Facts about the Death Valley

The Native American tribe, Timbisha were the first settlers of the Death Valley and still continue to live there, since 1000 years. They named the valley, tümpisa which means rock paint, due to a type of clay found in the valley. During the California Gold Rush, it was named Death Valley in 1849. Why it was called the death valley is still disputed. It was believed that many gold seekers lost their lives in its scorching heat, however official records report only one death, during that time.

Facts about the Death Valley
Death valley is a dry region in Inyo County, California, and forms part of the southwestern portion of the Great Basin, unique in its depth. It is located in the southeastern part of the state, at the edge of the Mojave Desert, between the Panamint and Amargosa ranges. It lies lowest below sea level at 282 feet in the Western Hemisphere and is 140 miles in length, and up to 16 miles in width. The Telescope Peak is the valley's highest point at 11,049 feet. During the Pleistocene era, the floor of Death Valley was once a lake called Glacial Lake Manly, that stretched for a hundred miles and was as deep as 600ft.

The death valley is a low rift valley in the earth's crust surrounded by higher block faults that at times is known to cause crustal sinking and volcanic activity. This block fault is a process that started some 30 million years ago and the valley floor still continues to tilt and sink. The central part of the valley, i.e. the bedrock floor is buried beneath as much as 9,000 feet of sediment, eroded from the surrounding hills.

The temperatures in the death valley is determined by its depth and shape, and varies in a range from 130° F in summers to a low of 32° F in the winters. On 10th July, 1913 the highest temperature of 134° F was recorded in the valley's of Furnace Creek, and also its coldest winter in January, 1914 at 15° F. More recently in 2001, daytime high temperatures above 100° F was recorded for a period of 153 consecutive days.

The death valley receives very little rainfall. The highest average recorded was in 1913 at 4.5 inches. The rain is blocked by the mountains in the west and the average annual rainfall recorded in a 50 year period of the later 20th century was only 1.66 inches. Despite a low rainfall, the death valley is prone to flooding at times because the arid soil is unable to absorb water. In 2004, a flash flood was reported in the valley resulting in the loss of two lives and closure of the park.

The surface water of the valley is saline in nature and is found in ponds and marshes. The Amargosa River flows into the southern end of the valley from desert areas to the east, but it mostly flows underground, leaving the surface soil dry.

Death valley is believed to have nearly 900 different species of plants existing, despite its harsh and arid climate. A large number of small desert insects, animal lizards, snakes, and rodents are also found here. The most amazing occupant of the death valley is a fish called Devil's Hole pupfish. This species has managed to survive here for thousands of years, despite the monumental changes in its environment. Environmentalist believe that the ice-age ancestors of these pupfish swam in a vast lake, some twenty thousand years ago. These fishes began to develop unique characteristics in response to the climate changes of its environment. These species of the pupfish are the evolved relative of its ancestors.

On 11th February, 1933 President Hoover established the Death Valley and its surrounding area as the Death Valley National Monument, and in 1934 designated it as a national park. The valley receives more than a lakh visitors, annually. The death valley is unique in many ways, a perfect example of the effects of environmental changes and its plant and animal adaptations to it.