Ubehebe Crater

Ubehebe Crater. Death Valley National Park. Before you is vivid evidence of one of the geologic forces that shapes Death Valley. Unlike most geologic features, the age of Ubehebe Crater (u-bee hee-bee) is measured in thousands rather than millions of years; it is about 2,000 years old., Recipe for Explosion: , Rising magma , hot, molten rock , turns groundwater to steam. Intense steam pressure builds until the superheated combination of steam and rock explodes, creating a crater like this one. , The explosion spewed shattered rock over a six-square-mile area, in some places to depths of 150 feet. Ubehebe is the largest of many explosion craters in the area. Ubehebe Crater is a half-mile across and about 500 feet deep., photo caption: , To the Timbisha Shoshone Tribe of Death Valley this crater is Wosa , Coyote’s burden basket , the place where the people emerged to spread in four directions across the land.