Center for Sonoran Desert Studies

Solid Earth

The Desert drapes over mountains, valleys and plains formed by geological processes that mold the solid Earth. The rocks that are preserved here tell an amazing story of the oceans, swamps, rivers, volcanoes, mountains, basins, dinosaurs, camels, mammoths and other fascinating animals and plants that all existed here at one time or another. It is a story of tremendous forces acting over unfathomably long times, punctuated by catastrophic events which changed landscapes overnight. It is a story of the building and erosion of huge mountains, along with the formation of delicate and dazzling crystals, desired by collectors world-wide. It is also the story that describes the origin of the Sonoran Desert's mineral deposits which have played such a large role in its recent human history.