Death Valley is a desert valley in

Eastern California Eastern California is a region defined as either the strip to the east of the crest of the Sierra Nevada or as the easternmost counties of California. Demographics According to the 2010 census, the population of the eastern border counties of Ca ...

, in the northern

Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert ( ; mov, Hayikwiir Mat'aar; es, Desierto de Mojave) is a desert in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the Southwestern United States. It is named for the indigenous Mojave people. It is located primarily in ...

, bordering the Great Basin Desert. During summer, it is the hottest place on Earth. Death Valley's Badwater Basin is the point of lowest elevation in North America, at below sea level. It is east-southeast of

Mount Whitney Mount Whitney (Paiute: Tumanguya; ''Too-man-i-goo-yah'') is the highest mountain in the contiguous United States and the Sierra Nevada, with an elevation of . It is in East–Central California, on the boundary between California's Inyo and Tu ...

— the highest point in the

contiguous United States The contiguous United States (officially the conterminous United States) consists of the 48 adjoining U.S. states and the Federal District of the United States of America. The term excludes the only two non-contiguous states, Alaska and Hawaii ...

, with an elevation of 14,505 feet (4,421 m). On the afternoon of July10, 1913, the

United States Weather Bureau The National Weather Service (NWS) is an agency of the United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weather-related products to organizations and the public for the p ...

recorded a high temperature of 134 °F (56.7 °C) at Furnace Creek in Death Valley, which stands as the highest ambient air temperature ever recorded on the surface of the Earth. This reading, however, and several others taken in that period are disputed by some modern experts. Lying mostly in Inyo County, California, near the border of

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

and

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

, in the

Great Basin The Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic basin, endorheic watersheds, those with no outlets, in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Baja California ...

, east of the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...

mountains, Death Valley constitutes much of

Death Valley National Park Death Valley National Park is an American national park that straddles the California–Nevada border, east of the Sierra Nevada. The park boundaries include Death Valley, the northern section of Panamint Valley, the southern section of Eureka ...

and is the principal feature of the

Mojave and Colorado Deserts Biosphere Reserve The Mojave and Colorado Deserts Biosphere Reserve is a biosphere reserve designated by UNESCO in 1984 to promote the ecological conservation of a cluster of areas in the Mojave and Colorado deserts of California. A principal feature is Death Valle ...

. It runs from north to south between the Amargosa Range on the east and the Panamint Range on the west. The

Grapevine Mountains The Grapevine Mountains are a mountain range located along the border of Inyo County, California and Nye County, Nevada in the United States. The mountain range is about long and lies in a northwest-southeasterly direction along the Nevada-Califor ...

and the Owlshead Mountains form its northern and southern boundaries, respectively. It has an area of about . The highest point in Death Valley National Park is Telescope Peak, in the Panamint Range, which has an elevation of .

Geology

Death Valley is a

graben In geology, a graben () is a depressed block of the crust of a planet or moon, bordered by parallel normal faults. Etymology ''Graben'' is a loan word from German, meaning 'ditch' or 'trench'. The word was first used in the geologic contex ...

—a downdropped block of land between two mountain ranges. It lies at the southern end of a geological

trough Trough may refer to: In science * Trough (geology), a long depression less steep than a trench * Trough (meteorology), an elongated region of low atmospheric pressure * Trough (physics), the lowest point on a wave * Trough level (medicine), the l ...

, Walker Lane, which runs north to Oregon. The valley is bisected by a right lateral

strike slip fault In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock-mass movements. Large faults within Earth's crust result from the action of plate tectonic ...

system, comprising the

Death Valley Fault The Death Valley Fault Zone (DVFZ) is a right lateral-moving (dextral) geologic fault in eastern California. It runs from a connection with the Furnace Creek Fault Zone in the Amargosa Valley southward to a junction with the Garlock Fault. It is co ...

and the

Furnace Creek Fault The Furnace Creek Fault Zone (FCFZ) is a Fault (geology), geological fault that is located in Eastern California and southwestern Nevada. The right lateral-moving (dextral) fault extends for some between a connection with the Death Valley Fault Z ...

. The eastern end of the left lateral Garlock Fault intersects the Death Valley Fault. Furnace Creek and the

Amargosa River The Amargosa River is an intermittent waterway, 185 miles (298 km) long, in southern Nevada and eastern California in the United States. It drains a high desert region, the Amargosa Valley in the Amargosa Desert northwest of Las Vegas, int ...

flow through part of the valley and eventually disappear into the sands of the valley floor. Death Valley also contains salt pans. According to current geological consensus, at various times during the middle of the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...

era, which ended roughly 10,000–12,000 years ago, an inland lake,

Lake Manly Lake Manly was a pluvial lake in Death Valley, California, covering much of Death Valley with a surface area of during the so-called "Blackwelder stand". Water levels varied through its history, and the chronology is further complicated by act ...

, formed in Death Valley. The lake was nearly long and deep. The end-basin in a chain of lakes that began with Mono Lake, in the north, and continued through basins down the Owens River Valley, through Searles and China Lakes and the Panamint Valley, to the immediate west. As the area turned to desert, the water evaporated, leaving an abundance of evaporitic salts, such as common sodium salts and

borax Borax is a salt (ionic compound), a hydrated borate of sodium, with chemical formula often written . It is a colorless crystalline solid, that dissolves in water to make a basic solution. It is commonly available in powder or granular form, ...

, which were later exploited during the modern history of the region, primarily 1883 to 1907.

Climate

Death Valley has a

subtropical The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical zone, geographical and Köppen climate classification, climate zones to the Northern Hemisphere, north and Southern Hemisphere, south of the tropics. Geographically part of the Geographical z ...

, hot desert climate ( Köppen: ''BWh''), with long, extremely hot summers; short, mild winters; and little rainfall. The valley is extremely dry, because it lies in the

rain shadow A rain shadow is an area of significantly reduced rainfall behind a mountainous region, on the side facing away from prevailing winds, known as its leeward side. Evaporated moisture from water bodies (such as oceans and large lakes) is carrie ...

of four major mountain ranges (including the

and Panamint Range). Moisture moving inland from the Pacific Ocean must pass eastward over the mountains to reach Death Valley; as air masses are forced upward by each range, they cool and moisture condenses, to fall as rain or snow on the western slopes. When the air masses reach Death Valley, most of the moisture in the air has already been lost and thus there is little left to fall as precipitation. The extreme heat of Death Valley is attributable to a confluence of geographic and topographic factors. Scientists have identified a number of key contributors: * Solar heating: The valley's surface (consisting of soil, rocks, sand, etc.) undergoes intense solar heating because the air is clear and dry, and the land is dark and sparsely vegetated. This is especially noticeable in mid-summer, when the sun is nearly directly overhead. * Trapping of warm air: Warm air naturally rises and cools; in Death Valley this air is subject to continual reheating as it is trapped by high, steep valley walls and recycled back to the valley floor. Warm air also is trapped by the valley's north–south orientation, which runs perpendicular to prevailing west-to-east winds. * Migration of warm air from other areas (

advection In the field of physics, engineering, and earth sciences, advection is the transport of a substance or quantity by bulk motion of a fluid. The properties of that substance are carried with it. Generally the majority of the advected substance is al ...

): Warm desert regions adjacent to Death Valley, especially to the south and east, often heat air before it arrives in Death Valley. * Warm mountain winds: As winds are forced up and over mountains (e.g. the numerous ranges west of Death Valley), the winds can be warmed in several ways. The resulting dry, warm winds are known as foehn winds. Their warmth can in part be caused by the release of latent heat, which occurs when water vapor condenses into clouds. Severe heat and dryness contribute to perpetual drought-like conditions in Death Valley and prevent much cloud formation from passing through the confines of the valley, where precipitation is often in the form of a virga. The depth and shape of Death Valley strongly influence its climate. The valley is a long, narrow basin that descends below sea level and is walled by high, steep mountain ranges. The clear, dry air and sparse plant cover allow sunlight to heat the desert surface. Summer nights provide little relief: overnight lows may dip just into the range. Moving masses of super-heated air blow through the valley, creating extremely high ambient temperatures. Death Valley Mesquite Flats Sand Dunes 2013

Death Valley Mesquite Flats Sand Dunes 2013

The hottest air temperature ever recorded in Death Valley was , on July 10, 1913, at Greenland Ranch (now Furnace Creek), which, as of 2022, is the highest atmospheric temperature ever recorded on the Earth's surface. (A report of a temperature of in Libya in 1922 was later determined to be inaccurate.) During the heat wave that peaked with that record, five consecutive days reached or higher. Some modern meteorologists now dispute the accuracy of the 1913 temperature measurement. On June 30, 2013, a verified temperature of was recorded and is tied with

Mitribah Mitribah is a weather station (40551 in the World Meteorological Organization database) in northwest Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It ...

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

, for the hottest reliably measured air temperature ever recorded on earth. A temperature of was recorded at the Furnace Creek weather station on August 16, 2020, but has not yet been officially verified. The valley again recorded that temperature on July 9, 2021. The valley's lowest temperature, recorded at Greenland Ranch on January 2, 1913, was . The highest surface temperature ever recorded in Death Valley was , on July 15, 1972, at Furnace Creek, which is the highest ground surface temperature ever recorded on earth, as well as the only recorded surface temperature of above . The greatest number of consecutive days with a maximum temperature of at least was 154, in the summer of 2001. The summer of 1996 had 40 days over , and 105 days over . The summer of 1917 had 52 days when the temperature reached or above, 43 of them consecutive. Badwater Desolation

The highest overnight or low temperature recorded in Death Valley is , recorded on July 5, 1918. However this value is disputed; a record high low of on July 12, 2012, is considered reliable. This is one of the highest values ever recorded. Also on July 12, 2012, the mean 24-hour temperature recorded at Death Valley was , which makes it the world's warmest 24-hour temperature on record. Four major mountain ranges lie between Death Valley and the ocean, each one adding to an increasingly drier

effect, and in 1929, 1953, and 1989, no rain was recorded for the whole year. The period from 1931 to 1934 was the driest stretch on record, with only of rain over a 40-month period. The average annual precipitation in Death Valley is , while the Greenland Ranch station averaged . The wettest month on record is January 1995, when fell on Death Valley. The wettest period on record was mid-2004 to mid-2005, in which nearly of rain fell in total, leading to

ephemeral lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much larger ...

s in the valley and the region and tremendous wildflower blooms. Snow with accumulation has only been recorded in January 1922, while scattered flakes have been recorded on other occasions.

Flooding

In 2005, Death Valley received four times its average annual rainfall of . As it has done before for hundreds of years, the lowest spot in the valley filled with a wide, shallow lake, but the extreme heat and aridity immediately began evaporating the

. The pair of images (seen at right) from NASA's

Landsat 5 Landsat 5 was a low Earth orbit satellite launched on March 1, 1984, to collect imagery of the surface of Earth. A continuation of the Landsat Program, Landsat 5 was jointly managed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the National Aeronautic ...

satellite documents the short history of Death Valley's Lake Badwater: formed in February 2005 (top) and evaporated by February 2007 (bottom). In 2005, a big pool of greenish water stretched most of the way across the valley floor. By May 2005, the valley floor had resumed its more familiar role as Badwater Basin, salt-coated salt flats. In time, this freshly dissolved and recrystallized salt will darken. The western margin of Death Valley is traced by alluvial fans. During

flash flood A flash flood is a rapid flooding of low-lying areas: washes, rivers, dry lakes and depressions. It may be caused by heavy rain associated with a severe thunderstorm, hurricane, or tropical storm, or by meltwater from ice or snow flowing o ...

s, rainfall from the steep mountains to the west pours through narrow canyons, picking up everything from fine clay to large rocks. When these torrents reach the mouths of the canyons, they widen and slow, branching out into distributary channels. The paler the fans, the younger they are.

Ecology

In spite of the overwhelming heat and sparse rainfall, Death Valley exhibits considerable biodiversity. Flowers, watered by snowmelt, carpet the desert floor each spring, continuing into June.

Bighorn sheep The bighorn sheep (''Ovis canadensis'') is a species of sheep native to North America. It is named for its large horns. A pair of horns might weigh up to ; the sheep typically weigh up to . Recent genetic testing indicates three distinct subspec ...

red-tailed hawks The red-tailed hawk (''Buteo jamaicensis'') is a bird of prey that breeds throughout most of North America, from the interior of Alaska and northern Canada to as far south as Panama and the West Indies. It is one of the most common members with ...

, and wild donkeys may be seen. Death Valley has over 600 springs and ponds. Salt Creek, a mile-long shallow depression in the center of the valley, supports

Death Valley Pupfish The Death Valley pupfish (''Cyprinodon salinus''), also known as Salt Creek pupfish, is a small species of fish in the family Cyprinodontidae found only in Death Valley National Park, California, United States. There are two recognized subspecie ...

. These isolated pupfish populations are remnants of the wetter Pleistocene climate.

Darwin Falls Darwin Falls is a waterfall located on the western edge of Death Valley National Park near the settlement of Panamint Springs, California. Although there exists a similarly named Darwin Falls Wilderness adjacent to the falls, the falls themselves ...

, on the western edge of Death Valley Monument, falls into a large pond surrounded by willows and cottonwood trees. Over 80 species of birds have been recorded around the pond.

Efflorescence In chemistry, efflorescence (which means "to flower out" in French) is the migration of a salt to the surface of a porous material, where it forms a coating. The essential process involves the dissolving of an internally held salt in water, or ...

, also known as salt flowers, is a rare occurrence in Death Valley that occurs when rain soaks into the soil and dissolves salt beneath the surface causing the ground to appear as if there is a light dusting of

snow Snow comprises individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water throughout ...

History

Death Valley is home to the

Timbisha The Timbisha ("rock paint", Timbisha language: Nümü Tümpisattsi) are a Native American tribe federally recognized as the Death Valley Timbisha Shoshone Band of California. They are known as the Timbisha Shoshone Tribe and are located in sout ...

tribe of Native Americans, formerly known as the Panamint Shoshone, who have inhabited the valley for at least the past millennium. The Timbisha name for the valley, ''tümpisa'', means "rock paint" and refers to the red ochre paint that can be made from a type of

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

found in the valley. Some families still live in the valley at Furnace Creek. Another village was in Grapevine Canyon near the present site of

Scotty's Castle Scotty's Castle (also known as Death Valley Ranch) is a two-story Mission Revival and Spanish Colonial Revival style villa located in the Grapevine Mountains of northern Death Valley in Death Valley National Park, California, US. Scotty's Castle ...

. It was called ''maahunu'' in the

Timbisha language Timbisha (''Tümpisa'') or Panamint (also called Koso) is the language of the Native American people who have inhabited the region in and around Death Valley, California, and the southern Owens Valley since late prehistoric times. There are a fe ...

, whose meaning is uncertain, although it is known that ''hunu'' means 'canyon'. The valley received its English name in 1849 during the

California Gold Rush The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) was a gold rush that began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California fro ...

. It was called Death Valley by prospectors and others who sought to cross the valley on their way to the gold fields, after 13 pioneers perished from one early expedition of wagon trains. During the 1850s, gold and silver were extracted in the valley. In the 1880s,

was discovered and extracted by mule-drawn wagons. Death Valley National Monument was proclaimed on February 11, 1933, by President

Herbert Hoover Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was an American politician who served as the 31st president of the United States from 1929 to 1933 and a member of the Republican Party, holding office during the onset of the Gr ...

, placing the area under federal protection. In 1994, the monument was redesignated as

, as well as being substantially expanded to include Saline and Eureka Valleys.

Notable attractions and locations

Death Valley exit SR190 view Panamint Butt flash flood 2013

* Badwater Basin * China Ranch *

Dante's View Dante's View is a viewpoint terrace at height, on the north side of Coffin Peak, along the crest of the Black Mountains, overlooking Death Valley. Dante's View is about south of Furnace Creek in Death Valley National Park. Viewpoint From the ...

* Devils Hole * Father Crowley Viewpoint * Furnace Creek *

Harmony Borax Works The Harmony Borax Works is located in Death Valley at Furnace Creek Springs, then called Greenland. It is now located within Death Valley National Park in Inyo County, California. It is on the National Register of Historic Places. Origin and tw ...

* Hells Gate * Myers Ranch * Oasis at Death Valley * Russell Camp * New Ryan * Upper and Lower Noonday Camp *

Racetrack Playa The Racetrack Playa, or The Racetrack, is a scenic dry lake feature with " sailing stones" that inscribe linear "racetrack" imprints. It is located above the northwestern side of Death Valley, in Death Valley National Park, Inyo County, Califor ...

, a large dry lakebed within the Valley * Sailing stones, famous moving stones of Death Valley *

* Shoreline Butte * Stovepipe Wells *

Tecopa Tecopa (formerly Brownsville) is a census-designated place (CDP) in the Mojave Desert, in Inyo County, California, United States. Tecopa is located south-southeast of Shoshone, at an elevation of . The population was 150 at the 2010 census, u ...

* Tecopa Hot Springs * West Side Borax Camp * Wilson Ranch * Wildrose Ranger Station * Zabriskie Point

In popular culture

Films

A number of movies have been filmed in Death Valley, including: * '' Chimmie Fadden Out West'' (1915) * ''

The Dawn of Understanding ''The Dawn of Understanding'' is a lost 1918 American silent Western comedy film produced by The Vitagraph Company of America and directed by David Smith. It stars Bessie Love in the first film of her nine-film contract with Vitagraph. It is b ...

'' (1918) * '' Greed'' (1924) * ''

The Air Mail ''The Air Mail'' is a 1925 American silent drama film directed by Irvin Willat and starring Warner Baxter, Billie Dove, and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. It was produced by Famous Players-Lasky and distributed through Paramount Pictures. Filmed in Dea ...

'' (1925) * '' The Brute'' (1927) * ''

The Chinese Parrot ''The Chinese Parrot'' (1926) is the second novel in the Charlie Chan series of mystery novels by Earl Derr Biggers. It is the first in which Chan travels from Hawaii to mainland California, and involves a crime whose exposure is hastened by th ...

'' (1927) * '' Fair Warning'' (1931) * ''

The Border Patrolman ''The Border Patrolman'' is a 1936 American Western film directed by David Howard and starring George O'Brien. Plot Spoiled socialite Patricia Huntley gets arrested by U.S. Border Patrol agent Bob Wallace in Arizona after meeting with je ...

'' (1936) * '' Danger Valley'' (1937) * ''

20 Mule Team ''20 Mule Team'' (also known as ''Twenty Mule Team'') is a 1940 American Western film about Death Valley, and Daggett, California borax miners, directed by Richard Thorpe and starring Wallace Beery, Marjorie Rambeau and Anne Baxter. The film ...

'' (1940) * ''

The Bride Came C.O.D. ''The Bride Came C.O.D.'' is a 1941 American screwball romantic comedy starring James Cagney as an airplane pilot and Bette Davis as a runaway heiress, and directed by William Keighley. Although the film was publicized as the first screen pairi ...

'' (1941) * ''

Castle in the Desert ''Castle in the Desert'' is a 1942 film featuring the Chinese detective Charlie Chan. It was the eleventh film to feature Sidney Toler as the title character, and the last made by 20th Century Fox. The series continued with Toler, though under m ...

'' (1942) * ''

Accomplice Under the English common law, an accomplice is a person who actively participates in the commission of a crime, even if they take no part in the actual criminal offense. For example, in a bank robbery, the person who points the gun at the teller ...

'' (1946) * ''

Death Valley Death Valley is a desert valley in Eastern California, in the northern Mojave Desert, bordering the Great Basin Desert. During summer, it is the Highest temperature recorded on Earth, hottest place on Earth. Death Valley's Badwater Basin is the ...

'' (1946) * ''

3 Godfathers ''3 Godfathers'' is a 1948 American Western film directed by John Ford and filmed (although not set) primarily in Death Valley, California. The screenplay, written by Frank S. Nugent and Laurence Stallings, is based on the 1913 novelette '' Th ...

'' (1948) * ''

Yellow Sky ''Yellow Sky'' is a 1948 American Western film directed by William A. Wellman and starring Gregory Peck, Richard Widmark, and Anne Baxter. The story is believed to be loosely adapted from William Shakespeare's '' The Tempest''. The screenplay ...

'' (1948) * '' Death Valley Gunfighter'' (1949) * ''

The Walking Hills ''The Walking Hills'' is a 1949 American Western film directed by John Sturges and starring Randolph Scott and Ella Raines. The film's plot has film noir elements in its story of a search for an old treasure by nine men including a detective tr ...

'' (1949) * '' Surrender'' (1950) * ''

The Gunfighter ''The Gunfighter'' is a 1950 American Western film directed by Henry King and starring Gregory Peck, Helen Westcott, Millard Mitchell and Karl Malden. It was written by screenwriters William Bowers and William Sellers, with an uncredited rewr ...

'' (1950) * '' Cattle Drive'' (1951) * '' Westward the Women'' (1951) * ''

City of Bad Men ''City of Bad Men'' is a 1953 American Western film directed by Harmon Jones and starring Jeanne Crain and Dale Robertson. Plot A heavyweight championship fight between "Gentleman Jim" Corbett and Bob Fitzsimmons is coming to Carson City, Neva ...

'' (1953) * '' Escape from Fort Bravo'' (1953) * ''

Tumbleweed A tumbleweed is a structural part of the above-ground anatomy of a number of species of plants. It is a diaspore that, once mature and dry, detaches from its root or stem and rolls due to the force of the wind. In most such species, the tumble ...

'' (1953) * '' War Paint'' (1953) * '' The Law and Jake Wade'' (1958) * '' One-Eyed Jacks'' (1961) * ''

The Reward ''The Reward'' is a 1965 American Western film directed by Serge Bourguignon and starring Max von Sydow, Yvette Mimieux, Efrem Zimbalist Jr. and Gilbert Roland. based on a novel by Michael Barrett. Plot El Paso crop duster Scott Svenson accide ...

'' (1965) * ''

The Professionals A professional is someone who is skilled in a profession. Professional or professionals may also refer to: * Professional sports Music *The Professionals (band), a British punk rock band formed in 1979 * ''The Professionals'' (The Professionals ...

(1966) * '' Zabriskie Point'' (1970) * ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...

'' (1977) * ''

'' (1982) * ''

Cherry 2000 ''Cherry 2000'' is a 1988 American science-fiction film directed by Steve De Jarnatt and starring Melanie Griffith and David Andrews (actor), David Andrews. It was produced by Edward R. Pressman and Caldecot Chubb. The screenplay was by Michael ...

'' (1987) * '' Phantasm IV: Oblivion'' (1998) * '' Six-String Samurai'' (1998) * ''

Gerry Gerry is both a surname and a masculine or feminine given name. As a given name, it is often a short form (hypocorism) of Gerard, Gerald or Geraldine. Notable people with the name include: Surname *Elbridge Gerry (1744–1814), fifth US vice presi ...

'' (2002) * ''

Daft Punk's Electroma ''Daft Punk's Electroma'' (also known as ''Electroma'') is a 2006 avant-garde science fiction film directed by the French electronic music duo Daft Punk. The story revolves around the quest of two robots (the band members, played by Peter Hurteau ...

'' (2006) * ''

The Legend of God's Gun ''The Legend of God's Gun'' is a 2007 American independent Western film celebrating the tradition of Western films and the spirit of Rock and Roll. The film is actually based on the psychedelic Western album of the same name by the band Spindrif ...

'' (2007) * '' Planes: Fire & Rescue'' (2014)

Music

*''

Death Valley Suite The ''Death Valley Suite'' is a short symphonic suite written by Ferde Grofé in 1949, depicting the westward travels of pioneers through the 'harsh lands' of Death Valley in California. Grofe was commissioned by the Death Valley 49ers, a non pr ...

'' (1949), a symphonic suite by

Ferde Grofé Ferdinand Rudolph von Grofé, known as Ferde Grofé (March 27, 1892 April 3, 1972) (pronounced FUR-dee GROW-fay) was an American composer, arrangement, arranger, pianist and instrumentalist. He is best known for his 1931 five-movement tone poem, ...

, inspired by the history and geography of Death Valley *"Death Valley" (2013), a song from the studio album ''

Save Rock and Roll ''Save Rock and Roll'' is the fifth studio album by American rock band Fall Out Boy. It was produced by Butch Walker and released April 12, 2013, through Island Records. On October 15, the album was re-released with ''PAX AM Days'', an extended p ...

'' by

Fall Out Boy Fall Out Boy is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Wilmette, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, in 2001. The band consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Patrick Stump, bassist Pete Wentz, lead guitarist Joe Trohman, and drummer A ...

, is named after Death Valley, as well as containing lyrics inspired by this location *"

Death Valley '69 "Death Valley '69" is a song by American alternative rock band Sonic Youth and featuring Lydia Lunch. The song was written and sung by Thurston Moore and fellow New York musician Lunch, and recorded by Martin Bisi in 1984. A demo version of the ...

" (1984), a song by

Sonic Youth Sonic Youth was an American rock band based in New York City, formed in 1981. Founding members Thurston Moore (guitar, vocals), Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar) and Lee Ranaldo (guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of the b ...

and Lydia Lunch, is about the valley, and the video features imagery of it. *"Death Valley Nights" (1977), a song from the studio album '' Spectres'' by Blue Öyster Cult, takes place in the valley, using the extreme climate to mirror a dramatic love/hate relationship.'' *"Canyon Moon" (2014), a song by

Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness Andrew Ross McMahon (born September 3, 1982) is an American singer-songwriter. He was the vocalist, pianist and primary lyricist for the bands Something Corporate and main songwriter for Jack's Mannequin and performs solo both under his own nam ...

, contains lyrics about driving through Death Valley.

Television

* ''Death Valley'' (TV series), a 2011 MTV horror comedy series *'' Death Valley Days'' (1930–1945 radio series; 1952–1970 TV series), an American radio and television anthology series featuring true stories of the old American West, particularly the Death Valley area. * Retired wrestler and WWF/E legend

The Undertaker Mark William Calaway (born March 24, 1965), better known by the ring name The Undertaker, is an American retired professional wrestler. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, Calaway spent the vast majority ...

is billed from Death Valley. * The FX horror anthology series American Horror Story has a tenth season titled American Horror Story: Double Feature, which is split into two parts. While the first part, ''Red Tide'', takes place by the sea, the second part of the season, ''Death Valley'', focuses on a group of teens uncovering a conspiracy involving

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

and strange occurrences in a desert partially inspired by Death Valley involving aliens and UFOs.

Notes

References

External links

Official Death Valley National Park website
��

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...

Historical photographs of Death Valley (1926)

The Bancroft Library The Bancroft Library in the center of the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, is the university's primary special-collections library. It was acquired from its founder, Hubert Howe Bancroft, in 1905, with the proviso that it retai ...

UNESCO Biosphere Preserve: Mojave and Colorado Deserts

Surficial Geologic Map of the Death Valley Junction 30′ × 60′ Quadrangle, California and Nevada

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

Death Valley Weather
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Death Valley
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National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...

'' * {{Authority control * Bodies of water of Inyo County, California Bodies of water of San Bernardino County, California Extreme points of Earth Lowest points of U.S. states Regions of California Rifts and grabens Springs of California Torridness Valleys of California Valleys of Inyo County, California Valleys of San Bernardino County, California Valleys of the Mojave Desert Weather extremes of Earth