Geography
According to the 2000 census, the county has a total area of 4,481.73 square miles (11,607.6 km2), of which 4,174.73 square miles (10,812.5 km2) (or 93.15%) is land and 307.00 square miles (795.1 km2) (or 6.85%) is water. Much of Imperial County is below sea level.
The county is in the Colorado Desert, an extension of the larger Sonoran Desert.
The Colorado River forms the county's eastern boundary. Two notable geographic features are found in the county, the Salton Sea, at 235 feet (72 m) below sea level, and the Algodones Dunes, one of the largest dune fields in America.
The Chocolate Mountains are located east of the Salton Sea, and extend in a northwest-southeast direction for approximately 60 miles (97 km).
In this region, the geology is dominated by the transition of the tectonic plate boundary from rift to fault. The southernmost strands of the San Andreas Fault connect the northern-most extensions of the East Pacific Rise. Consequently, the region is subject to earthquakes, and the crust is being stretched, resulting in a sinking of the terrain over time.
Read more about this topic: Imperial County, California
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