Zabriskie Point

Zabriskie Point sits in the Amargosa Range within Death Valley National Park, California, overlooking badlands built from the sediments of ancient Furnace Creek Lake, which began forming about nine million years ago, long before Death Valley itself existed, and finally dried up around five million years ago. Those sediments, saline muds, gravel washed from neighboring mountains, and volcanic ash from the Black Mountain volcanic field, now form the Furnace Creek Formation, over 5,000 feet of mudstone, siltstone and conglomerate. Weathering and alteration by thermal waters have produced the badlands' striking range of colors, sculpting landmarks such as Manly Beacon and Red Cathedral, while a dark cap of lava from eruptions three to five million years ago still slows erosion on some ridges. The relief needed to carve such dramatic badlands came later, as the valley floor sank and widened and the Black Mountains rose beside it. This entity documents Zabriskie Point specifically as a geological formation.