Title: Geology of the Death Valley area - Wikipedia
Headings: Geology of the Death Valley area
Geology of the Death Valley area
Contents
Early sedimentation
Proterozoic complex
Pahrump Group
Crustal thinning and rifting
Passive margin formed
A carbonate shelf forms
Change to active margin and uplift
Development of a plain
Extension creates the Basin and Range
Volcanism and valley-fill sedimentation
Formation of the Walker Lane - part of an incipient plate boundary?
Table of formations
Table of salts
See also
References
Bibliography
External links

Content: An accretion wedge of clastic sediment then started to accumulate at the base of the submerged precipice, entombing the region's first known fossils of complex life. These sandy mudflats gave way about 550 Ma to a carbonate platform which lasted for the next 300 million years of Paleozoic time. The passive margin switched to active margin in the early-to-mid Mesozoic when the Farallon Plate under the Pacific Ocean started to dive below the North American Plate, creating a subduction zone; volcanoes and uplifting mountains were created as a result. Erosion over many millions of years created a relatively featureless plain. Stretching of the crust under western North America started around 16 Ma and is thought to be caused by upwelling from the subducted spreading-zone of the Farallon Plate. This process continues into the present and is thought to be responsible for creating the Basin and Range province. By 2 to 3 million years ago this province had spread to the Death Valley area, ripping it apart and creating Death Valley, Panamint Valley and surrounding ranges. These valleys partially filled with sediment and, during colder periods during the current ice age, with lakes. Lake Manly was the largest of these lakes;