Mount San Jacinto, California, USA
(c) 2000 Andrew Alden, licensed to About.com (fair use policy)
Mount San Jacinto towers more than 3000 meters over Palm Springs, California, one of the greatest changes in elevation in North America. The mountain is uplifted with the clash and breakage of the Pacific plate against the North American plate, and the border between them, the San Andreas fault zone, runs along the foot of the mountain.
In the foreground, north of the peak, is the Coachella Valley. This large pull-apart basin is sinking between two strands of the fault zone. The valley sinks as rapidly as it fills with sediment from the mountains around it, and its flat floor lies at sea level or below. If tectonic conditions were only slightly different, this would be part of the Gulf of California. But for now, wherever imported water does not support extremely productive farmland, only the creosote bush and cholla cactus of the Colorado Desert thrive in the intense heat and year-round sunlight.
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