Basin and Range Province
- The Rise and Fall of Death Valley's Mountain Ranges and valleys

Shaded relief map. Click to enlarge. The Basin and Range province is outlined in red. Notice the landscape resembling an army of caterpillars marching north within the Basin and Range province.
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Dante's View provides a spectacular look at Death Valley's remarkable
scenery. From this vantage point you can view distant 11049 ft.
Telescope Peak to Badwater, the lowest point (-282 ft.)
in the Western Hemisphere. This difference
in elevation is a staggering 11,331 feet (3455 m) — the greatest
topographic relief in the conterminous U.S.. This striking
topography is a product of Death Valley's very active
tectonics.
A
slice through the highest and lowest points in Death
Valley National Park. Death Valley is the lowest "basin" of the Basin and Range Province. |
Death Valley National Park lies in one of the youngest
and most active parts of the Basin and Range province.
The term "Basin and Range" is taken from the unique character of this province's
landscape. Here, steep, elongate mountain ranges alternate with flat, dry,
desert valleys in a pattern that extends from eastern California to central
Utah, and from southern Idaho into the state of Sonora in Mexico.
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