Death Valley National Park is a national park located east of the Sierra Nevada in the arid Great Basin of the United States. Parts of the park are in southern Inyo County and northern San Bernar-dino County in Eastern California, with a small extension into southwestern Nye County and
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extreme southern Esmeralda County in Nevada. In addition, there is an exclave (Devil's Hole) in southern Nye County. The park covers 5,262 square miles (13,630 km2), encompassing Saline Valley, a large part of Panamint Valley, almost all of Death Valley, and parts of several mountain ranges. Death Valley National Monument was declared a U.S. National Monument
in 1933, placing the area under federal protection. In 1994, the monument was redesignated a national park, as well as being substantially expanded to include Saline and Eureka valleys.
Death Valley is the hottest and driest place in North America because of its lack of surface water and its low relief. It is so frequently the hottest spot in the United States that many tabulations of the highest daily temperatures in the country omit Death Valley as a matter of course. On July 10, 1913, a record 134°F (56.7℃) was measured at the Weather Bureau's observation station at Greenland Ranch (now the site for the Furnace Creek Inn), the highest temperature ever recorded on that continent as of 2007. Daily summer temperatures of 120°F (49℃) or greater are common, as well as below freezing nightly temperatures in the winter. July is the hottest month, with an average high of 115°F (46℃) and an average low of 88°F (31℃). December is the coldest month, with an average high of 65°F (18℃) and an average low of 39°F (4℃). The record low is 15°F (-9.4℃).
The second-lowest point in the Western Hemisphere is in Badwater Basin, which is 282 feet (86 m) below sea level. The park is home to many species of plants and animals that have adapted to this harsh desert environment. Some examples include creosote bush, bighorn sheep, coyote, and the Death Valley pupfish, a survivor of much wetter times. Approximately 95% of the park is designated as wilderness. Its wilderness area covers 4,774 square miles (12,360 km2), making it the largest in the Lower 48 states, and the sixth largest in the United States overall. Death Valley National Park is visited annually by more than 770,000 visitors who come to see its diverse geologic features, desert wildlife, historic sites, scenery and clear night skies.
Mining was the primary activity in the area before it was protected. The first documented non-Native Americans to enter Death Valley did so in the winter of 1849, thinking they would save time by taking a shortcut to the gold fields of California. They were stuck for weeks
and in the process gave the valley its name, even though only one of their group died there. Several short-lived boom towns sprang up during the late 19th and early 20th centuries to exploit minor local bonanzas of gold.
The only long-term profitable ore to be mined, however, was borax, a mineral used to make soap and an important industrial compound.
Today, borax is an essential component of high-temperature resis-tant boro-silicate glass products, for example Pyrex cookware.
Twenty-mule teams were used to transport ore out of the valley;
32 helping to make it famous and the subject of books, radio programs, television series and movies.
The natural environment of the area has been shaped largely by its geology. The valley itself is actually a graben.
The oldest rocks are extensively metamorphosed and at least 1.
7 billion years old. Ancient warm, shallow seas deposited ma-rine sediments until rifting opened the Pacific Ocean. Addi-tional sedimentation occurred until a subduction zone formed off the coast. This uplifted the region out of the sea and created a line of volcanoes. Later the crust started to pull apart, creating the current Basin and Range landform. Valleys filled with sediment and, during the wet times of glacial periods, with lakes, such as Lake Manly.
死亡谷是美国最大的国家公园，也是美国地势最低、温度最高、最干燥的地区。1949 年时，曾经有一队篷车被困此地，西部绵延无止境的高山让他们深陷绝望，虽然最后 大部分人得救了，但是“死亡谷”却因此而得名。
盆地和山脉区在死亡谷特别显著，因为这里拥有全西半球海拔最低的地点。公园 里有盐碱地、沙丘、火山口、峡谷、雪山等，有丰富的地质地貌，游客不难找到地壳 里各式各样的断层、峡谷往荒漠注入时形成大大小小的冲积扇平原等。面积太大是在 这里活动最大的困难之一。即使现在开车去旅游，你都能感受到那种在浩瀚的大自然 面前人类的无力感。
峡谷两“岸”，悬崖绝壁，地势十分险恶。这里几乎常年不下雨，更有过连续六个 多星期气温超过 40℃度的纪录。每逢倾盆大雨，炽热的地方便会冲起滚滚泥流。这里 还有“死火山口”。对于鱼类来说这里很难生存。在死亡谷中，许多湖泊都已经干涸了 1000 多年，但是，人们还是在死亡谷的一些温泉、沼泽和“魔鬼洞”中发现了 7 种鳉 类。“魔鬼洞”是地下含水层，其中的鳟类也被称为“魔鳉”，已被列为世界最濒危的 物种之一。
◆exclave：飞地（孤立于外地的领土）
◆substantially：实质上
◆tabulation：表格
◆harsh：严酷的
◆creosote bush：蒺藜科植物
◆scenery：风景
◆shortcut：捷径
◆cookware：厨房用具
◆metamorphose：变形
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景致各有千秋的美国国家公园