The Mojave Desert, together with theSonoran,Chihuahuan, andGreat Basin deserts, form a largerNorth American desert. Of these, the Mojave is the smallest and driest. It displays typicalbasin and range topography, generally having a pattern of a series of parallel mountain ranges and valleys. It is also the site ofDeath Valley, which is the lowest elevation in North America. The Mojave Desert is often colloquially called the "high desert", as most of it lies between 2,000 and 4,000 feet (610 and 1,220 m). It supports a diversity of flora and fauna.
The 54,000 sq mi (140,000 km2) desert supports a number of human activities, including recreation, ranching, and military training.[9] The Mojave Desert also contains various silver,tungsten, iron and gold deposits.[10]: 124
The spellingMojave originates from the Spanish language, while the spellingMohave comes from modern English. Both are used today, although the Mojave Tribal Nation officially uses the spellingMojave, which is a shortened form ofHamakhaave, anendonym in their native language, meaning "beside the water".[11]
The Mojave Desert is a desert bordered to the west by the Sierra Nevada mountain range and theCalifornia montane chaparral and woodlands, and to the south and east by the Sonoran Desert. The boundaries to the east of the Mojave Desert are less distinctive than the other boundaries because there is no presence of an indicator species, such as theJoshua tree (Yucca brevifolia),[13] which is endemic to the Mojave Desert. The Mojave Desert is distinguished from the Sonoran Desert and other deserts adjacent to it by its warm temperate climate, as well asflora and fauna such asironwood (Olneyatesota),blue Palo Verde (Parkinsonia florida),chuparosa (Justicia californica),spiny menodora (Menodora spinescens),desert senna (Cassia armata),California dalea (Psorothamnus arborescens),California fan palm (Washingtonia filifera) andgoldenhead (Acamptopappus shockleyi). Along with these other factors, these plants differentiate the Mojave from the nearby Sonoran Desert.[2]
The Mojave Desert is bordered by theSan Andreas Fault to the southwest and theGarlock fault to the north. The mountains elevated along the length of the San Andreas fault provide a clear border between the Mojave Desert and the coastal regions to the west.[10] The Garlock Fault separates the Mojave Desert from the Sierra Nevada andTehachapi mountains, which provide a natural border to the Mojave Desert. There are also abundantalluvial fans, calledbajadas, that form around the mountains within the Mojave Desert and extend down toward the low-altitude basins.[13] These basins contain dried lake beds called playas, where water generally collects and evaporates, leaving large volumes of salt. These playas includeRogers Dry Lake andChina Lake. Dry lakes are a noted feature of the Mojave landscape.[2] The Mojave Desert is also home to theDevils Playground, about 40 miles (64 km) of dunes and salt flats going in a northwest-southeasterly direction. The Devil's Playground is a part of the Mojave National Preserve and is between the town ofBaker, California and theProvidence Mountains. TheCronese Mountains are within the Devil's Playground.
There are very few surface rivers in the Mojave Desert, but two major rivers generally flow underground. One is the intermittentMojave River, which begins in the San Bernardino mountains and disappears underground in the Mojave Desert.[14] The other is theAmargosa River, which flows partly underground through the Mojave Desert along a southward path.[15] The Manix, Mojave, and the Little Mojave lakes are large but shallow.[13]: 7 Soda Lake is the principal saline basin of the Mojave Desert.Natural springs are typically rare throughout the Mojave Desert,[13]: 19 but there are two notable springs,Ash Meadows andOasis Valley. Ash Meadows is formed from several other springs, which draw from deep underground. Oasis Valley draws from the nearby Amargosa River.
Extremes in temperatures throughout the seasons characterize the climate of the Mojave Desert. Freezing temperatures and strong winds are not uncommon in the winter, as well as precipitation such as rain and snow in the mountains. In contrast, temperatures above 100 °F (38 °C) are not uncommon during the summer months.[16] It receives annual average precipitation of 2 to 6 inches (51 to 152 mm), although regions at high altitudes such as the portion of the Mojave Desert in theSan Gabriel mountains may receive more rain.[10][8] Most precipitation in the Mojave comes from Pacific cyclonic storms as they migrate eastwards from November to April.[10] Such storms generally bring rain and snow only in the mountainous regions,increasing aridity on the leeward slopes.[10]
During the late summer months, there is also the possibility of strong thunderstorms, which bring heavy showers or cloudbursts. These storms can result inflash flooding.[17]
A powerful High Desert summer storm sweeps rapidly across the Mojave Desert.
The Mojave Desert has not historically supported afire regime because of low fuel loads and connectivity. However, in the last few decades, invasive annual plants such as some within the generaBromus,Schismus andBrassica have facilitated fires by serving as a fuel bed. This has significantly altered many areas of the desert. At higher elevations, fire regimes are regular but infrequent.[18]
Climate data forFurnace Creek,Death Valley, California (1991–2020 normals,[a] extremes 1911–present). Elevation −190 ft (−58 m).
While the Mojave Desert is generally sparsely populated, it has increasingly become urbanized in recent years.[8][2] The metropolitan areas includeLas Vegas, the largest urban area in the Mojave and the largest urban area in Nevada with a population of about 2.3 million.[26]St. George, Utah, is the northeasternmost metropolitan area in the Mojave, with a population of around 180,000 in 2020, and is located at the convergence of the Mojave, Great Basin, and Colorado Plateau. The Los Angeles exurban area ofLancaster-Palmdale has more than 400,000 residents, and theVictorville area to its east (also known asVictor Valley) has around 550,000 residents.[8] Smaller cities ormicropolitan areas in the Mojave Desert includeHelendale,Lake Havasu City,Kingman,Laughlin,Bullhead City,Pahrump, andTwentynine Palms. All have experienced rapid population growth since 1990. The California portion of the desert also containsEdwards Air Force Base andNaval Air Weapons Station China Lake, noted for experimental aviation and weapons projects.[27][28]
The exposed geology of the Death Valley presents a diverse and complex set of at least 23formations of sedimentary units, two major gaps in the geologic record calledunconformities, and at least one distinct set of related formations geologists call agroup. The oldest rocks in the area that now includesDeath Valley National Park are extensivelymetamorphosed by intense heat and pressure and are at least1700 million years old. These rocks were intruded by a mass of granite 1400Ma (million years ago) and later uplifted and exposed to nearly 500 million years of erosion.[30]: 631
The rock that forms the Mojave Desert was created under shallow water in thePrecambrian,[13]: 21 [10]: 115 forming thick sequences ofconglomerate,mudstone, andcarbonate rock topped bystromatolites, and possibly glacial deposits from the hypothesizedSnowball Earth event.[31]: 44 Rifting thinned huge roughly linear parts of the supercontinentRodinia enough to allow sea water to invade and divide its landmass into component continents separated by narrow straits.[30]: 632 Apassive margin developed on the edges of these new seas in the Death Valley region.[30]: 634 Carbonate banks formed on this part of the twomargins only to be subsided as thecontinental crust thinned until it broke, giving birth to a new ocean basin. Anaccretion wedge ofclastic sediment then started to accumulate at the base of the submerged precipice, entombing the region's first known fossils of complex life.
During thePaleozoic era, the area that is now the Mojave was again likely submerged under a greater sea.[10]: 116 The passive margin switched toactive margin in the early-to-midMesozoic when theFarallon Plate under thePacific Ocean started to dive below theNorth American Plate, initiating asubduction zone;volcanoes and uplifting mountains were produced as a result.[30]: 635 Erosion over many millions of years formed a relatively featureless plain.
Stretching of the crust under western North America started around16 Ma and is thought to be caused by upwelling from the subductedspreading-zone of the Farallon Plate. This process continues into the present and is thought to be responsible for producing theBasin and Range province. By2 to 3 million years ago this province had spread to the Death Valley area, ripping it apart and giving birth toDeath Valley,Panamint Valley and surrounding ranges. These valleys partially filled with sediment and, during colder periods during the currentice age, with lakes.Lake Manly was the largest of these lakes; it filled Death Valley during eachglacial period from 240,000 years ago to 10,000 years ago. By10,500 years ago these lakes were increasingly cut off from glacial melt from theSierra Nevada, starving them of water and concentrating salts and minerals. The desert environment seen today developed after these lakes dried up.
The Mojave Desert is a source of various minerals and metallic materials. Due to the climate, there is an accumulation of weathered bedrock and fine sand and silt, formingcolluvium.[32] Deposits of gold, tungsten, and silver were heavily exploited prior to theSecond World War.[10]: 124 Deposits of copper,tin,lead-zinc,manganese, iron, and variousradioactive substances are known to exist but have not beencommercially mined.[10]: 124
Flora of the Mojave Desert consists of variousendemic plant species, notably theJoshua Tree, a notableindicator species. There is more endemic flora in the Mojave Desert than almost anywhere in the world.[2] Mojave Desert flora is not avegetation type, although the plants in the area have evolved in isolation because of the physical barriers of the Sierra Nevada and the Colorado Plateau. Predominant plants of the Mojave Desert includeall-scale (Atriplex polycarpa),creosote bush (Larrea tridentata),brittlebush (Encelia farinosa),desert holly (Atriplex hymenelytra),white burrobush (Hymenoclea salsola), and famously, the Joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia). Additionally, the Mojave Desert is also home to various species of cacti, such assilver cholla (Cylindropuntia echinocarpa),Mojave prickly pear (O. erinacea),beavertail cactus (O. basilaris), andmany-headed barrel cactus (Homalocephala polycephala, syn.Echinocactus polycephalus). Less common but distinctive plants of the Mojave Desert includeironwood (Olneyatesota),blue Palo Verde (Parkinsonia florida),chuparosa (Justicia californica),spiny menodora (Menodora spinescens),desert senna (Cassia armata),California dalea (Psorothamnus arborescens), andgoldenhead (Acamptopappus shockleyi). The Mojave Desert is generally abundant in winter annuals.[13]: 11 The plants of the Mojave Desert generally correspond to individual geographic features, resulting in the formation of distinctive flora communities.[33]
A depiction of cassia armata, which is particularly characteristic of the Mojave
The animal species of the Mojave Desert have generally fewer endemics than its flora. However, endemic fauna of the Mojave Desert includeKelso Dunes Jerusalem cricket (Ammopelmatus kelsoensis), theKelso Dunes shieldback katydid (Eremopedes kelsoensis), theMohave ground squirrel (Spermophilus mohavensis) andAmargosa vole (Microtus californicus scirpensis).[34] TheMojave fringe-toed lizard (Uma scoparia) is not endemic, but almost completely limited to the Mojave Desert. There are also aquatic species that are found nowhere else,[35] such as theDevils Hole pupfish, limited to one hot spring near Death Valley.[36]
Before the European colonization of North America, tribes of Native Americans, such as theMohave, werehunter-gatherers living in the Mojave Desert.[37]
European explorers started exploring the deserts beginning in the 18th century.Francisco Garcés, aFranciscan friar, was the first explorer of the Mojave Desert in 1776.[38] Garcés recorded information about the original inhabitants of the deserts.
Later, as American interests expanded into California, American explorers started probing the California deserts.Jedediah Smith traveled through the Mojave Desert in 1826, finally reaching theSan Gabriel Mission.[39][40]
STS-126 The Space Shuttle Endeavour mounted atop its modified Boeing 747 carrier aircraft flies over California's Mojave Desert on its way back to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on December 10, 2008.
In recent years, human development in the Mojave Desert has increased. Major urban and suburban centers includingLas Vegas and Los Angeles increasingly damaged the wildlife.[2] An added demand for landfill space as a result of the large metropolitan centers of Las Vegas and Los Angeles may drastically affect flora and fauna. Agricultural development along theColorado River, close to the eastern boundary of the Mojave Desert, causes habitat loss and degradation.[8][2] Areas particularly affected by human development includeWard Valley and Riverside County. TheUnited States military maintains installations in the Mojave Desert, making it a critical training location for the United States Department of Defense.[9] Miners, ranchers, and farmers rely on the desert for a living.[35] The Mojave is used by the state of California to meet renewable energy objectives. Large tracts of the desert are owned by federal agencies and are leased at low cost by wind andsolar energy companies, although these renewable developments can cause their own environmental impact and disturb cultural landscapes and visual resources.[41]Desert Sunlight Solar Farm, one of the largest solar farms in the world, was built approximately five miles fromJoshua Tree National Park. An endangeredYuma clapper rail was found dead at the site in 2014, spurring efforts from conservation groups to protect birds from the so-called lake effect, a phenomenon in which birds can mistake the reflective glare of solar panels for a body of water.[42]
A field ofCalifornia poppies in the California Poppy Reserve in Antelope Valley
The Mojave Desert is one of the best protected distinct ecoregions in the United States[2] as a result of theCalifornia Desert Protection Act, which designated 69 wilderness areas and establishedDeath Valley National Park,Joshua Tree National Park, and theMojave National Preserve.[44] However, the southwest and central east portions of the Mojave Desert are particularly threatened as a result of off-road vehicles, increasing recreational use, human development, and agriculturalgrazing.[2] The World Wildlife Fund lists the Mojave Desert as relatively "stable/intact".[2]
^Mean maxima and minima (i.e. the highest and lowest temperature readings during an entire month or year) calculated based on data at said location from 1991 to 2020.
^Mean monthly maxima and minima (i.e. the highest and lowest temperature readings during an entire month or year) calculated based on data at said location from 1991 to 2020.
^Jones, Daniel (2003) [1917]. Peter Roach; James Hartmann; Jane Setter (eds.).English Pronouncing Dictionary. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.ISBN978-3-12-539683-8.
^abcdHarris, Ann G.; Tuttle, Esther; Tuttle, Sherwood D. (1997).Geology of National Parks (5th ed.). Iowa: Kendall/Hunt Publishing.ISBN978-0-7872-5353-0.
^Collier, Michael (1990).An Introduction to the Geology of Death Valley. Death Valley, California: Death Valley Natural History Association. LCN 90-081612.
^Wheat, Frank (1999).California desert miracle : the fight for desert parks and wilderness. San Diego, Calif.: Sunbelt Publications.ISBN0-932653-27-8.OCLC39677747.
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