Geologically, Death Valley forms part of the southwestern portion of the Great Basin. It is similar to other structural b.... vallei form

Portions of the great salt pan that forms part of the floor of the valley are the lowest land areas of the Americas. For a short time after its christening in 1849 by a hapless party of emigrants who endured intense suffering while crossing it, Death Valley was little known except to Native Americans (primarily ) of the area and to prospectors searching the surrounding mountains. Essentially, Death Valley is a graben, or rift valley, formed by the sinking of a tremendous expanse of rock lying between parallel uplifted, tilted-block mountain ranges to the east and west. As crustal blocks sank, they formed the great trough of the valley, and other blocks were uplifted to gradually form the adjacent mountain ranges. As the valley sank, it was filled by sediments that were eroded from the surrounding hills; in the central part of the valley the bedrock floor is buried beneath as much as 9,000 feet (2,745 metres) of sediment. The floor of Death Valley is noted for its extremes of! temperature and aridity. Most rainfall is blocked by the mountains to the west, so the valley is extremely arid.