Death Valley, California is the lowest point in the U.S. and contains a wealth of geological wonders. Some of the rocks in this area are as old as 1.8 billion years. The light blue areas are salt deposits formed by water from occasional rainfall that flows into the basin and then evaporates. Also visible are numerous trails of minerals washed out of the mountains by rainfall as well as alluvial fans created by the associated erosion.

The area covered by this image is approximately 63x86 miles. A full-resolution crop of the image file is available here that shows the detail present in the full image print.