The
Valley Of Fire
State Park was first dedicated in 1935 and it is Nevada's oldest
state park. It's colorful name derives from the spectacular red,
orange and yellow sandstone formations that are exposed in
abundance here.
The multi-shaded red and golden yellow sandstone cliffs and
rocks in the Valley of Fire are part of the Navajo Sandstone
Formation that is found throughout southern Nevada and in many
areas of the Southwest.
The
Navajo Sandstone
is the same formation found in Red Rock Canyon,
along the North Shore Road
of Lake Mead at
places like 'Redstone'
and in nearby places such as Utah's
Zion National Park to
name just a few. The red colors in the sandstone is a by product
of the minerals in the rock, principally iron oxides.
This truly unique place totals 46,000 acres and is located only
50 to 55 miles northeast of
Las
Vegas (depending on the route taken), and just east of the Overton Arm
of Lake Mead NRA. Valley of Fire is a place of
rare beauty to which people have been attracted to for thousands
of years. This is evidenced by the large number of Petroglyphs
found in several places throughout this park.
|
Valley of Fire History and Prehistory
The Valley of Fire was once the bottom of a deep ocean basin
that eventually to become part of a vast desert which existed
about 150 to 180 million years ago.
Continued deposition over millions of years buried the once
shifting desert sands deep within the earth. Approximately 65
million years ago orogenic activity associated with the continental
subduction zone along the North American Pacific coast,
caused tremendous faulting, uplifting and shifting of the
regions earths crust. This resulted in the tremendous diversity
in geological formations found throughout
the Great Basin and vicinity.
Eventually, after millions of years, erosion exposed the remains
of that ancient desert and what we now call the Valley of Fire.
Over 250,000 visitors a year see at the Valley of Fire
where sheer sandstone cliffs made of every possible shade of
deep red surround everything. |
 It is
primitive and primitive looking here. There are pink, yellow and red sand dunes with
desert scrub and creosote
bushes colored an unusual green. The green color must be due to the
soil because in many places the shades of green look unusual contrasted
against what those plants look like in other contexts.
Photos:
The pictures on this page are middle: tower of sandstone west of
the Visitors Center, bottom: looking north at Rainbow
Vista. |
|
|