Re: topographically
Posted by Art Berggreen on January 30, 2002 at 22:42:22:
In Reply to: topographically posted by jose a baeza on January 30, 2002 at 19:55:08:
DV is part of the "Basin and Range" geologic province of North America.
This is a large area of the northwest characterized by a complex series
of north/south trending mountain ranges and intervening valleys.
Tectonically it seems as if this part of the continent is being stretched,
and blocks of the crust are sinking, forming the valleys. Death Valley
is an extreme example of this. DV also has the complication of
being in the "rain shadow" of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Because
of this it receives extremely low precipitation, and thus there is
much less erosional activity filling the valley with sediments.
Hope this helps,
Art