Anza-Borrego Badlands

The Colorado Desert lies within active branches of the San Andreas Fault in an area where the Pacific and North American Plates are being slightly pulled apart. The result is low-lying basin, as deep as 245 feet (75 meters) below sea level at the Salton Sea. This view is from the western margin of the Colorado Desert, where geologically young sediments are rapidly eroding and eventually filling the descending Salton Trough. Another interpretation of the Colorado Desert, based on the relatively lower basin elevation compared to the Mojave Desert, would add another 100% to the size shown on the diagram by adding all the area from an eastward extension of the Transverse Ranges and south.

Print No. A99-48-4.

More images from the Anza-Borrego Desert.