
Explanatory notes
Citations
- ^ "Death Valley". protectedplanet.net. Protected Planet. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
- ^ "Listing of acreage – December 31, 2012" (XLSX). Land Resource Division, National Park Service. Retrieved March 16, 2014. (National Park Service Acreage Reports)
- ^ a b c d National Park Index (2001–2003), p. 26
- ^ "NPS Annual Recreation Visits Report". National Park Service. Retrieved July 25, 2023.
- ^ "Death Valley National Park (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Archived from the original on January 26, 2017. Retrieved January 26, 2017.
- ^ "Backcountry Roads – Death Valley National Park". nps.gov. National Park Service. August 25, 2019. Archived from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved December 7, 2020.
- ^ "Biosphere Reserve Information – United States of America – Mojave and Colorado Deserts". unesco.org. UNESCO. November 3, 2005. Retrieved June 22, 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wright and Miller 1997, p. 611
- ^ "National Park Service Acreage Reports". nps.gov. National Park Service. December 31, 2021. Retrieved February 28, 2022.
Acreage report for calendar year ending December 31, 2021. The leftmost column titled "Gross Area Acres" under the "Listing of Acreage" tab was utilized as the source.
- ^ "Death Valley National Park (U.S.)". darksky.org. International Dark-Sky Association. n.d. Archived from the original on October 27, 2020. Retrieved December 7, 2020.
- ^ a b Sharp 1997, p. 1
- ^ "USGS National Elevation Dataset (NED) 1 meter Downloadable Data Collection from The National Map 3D Elevation Program (3DEP)". United States Geological Survey. September 21, 2015. Archived from the original on March 25, 2019. Retrieved September 22, 2015.
- ^ a b Wright and Miller 1997, p. 625
- ^ "USDA Interactive Plant Hardiness Map". United States Department of Agriculture. Archived from the original on July 4, 2019. Retrieved July 3, 2019.
- ^ Hickcox, David H., "Temperature extremes. (United States) (1996 Weather)", Weatherwise, February 1, 1997. Abstract here
- ^ Hickcox, David, "Temperature extremes. (daily maximum and minimum temperatures in the US)", Weatherwise, March 1, 1999; abstract at Encyclopedia.com
- ^ "World Meteorological Organization World Weather/Climate Extremes Archive". Archived from the original on January 4, 2013. Retrieved January 10, 2013.
- .
- ^ a b c d USGS 2004, p. "Furnace Creek"
- ^ Wright and Miller 1997, pp. 610–611
- ^ USGS weather
- ^ "Flash Floods of 2015 – Death Valley National Park (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved February 3, 2018.
- ^ Kiver 1999, p. 283
- ^ "Death Valles Alive with Wildflowers". NBC News. AP. March 14, 2005. Retrieved July 31, 2019.
- ^ "After historic flooding, Death Valley gears up for 'a long, hard recovery'". LA Times. November 10, 2015. Retrieved May 11, 2016.
- ^ a b Wigglesworth, Alex; Ryan, Harriet (August 7, 2022). "Destructive rain in Death Valley and flooded Vegas casinos mark a summer of extreme weather". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 7, 2022.
- ^ "NOWData - NOAA Online Weather Data". National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved June 12, 2021.
- ^ "Summary of Monthly Normals 1991-2020". National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved June 12, 2021.
- ^ WRCC. "Western U.S. Climate Historical Summaries Weather". Desert Research Institute. Retrieved June 3, 2009.
- ^ a b c d Wallace 1978
- ^ a b Kiver 1999, p. 277
- ^ a b c USGS 2004, p. "Harmony Borax Works"
- ^ a b c d NPS website, "Mining"
- ^ a b NPS website, "Twenty Mule Teams"
- ^ a b NPS website, "People"
- ^ NPS website, "Furnace Creek Inn"
- ^ NPS website, "Johnson and Scotty Build a Castle"
- ^ a b NPS Visitor Guide
- ^ NPS website, "Civilian Conservation Corps"
- ^ "Mining in Death Valley - Death Valley National Park". www.nps.gov. Archived from the original on March 6, 2015. Retrieved October 29, 2021.
- ^ "S.47 – John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act; Part III—National Park System additions; Sec. 1431. Death Valley National Park boundary revision". congress.gov. Retrieved June 16, 2019.
- ISBN 0-8109-4968-7.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link - ^ "Star Wars trek: Death Valley – April 2001". Star Wars Locations. Retrieved March 28, 2012.
- ^ "USGS Changing Climates and Ancient Lakes". USGS Western Region Geology and Geophysics Science Center. December 18, 2009. Retrieved November 15, 2023.
- ^ a b Wright and Miller 1997, p. 631
- ^ Wright and Miller 1997, pp. 631–632
- ^ Wright and Miller 1997, p. 632
- ^ a b c d Wright and Miller 1997, p. 634
- ^ Kiver 1999, p. 281
- ^ Barth, A.P. (August 1, 2011). "Birth of the Sierra Nevada magmatic arc: Early Mesozoic plutonism and volcanism in the east-central Sierra Nevada of California". Geological Society of America. 7 (4) (2011): 877–897 – via Geoscience World.
- ^ a b Wright and Miller 1997, p. 635
- ^ a b Kiver 1999, p. 278
- ^ a b Wright and Miller 1997, p. 616
- ^ "Death Valley Geology". National Park Service. January 9, 2022. Retrieved November 15, 2023.
- ^ Sharp 1997, p. 41
- ^ a b c NPS website, "Plants"
- ^ a b c NPS website, "Animals"
- ^ "NPS Death Valley General Management Plan". National Park Service. November 15, 2023. Retrieved November 15, 2023.
- ^ "National Park Service Death Valley Geologic Formations". National Park Service. September 29, 2021. Retrieved November 15, 2023.
- ^ "Outdoor Activities". nps.gov. National Park Service. April 21, 2019. Retrieved February 14, 2020.
- ^ Joe Berk (September–October 2008). "Death Valley by motorcycle". Motorcycle Classics. Retrieved August 6, 2009.
- ^ NPS 2002, p. 55
- ^ "Death Valley National Park Fees & Passes". National Park Service. Retrieved December 31, 2021.
- ^ Death Valley National Park – Flash Floods of 2015, National Park Service
- ^ NPS website, "Campgrounds"
- ^ NPS website, "Ranger Programs"
- ^ "Chicken Strip Reopens | Recreational Aviation Foundation". theraf.org. Archived from the original on February 4, 2016. Retrieved April 19, 2018.
- ^ NPS website, "Lightscape / Night Sky"
- ^ "Death Valley". caglow.com. Retrieved January 4, 2011.
- ^ "Light pollution map". www.lightpollutionmap.info. Retrieved July 13, 2018.
- ^ "bortle dark sky scale". www.handprint.com. Retrieved July 13, 2018.
- ^ "A Challenge in Visual Athletics: Hunting the Gegenschein – Universe Today". Universe Today. February 3, 2016. Retrieved July 13, 2018.
- ^ "Light pollution map". www.lightpollutionmap.info. Retrieved July 13, 2018.
Bibliography
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Park Service.
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Geological Survey.
- Kiver, Eugene P.; David V. Harris (1999). Geology of U.S. Parklands (Fifth ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-471-33218-3.
- National Park Service (2001–2003). The National Parks Index (PDF). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of the Interior. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 13, 2007. Retrieved October 5, 2008.
- National Park Service (April 2002). Death Valley General Management Plan (PDF). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of the Interior. Retrieved September 28, 2008.
- National Park Service. Death Valley National Park Visitor Guide 2008/2009 (PDF). U.S. Department of the Interior. Retrieved September 28, 2008.
- National Park Service. "Death Valley National Park website". U.S. Department of the Interior. Retrieved September 17, 2008. (adapted public domain text)
- Rothman, Hal K., and Char Miller. Death Valley National Park: A History (University of Nevada Press; 2013) 216 pages; an environmental and human history
- Sharp, Robert P.; Allen F. Glazner (1997). Geology Underfoot in Death Valley and Owens Valley. Missoula, Montana: Mountain Press Publishing Company. ISBN 978-0-87842-362-0.
- U.S. Geological Survey (January 13, 2004). "Death Valley National Park Virtual Geology Field Trip". Archived from the original on September 22, 2008. Retrieved September 16, 2008. (adapted public domain text)
- U.S. Geological Survey (January 13, 2004). "Death Valley's Incredible Weather". Archived from the original on June 1, 2008. Retrieved October 5, 2008.
- Wallace, William James; Edith Wallace (1978). Ancient Peoples and Cultures of Death Valley National Monument. Ramona, CA: Acoma Books. ISBN 978-0-916552-12-1.
- Wright, Laureen A.; Miller, Martin G. (1997). "Chapter 46: Death Valley National Park, Eastern California and southwestern Nevada". In Ann G. Harris (ed.). Geology of National Parks (Fifth ed.). Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt Publishing. pp. 610–637. ISBN 978-0-7872-1065-6.
External links
- Death Valley National Park by the National Park Service
- 1920s images of Death Valley and Surrounding Locales from the Death Valley Region Photographs Digital Collection: Utah State University
- Death Valley National Park by the Death Valley Conservancy
- Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. CA-300, "Death Valley National Park Roads, Death Valley Junction, Inyo County, CA", 25 photos, 8 color transparencies, 3 photo caption pages
- "In Death Valley, a Rare Lake Comes Alive". nytimes.com. The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 28, 2023. Retrieved November 28, 2023.
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