Geology of the Death Valley area The exposed geology of the
Death Valley area presents a diverse and complex set of at least
23 formations of sedimentary units, two major gaps in the
geologic record called unconformities, and at least one distinct
set of related formations geologists call a group. The oldest
rocks in the area that now includes Death Valley National Park
are extensively metamorphosed by intense heat and pressure and
are at least 1700 million years old. These rocks were intruded
by a mass of granite 1400 Ma (million years ago) and later
uplifted and exposed to nearly 500 million years of erosion.
Marine deposition occurred 1200 to 800 Ma, creating thick
sequences of conglomerate, mudstone, and carbonate rock topped
by stromatolites, and possibly glacial deposits from the
hypothesized Snowball Earth event. Rifting thinned huge roughly
linear parts of the supercontinent Rodinia enough to allow sea
water to invade and divide its landmass into component
continents separated by narrow straits. A pas