Ancient Seas
Death Valley's rocks, structure and landforms offer a wealth of information about what the area may have looked like in the past. It is apparent that there has not always been a valley here. Death Valley's oldest rocks, formed about 1.8 billion years ago have been so severely altered and suffered so many changes the their history is nearly unreadable. A clearer picture is presented by rocks dating about 500 million years ago. These rocks, found in the Panamint and Funeral Mountains are made of sandstone and limestone indicating it was the site of a warm, shallow sea throughout most of the Paleozoic Era (570-250 million years ago)Previous - Next
Strata
| GLOSSARY | > limestone, strata |