Editing Death Valley (section)

==Geology==
{{Main|Geology of the Death Valley area}}
[[File:DeathValley03July17-250.tif|thumb|left|Death Valley, California, July 3, 2017, [[Sentinel-2]] true-color [[satellite image]], scale 1:250,000.]]
[[File:California Pleistocene Lakes USGS.png|thumb|upright=1.75|Map showing the system of once-interconnected Pleistocene lakes in eastern California (USGS)]]

Death Valley is a [[graben]]—a downdropped block of land between two mountain ranges.<ref>{{cite book|title=Geology Underfoot in Death Valley and Owens Valley|first1=RP|last1=Sharp|first2=AF|last2=Glazner|publisher=Mountain Press Publishing|year=1997|page=195}}</ref> It lies at the southern end of a geological [[trough (geology)|trough]], [[Walker Lane]], which runs north to Oregon. The valley is bisected by a right lateral [[strike slip fault]] system, comprising the [[Death Valley Fault]] and the [[Furnace Creek Fault]]. The eastern end of the left lateral [[Garlock Fault]] intersects the Death Valley Fault. Furnace Creek and the [[Amargosa River]] flow through part of the valley and eventually disappear into the sands of the valley floor.

Death Valley also contains [[salt pan (geology)|salt pans]]. According to current geological consensus, at various times during the middle of the [[Pleistocene]] era, which ended roughly 10,000–12,000 years ago, an inland lake, [[Lake Manly]], formed in Death Valley. The lake was nearly {{convert|100|mi|km}} long and {{convert|600|ft|m}} deep. The end-basin in a chain of lakes that began with [[Mono Lake]], in the north, and continued through basins down the [[Owens River Valley]], through Searles and China Lakes and the Panamint Valley, to the immediate west.<ref>{{cite web|title=Image of the Day: Lake Badwater, Death Valley|url=http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=37536&src=eoa|publisher=NASA|work=Earth Observing System|date=March 18, 2009|access-date=April 16, 2009}}</ref>

As the area turned to desert, the water evaporated, leaving an abundance of evaporitic salts, such as common sodium salts and [[borax]], which were later exploited during the modern history of the region, primarily 1883 to 1907.<ref>{{cite web|author1=Celeste Cosby|author2=Jeanette Hawkins|author3=Jani Kushla|author4=Molly Robinson|title=Boron Minerals of Death Valley|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080317215452/http://www.science.smith.edu/departments/Geology/dv/Boron/home.html|archive-date=March 17, 2008|publisher=Clark Science Center, Smith College|year=2009|url=http://www.science.smith.edu/departments/Geology/dv/Boron/home.html#History|url-status=dead}}</ref>