Death Valley is a desert valley located in Eastern California that holds the record for the hottest place on Earth during summer. This extreme environment sits between the northern Mojave Desert and the Great Basin Desert.
Geographic Features Define Death Valley’s Extremes
Badwater Basin marks North America’s lowest point at 282 feet below sea level. The valley stretches 3,000 square miles across Inyo County, California, with Mount Whitney – the highest point in the contiguous United States – standing just 84.6 miles away.
Climate Creates Record-Breaking Heat
The valley’s unique climate comes from four mountain ranges blocking Pacific moisture. This creates extraordinary conditions:
- Highest recorded air temperature: 134°F (56.7°C) at Furnace Creek in 1913
- Highest surface temperature: 201°F (93.9°C) measured in 1972
- Longest streak above 100°F: 154 consecutive days in 2001
Natural Forces Shape The Valley
Heat Mechanics Drive Temperature Extremes
Four key factors create Death Valley’s intense heat:
- Solar heating of dark desert surface
- Warm air trapped by steep valley walls
- Hot winds from surrounding deserts
- Air compression from below-sea-level elevation
Water Shapes The Land
Despite averaging only 2.36 inches of rain annually, the valley transforms during rare floods. In 2005, rainfall created an ephemeral lake at Badwater Basin. Flash floods carve alluvial fans along the western edge.
Life Persists in Extreme Conditions
The harsh environment supports surprising biodiversity. Over 600 springs and ponds dot the valley. Salt Creek houses the rare Death Valley Pupfish, while Darwin Falls attracts over 80 bird species.
Human History Marks The Land
The Timbisha tribe lived here for millennia before European-American pioneers arrived in 1849. The valley got its name after pioneers believed it would become their grave, though only one perished. By the 1880s, miners extracted borax using mule-drawn wagons. In 1994, it became Death Valley National Park.
Citations:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_Valley
Death Valley is a desert valley in Eastern California, in the northern Mojave Desert, bordering the Great Basin Desert. It is thought to be the hottest place on Earth during summer.
| Death Valley | |
|---|---|
 Death Valley as seen from Space Shuttle Columbia in October 1995 | |
  Death Valley California | |
| Floor elevation | −282 ft (−86 m) |
| Area | 3,000 square miles (7,800 km2) |
| Geography | |
| Coordinates | 36°14′49″N 116°49′01″W / 36.24694°N 116.81694°W |
| Rivers | Furnace Creek Amargosa River |
Death Valley's Badwater Basin is the point of lowest elevation in North America, at 282 feet (86 m) below sea level. It is 84.6 miles (136.2 km) east-southeast of Mount Whitney – the highest point in the contiguous United States, with an elevation of 14,505 feet (4,421 m). On the afternoon of July 10, 1913, the United States Weather Bureau recorded a high temperature of 134 °F (56.7 °C) at Furnace Creek in Death Valley, which stands as the highest ambient air temperature ever recorded on the surface of the Earth. This reading, however, and several others taken in that period are disputed by some modern experts.
Lying mostly in Inyo County, California, near the border of California and Nevada, in the Great Basin, east of the Sierra Nevada mountains, Death Valley constitutes much of Death Valley National Park and is the principal feature of the Mojave and Colorado Deserts Biosphere Reserve. It runs from north to south between the Amargosa Range on the east and the Panamint Range on the west. The Grapevine Mountains and the Owlshead Mountains form its northern and southern boundaries, respectively. It has an area of about 3,000 sq mi (7,800 km2). The highest point in Death Valley National Park is Telescope Peak, in the Panamint Range, which has an elevation of 11,043 feet (3,366 m).
A group of European-American pioneers got lost here in the winter of 1849–1850, while looking for a shortcut to the gold fields of California, giving Death Valley its grim name. Although only one of the group members died here, they all assumed that the valley would be their grave. Death Valley is home to the Timbisha tribe of Native Americans, formerly known as the Panamint Shoshone, who have inhabited the valley for at least the past millennium.