Reasons California has some of the most unique geology in the United States and world:
Highest point in the lower 48 states: Mt. Whitney, 14,495 feet
Lowest point in the west hemisphere: near Badwater, Death Valley, -283 feet
Largest living things in the world: Sequoia Trees
Tallest living things in the world: Coast Redwoods
Oldest living things in the world: Bristlecone Pines (4,000-4,900 years), White Mtns, or Creosote Bushes in Colorado Desert (11,000 years)
Hottest and Driest Place on the planet: Death Valley: 134 degrees, precipitation 1.4"/year
One of the Snowiest Places in the U.S.: Tamarack, Sierra Nevada, 76 feet in one year, 32 feet in one month, 37 feet on ground at one time
Highest Waterfall in the North America (no. 7 in world): Yosemite Falls, 2,850 feet
Second tallest active volcano in the U.S.: Mt. Shasta, 14,162 feet
Second most recently active volcano in lower 48 states: Mt. Lassen (1914-21)
Some of the largest earthquakes in the lower 48 states: 1906 (San Francisco 8.2), 1872 Lone Pine (8.25), 1857 (Ft. Tejon 8.2)
One of the more prolific oil and natural gas producing regions in the world: Los Angeles Basin, Bakersfield, and Santa Barbara-Ventura Channel
One of the biggest explosions ever: Long Valley Caldera, 750,000 years ago, 125 cubic miles of ash spread all over the western states as far east as Nebraska and Kansas
No other state has the combination of landscapes: Coastlines, deserts, mountains, river valleys and plateaus
All three different kinds of plate margins: Divergent, convergent and transform. Few places in the world have this kind of diversity.
since January 8, 2004