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A jeep on the road to the racetrack

A trail along the edge of ubehebe crater in Death Valley.

Ubehebe Crater is located at the north tip of the Cottonwood Mountains. The crater is half a mile (one kilometer) wide and 500 to 777 feet (150 to 237 m) deep. The age of the crater is estimated from 2,000 to 7,000 years old. "Ubehebe" (pronounced YOU-bee-HEE-bee) is a Timbisha Native American word meaning "Big basket in the rock."

In 2012, new evidence suggested that the crater may be as young as 800 years old, although this estimation was a lower bound, and it's still possible the crater is much older than that.

The crater was formed when magma migrated close to the surface and the heat of the magma flashed groundwater into steam, throwing large quantities of pulverized old rock and new magma across the stony alluvial fan draped across the valley floor. The magma rose through a fault that lies along the western base of Tin Mountain. Movement on this fault was responsible for uplift of the entire Cottonwood Mountains range.

Ubehebe Crater is located at the north tip of the Cottonwood Mountains. The crater is half a mile (one kilometer) wide and 500 to 777 feet (150 to 237 m) deep. The age of the crater is estimated from 2,000 to 7,000 years old. "Ubehebe" (pronounced YOU-bee-HEE-bee) is a Timbisha Native American word meaning "Big basket in the rock."

In 2012, new evidence suggested that the crater may be as young as 800 years old, although this estimation was a lower bound, and it's still possible the crater is much older than that.

The crater was formed when magma migrated close to the surface and the heat of the magma flashed groundwater into steam, throwing large quantities of pulverized old rock and new magma across the stony alluvial fan draped across the valley floor. The magma rose through a fault that lies along the western base of Tin Mountain. Movement on this fault was responsible for uplift of the entire Cottonwood Mountains range.

Ubehebe Crater is located at the north tip of the Cottonwood Mountains. The crater is half a mile (one kilometer) wide and 500 to 777 feet (150 to 237 m) deep. The age of the crater is estimated from 2,000 to 7,000 years old. "Ubehebe" (pronounced YOU-bee-HEE-bee) is a Timbisha Native American word meaning "Big basket in the rock."

In 2012, new evidence suggested that the crater may be as young as 800 years old, although this estimation was a lower bound, and it's still possible the crater is much older than that.

The crater was formed when magma migrated close to the surface and the heat of the magma flashed groundwater into steam, throwing large quantities of pulverized old rock and new magma across the stony alluvial fan draped across the valley floor. The magma rose through a fault that lies along the western base of Tin Mountain. Movement on this fault was responsible for uplift of the entire Cottonwood Mountains range.

Ubehebe Crater is located at the north tip of the Cottonwood Mountains. The crater is half a mile (one kilometer) wide and 500 to 777 feet (150 to 237 m) deep. The age of the crater is estimated from 2,000 to 7,000 years old. "Ubehebe" (pronounced YOU-bee-HEE-bee) is a Timbisha Native American word meaning "Big basket in the rock."

In 2012, new evidence suggested that the crater may be as young as 800 years old, although this estimation was a lower bound, and it's still possible the crater is much older than that.

The crater was formed when magma migrated close to the surface and the heat of the magma flashed groundwater into steam, throwing large quantities of pulverized old rock and new magma across the stony alluvial fan draped across the valley floor. The magma rose through a fault that lies along the western base of Tin Mountain. Movement on this fault was responsible for uplift of the entire Cottonwood Mountains range.