Death Valley is an active fault zone competing with the San Andreas fault as the second longest in the State of California (Brogan, 1991). The Death Valley fault line is primarily a normal fault (Brogan, 1991). Normal faults mean that the hanging wall moves downward in relation to the footwall and are usually indicators of tensile forces. This insinuates that the plates are being pulled apart. Faulting occurs at angles referred to as "slips". Typically, less dramatic slips would be on the order of 19˚ to 25˚ angles (Hayman, 2002). In Death Valley however, a considerable amount of slips occur at 60˚ angles with some reaching maximums of 90˚ , where a 90˚ slip plane would be a fully vertical slip. In a general sense, the steeper a fault, the more relief is typically produced. Relief is most basically defined as the vertical displacement of planes which create a difference in elevations (Marshak, 2001). Some points have been shown to cause up to 80 meters of relief along the Death Valley Fault. Generally speaking, this is a fairly large displacement, keeping in mind that the average deepest areas of the Death Valley basin are 86m below sea level as previously stated. There are many specific regions along the Death Valley fault line, each of which vary in their overall magnitudes of relief. Refer to figure 1.0 for the individual sections along the entire span of Death Valley where individual faults and their reliefs can be identified. Table 1.0 depicts the most dramatic reliefs and their respective region.
The faults along Death Valley are primarily normal faults because of tensile forces that are pulling the planes apart. The degree at which the fault is occurring plays a large role in the displacement of the planes. More specifically, it appears that the degree of slip along the fault is directly related to the relief produced. It can be seen in Table 1.0, for the Copper Canyon turtleback region (CO), the angle produced is roughly 90˚ which resulted in a 15 meter separation. This is relatively larger than other regions which experienced smaller angles of deflection. The elevations produced from these faults are what create the deep valleys and tall mountains that the national park is recognizable for. Figure 1.0 depicts the action of the faulting occurring at Death Valley and the resulting difference in elevation.
The strike slip faulting in this region is usually related to the Pacific-North American Plate Boundary. This boundary is a transform plate boundary meaning the individual lithospheric layers or "plates" are moving in a parallel direction relative to one another but in opposite directions. Figure 2.0 depicts the motion of this plate boundary on a global scale.
However, it should be noted that Death Valley's strike slip fault acts more like a diverging plate boundary despite the more massive, global, transform plate boundary motion. The reason for this is exactly because of the scale of the occurrence. The larger Pacific North American plate boundary movement moves in a sliding, parallel motion but on a smaller scale like in Death Valley, the action of the plate boundary causes a variety of motions. In the case of the National Park, the transform Pacific North American boundary causes smaller, normal faulting under tensile force (Norton, 2011). It is important to recognize that even though the lithospheric layers at Death Valley pull apart, it is only because of the larger forces at hand.
Conclusively, the formation of Death Valley is proven to be a result of tectonic motion on both a large and small scale. The larger Pacific North American Plate Boundary is responsible for the more individualized faulting found throughout the National Park. The faults often occur as normal faults which are caused directly by tensile forces acting on the environments sediments. The tensile force causes plates to pull apart and as the hanging wall moves past the footwall, large differences in elevation are created. These contrasts in altitude are referred to as "relief" which can often be predicted and related to the angle at which they occur. Typically, steeper angles such as 70˚ to 90˚ (Completely vertical) produce the largest relief points, some of which tower like mountains near 80 meters high. These deep valleys surrounded by mountains are the perfect formations to store the heat produced by the sun using the mountains as walls to trap the hot air. Thus giving Death Valley its death like heat and making it one of the United States most recognized National Parks.
Conclusively, the formation of Death Valley is proven to be a result of tectonic motion on both a large and small scale. The larger Pacific North American Plate Boundary is responsible for the more individualized faulting found throughout the National Park. The faults often occur as normal faults which are caused directly by tensile forces acting on the environments sediments. The tensile force causes plates to pull apart and as the hanging wall moves past the footwall, large differences in elevation are created. These contrasts in altitude are referred to as "relief" which can often be predicted and related to the angle at which they occur. Typically, steeper angles such as 70˚ to 90˚ (Completely vertical) produce the largest relief points, some of which tower like mountains near 80 meters high. These deep valleys surrounded by mountains are the perfect formations to store the heat produced by the sun using the mountains as walls to trap the hot air. Thus giving Death Valley its death like heat and making it one of the United States most recognized National Parks.