During the 2002 GPS Postdoctoral field trip to Death Valley, Jean-Luc Margot climbs up one of the walls of the Copper Canyon Turtleback. Copper Canyon drains an embayment composed of Tertiary sedimentary and volcanic rocks, correlated with the Furnace Creek Formation. These turtleback surfaces are attributed to compressional folding of regional thrust faults, uparching of shallow pluton intrusions, and/or differential erosion of sedimentary deposits.

Photo courtesy of Chad Trujillo