Red Rock Canyon, Las Vegas, Nevada. In the Mojave Desert.

"Red Rock Canyon was designated as Nevada’s first National Conservation Area…located 17 miles west of the Las Vegas Strip…The area is visited by more than two million people each year. Red Rock offers…a 13-mile scenic drive, miles of hiking trails, rock climbing, horseback riding, mountain biking, road biking, picnic areas, nature observing…In 1990, special legislation…changed the status of the Red Rock Recreation Lands to a National Conservation Area, the seventh to be designated nationally." Source: blm.gov. "For much of the past 600 million years, the land that is now Red Rock Canyon NCA was the bottom of a deep ocean basin…A rich variety of marine life flourished in those waters and left behind deposits of shells and skeletons more that 9,000 feet thick which were eventually compressed into limestone and similar carbonate rocks. Beginning approximately 225 million years ago, crustal movements caused the sea bed to slowly rise. Streams entering the shallower waters deposited mud and sand which later consolidated into shale and marine sandstones. Changing land and sea levels trapped large bodies of water which later evaporated leaving behind layers of salt and gypsum in some areas. Exposure of the sediments to the atmosphere allowed some of the minerals to oxidize, resulting in red and orange colored rocks…About 180 million years ago the area was completely arid, much as the Sahara Desert is today…In some areas the iron minerals in the rocks have been altered and concentrated giving the rock it’s red color." Source: digital-desert.com

Posted by Don Dunning on 2018-01-30 04:57:13

Tagged: , Las Vegas , Mojave Desert , Nevada , Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area , United States