Mojave Desert

The Mojave Desert is the smallest and driest of the four great North American deserts, spread mainly across southeastern California and southwestern Nevada with extensions into Arizona and Utah. Known as the high desert, it is shaped by mountain ranges, broad valleys, dry lake beds, dunes, and salt flats, and includes Death Valley, the lowest point in North America. Its name comes from the Indigenous Mojave people. Ancient seas, tectonic forces, and ice age lakes helped form its landscape. Despite extreme heat, freezing winters, and flash floods, the Mojave supports distinctive plant life and has long been used for mining, ranching, recreation, military activity, and urban development.

California · United States