Title: The Mojave Desert - Shaping the Classic American Desert
Headings: Shaping the "Classic American Desert"
Shaping the "Classic American Desert"
Mojave Desert Geology

Content: Limestone has played an important role in the history of the Mojave as a host rock for metallic mineral veins, which were produced when magma intruded. During the Mesozoic era the Mojave region was uplifted. Salt-laden water bodies evaporated, leaving behind puffy crusts of evaporite minerals, such as halite and gypsum. Rivers and ephemeral streams carried large amounts of eroded materials into the lowlands. The Mojave's climate became even more arid and windy than it is today, causing the formation of belts of sand dunes and creating the cross-bedding patterns that are visible in the colorful sandstone of Nevada's Red Rock Canyon and elsewhere. At the beginning of the Cenozoic era tectonic activity resumed. Movement along faults deformed the Mojave's layers of sediment and underlying metamorphic rock. Shifts along thrust faults forced older layers on top of younger ones, as can be seen at Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. Faulting was accompanied by an increase in volcanic activity. At present-day Death Valley, these processes pushed up mountains and caused the valley floor to drop, forming a below-sea-level trough.