broader zone of faulting that extends between the eastern edge of the Sierra Nevada just across the border into Nevada, part of the southern Walker Lane (also described as the northern part of the Eastern California Shear Zone). The Walker Lane currently accommodates a significant part of the plate boundary motion between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate and it has been proposed that this proportion will increase over time, with this zone eventually becoming the site of the plate boundary, accompanied by abandonment of the San Andreas Fault. However, there are currently no right-lateral strike-slip faults that pass through the Garlock Fault at the southern end of this zone, suggesting that this change will not occur for several million of years at the earliest. According to GPS data, the southern part of the Walker Lane accommodates 9–12 mm per year of right lateral shear. Only about half of this amount can be explained by movement on the main fault zones, with the remainder being distributed on smaller, less well-defined structures. There have been no historical earthquakes in the Death Valley area, but major earthquakes have occurred on other faults within the southern Walker Lane, such as the M7.4 1872 Owens Valley earthquake on the Owens Valley Fault and the M7.1 mainshock of the 2019 Ridgecrest earthquakes, which was a result of movement on previously unmapped NW-SE trending right lateral strike-slip fault strands, close to the Little Lake and Airport Lake faults. Holocene ruptures have been identified on most of the major faults in the area. Table of formations This table of formations exposed in the Death Valley area lists and describes the exposed formations of the Death Valley National Park and the surrounding area. Table of salts See also Places of interest in the Death Valley area Category: Death Valley Category: Geology of California References Bibliography External links Proceedings on Conference on Status of Geologic Research and Mapping, Death Valley National Park Tertiary Extensional Features, Death Valley, Eastern California Detailed USGS geological map of the Death Valley area Key for the geological units on the USGS map Death Valley Death Valley National Park Natural history of the Mojave Desert Geology of California Geology of Nevada Death Valley