Death Valley is a desert valley in Eastern California, in the northern Mojave Desert, bordering the Great Basin Desert. It is thought to be the hottest place on Earth during summer.

Death Valley's Badwater Basin is the point of lowest elevation in North America, at 282 feet (86 m) below sea level. On the afternoon of July 10, 1913, the United States Weather Bureau recorded a high temperature of 56.7 °C at Furnace Creek in Death Valley, which stands as the highest ambient air temperature ever recorded on the surface of the Earth.

While sand exists throughout the park, there are very few locations where large dune fields are created. In order to create sand dunes, there must be a source of sand (in this case, the eroding mountains to the north), wind to move that sand, and a barrier to prevent the sand from being blown farther (the mountains to the south). The conditions at Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes are perfect for the creation of dunes, and while individual grains move, and ripples form, the dune field remains.