Editing Death Valley National Park (section)

===Compression and uplift===
[[File:Lake Manly system.gif|thumb|The [[Lake Manly]] lake system as it might have looked during its last maximum extent 22,000 years ago<ref name="Kiver1999p281">{{harvnb|Kiver|1999|p=281}}</ref> (USGS image)]]
In the early-to-mid- [[Mesozoic]] the western edge of the North American continent was pushed against the oceanic plate under the Pacific Ocean, creating a [[subduction]] zone.<ref name="Wright1997p634"/> A subduction zone is a type of contact between different crustal plates where heavier crust slides below lighter crust. Erupting volcanoes and uplifting mountains were created as a result, and the coastline was pushed to the west. The [[Sierran Arc]] started to form to the northwest from heat and pressure generated from subduction, and compressive forces caused [[thrust fault]]s to develop.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Barth |first=A.P. |date=August 1, 2011 |title=Birth of the Sierra Nevada magmatic arc: Early Mesozoic plutonism and volcanism in the east-central Sierra Nevada of California |url=https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/geosphere/article/7/4/877/132472/Birth-of-the-Sierra-Nevada-magmatic-arc-Early |journal=Geological Society of America |volume=7 (4) |issue=2011 |pages=877–897 |via=Geoscience World}}</ref>

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.<ref name="Wright1997p635"/> No Jurassic- to [[Eocene]]-aged sedimentary formations exist in the area, except for some possibly Jurassic-age [[volcanic rock]]s (see the top of the [[:image:Geologic events in Death Valley.png|timescale image]]).<ref name="Wright1997p635">{{harvnb|Wright and Miller|1997|p=635}}</ref>