c.15,000 sq mi (38,850 sq km), region of low, barren mountains and flat valleys, 2,000 to 5,000 ft (610–1,524 m) high, S Calif.; part of the Great Basin of the United States. It is bordered on the N and W by the Sierra Nevada and the Tehachapi, San Gabriel, and San Bernardino mts. and merges with the Colorado Desert in the southeast. Once a part of an ancient interior sea, the desert was formed by volcanic action (lava surfaces with cinder cones are present) and by material deposited by the Colorado River.

The temperature is uniformly warm throughout the year, although there is a wide variation from day to night. Strong, dry winds blow in the afternoon and evening. Located in the rain shadow of the Coast Ranges, the Mojave receives an average annual rainfall of 5 in. (12.7 cm), mostly in winter. Juniper and Joshua trees are found on the higher, outer mountain slopes; desert-type vegetation and numerous intermittent lakes and streams are present in the valleys. The Mojave River is the largest stream. Minerals found in the desert include borax and other salines, gold, silver, and iron.

The desert is crossed by two rail lines and two highways. Military installations were established in the Mojave during World War II; Edwards Air Force Base is perhaps the best known. North of Edwards, on the western edge of the desert, is Mojave Airport—a civilian test facility and aircraft storage center. A geothermal energy plant was constructed following federal legislation in 1978 aimed at developing alternate energy sources. The 1995 transfer of federal land in Ward Valley to the state of California was an important step in the establishment of a low-level nuclear waste site there; environmentalists have opposed the project, fearing radioactive contamination of the water table that supplies drinking water to southern California. About 1,450,000 acres (587,250 hectares) of the desert are protected in Mojave National Preserve. Death Valley National Park and Joshua Tree National Park are also located in the region.

See E. C. Jaeger, The California Deserts (4th ed. 1965); M. Q. Sutton, Papers on the Archaeology of the Mojave Desert (1987).

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