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Virtual Vista
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Virtual Vista: Death Valley, California, USA

Located along the western edge of the Basin and Range Province of North America, Death Valley is a deep, down-faulted graben bound by uplifted horsts in the arid rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada Mountains of eastern California.

The valley floor of Death Valley is situated 85 meters below sea-level. Many of the desert landforms you studied in Chapter 13 of your textbook can be identified in this Virtual Vista of Death Valley.

<a onClick="window.open('/olcweb/cgi/pluginpop.cgi?it=jpg::::/sites/dl/free/0072826967/30425/VirtualVista1301.jpg','popWin', 'width=NaN,height=NaN,resizable,scrollbars');" href="#"><img valign="absmiddle" height="16" width="16" border="0" src="/olcweb/styles/shared/linkicons/image.gif"> (132.0K)</a>

In the valley floor, there is an ephemeral, salty lake known as a playa. Along the margins of the bounding mountain ranges, alluvial fans are evident (red hues) as mountain streams disgorge their sediment loads onto the valley floor.

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Some alluvial fans have coalesced to form a bajada. Note also the mountain spurs extending between major stream valleys are flat-faced or truncated (faceted) by the major normal fault marking the boundary between the graben (Death Valley) and horst (mountain range).

<a onClick="window.open('/olcweb/cgi/pluginpop.cgi?it=jpg::::/sites/dl/free/0072826967/30425/VirtualVista1303.jpg','popWin', 'width=NaN,height=NaN,resizable,scrollbars');" href="#"><img valign="absmiddle" height="16" width="16" border="0" src="/olcweb/styles/shared/linkicons/image.gif"> (92.0K)</a>

To learn more about the fascintating geologic history of Death Valley, visit the website of the National Park Service.

Use the link below to fly over a portion of Death Valley, California. As you race past the fault-block mountains, note the alluvial fans emanating from every canyon and the broad expanse of the salt-covered playa.

Death Valley Fly By (1851.0K)

Points to Ponder:

1. As you view the Virtual Vista, try to identify and name as many desert landforms as you can.

Can you identify the following landforms?

alluvial fans
faceted spurs
playa
bajada

Having trouble loading or viewing the video clip? You will need the DivX video codec for your media player to watch the video. The DivX codec is available free from www.divx.com. Click on the link or type the URL into your browser to go to the DivX download site. Once at the DivX site, follow the "DOWNLOAD" links until you locate the download "Standard DivX Codec (FREE)" hyperlink. Click on the link and download the small DivX codec file. The codec file may take a few minutes to load. Please be patient. Once the file is downloaded to your local computer, double click on the file to automatically install the Divx codec.

You may also discover that the Virtual Vistas work best with the Windows Media Player, available as a free download from www.microsoft.com. Click on the link or type the URL into your browser to go to the Microsoft web site. Once at the web site, type "windows media player" into the Search box, then click on the appropriate link to download the latest version of Windows Media Player.






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