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 this 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. |
|
|
