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Las Vegas

by ALOHA DEAN

Red Rock Canyon

National Conservation Area

Red Rock Canyon is less then an hour's drive west of Las Vegas and has many significant geologic features. The area is a good place to kick back and just enjoy nature's wonders. The most significant geologic feature of Red Rock Canyon is the Keystone Thrust Fault. A thrust fault is a fracture in the earth's crust where one rock plate is thrust horizontally over another. This thrust contact is clearly defined by the sharp contrast between the grey limestones and the red sandstones. The Keystone Thrust Fault extends from the Cottonwoood Fault (along the Pahrump Highway) 13 miles northward to the vicinity of La Madre Mountain, where it is obscured by more complex faulting.

Hoover Dam

726 ft (221 m) high and 1,244 ft (379 m) long, on the Colorado River between Nev. and Ariz.; one of the world's largest dams. Built between 1931 and 1936 by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the dam is named for President Herbert Hoover; from 1933 to 1947 it was known as Boulder Dam. A key unit on the Colorado, the dam is a major supplier of hydroelectric power and provides for flood control, river regulation, and improved navigation. Hoover Dam impounds Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States; water is used to irrigate more than 650,000 acres (263,000 hectares) in S California and Arizona, and c.400,000 acres (162,000 hectares) in Mexico. Hoover Dam is part of Lake Mead National Recreation Area (see National Parks and Monuments, table). Boulder City, Nev., was built to house workers on the project.