Death Valley was created when great plates of earth pushed apart, giving rise to the Amargosa and Panamint mountain ranges and dropping the valley floor 292 feet below sea level. The depression works like a convection oven, recirculating hot air and making the valley the hottest place on earth with ground-level temperatures that can reach 200 degrees in the summer.

It is also the driest place in North America, usually receiving less than 2 inches of rainfall a year. The water that washes down the mineral-rich mountainsides carries salt deposits that have formed the great salt flats that dominate the valley floor.

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