Geology Underfoot in Death Valley and Owens Valley

Eastern California boasts the greatest dryland relief in the contiguous United States--between Mt. Whitney and Death Valley--and that relief exposes spectacular geology. These thirty driving and walking tours each weave the tale of a geological features or relationship in this land of extremes. Some sketches ponder questions that puzzle geologists: how do stones slide across Racetrack playa? Others spotlight the earth-sculpturing role of volcanoes and earthquakes: lava columns at Devils Postpile and fault scarps that shape a golf course. Still others focus on less obvious but equally powerful processes: boulders shattered by salt crystals and rocks blasted by windblown sand.