 | Valley of Fires (долина огней), Nevada |
At the park entrance, miles of gray limestone give way to dramatic exposures of red sandstone. The eyes hunger for this color after the long desert drive. It must be even more amazing after some rain |
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Sandstone |
Petroglyphs Canyon. This is the view downstream from Mouse''s Tank, a stream-carved hollow in Petroglyph Canyon that holds water into the dry summer |
Although petroglyphs are present throughout the entire park, Mouse''s Tank and Atlatl Rock are two areas in particular which have many petroglyphs while being relatively easily accessible. The dark mineral coating called desert varnish is easily shed by the coarse-grained sandstone except in sheltered canyons |
On the road to White Domes at the north end of Valley of Fire State Park, overlying rocks are well displayed behind the sandstones that give the park its name |
White Domes |
Elephant Rock |
Valley of Fire State Park, Beehive Formation- http://www.thody.net/photos/four-corners-plus---state/valley-of-fire-state-park.html#previous-photo Jurassic crags. The red rocks of the Aztec Sandstone take attractive, craggy shapes under the erosive environment of the Nevada desert. They formed in an ancient sand sea |
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The Beehives at Valley of Fire, Nevada |
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The multiple small hollows called tafoni are thought to form as salts crystallize and flake off bits of the sandstone surface |
Valley of Fire is a wonderful display of desert-sculpted red sandstone. The rocks have real character, like this outcrop of the Aztec Sandstone.The structure is this sandstone is thin layers. Notice that the layers point in two slightly different directions. That angle between the sandstone beds is due to crossbedding. In this case the crossbedding is a strong sign of a desert environment. During Jurassic time, this ground was once part of a huge sand sea. |
Concretions. The knobs in this sandstone boulder are not fossils but concretions, features formed by subtle variations in sediment chemistry |
Sandstone Bedding Plane. boulder has split along the surface of one of its layers. Shapes may represent original features in the Jurassic desert setting, or younger erosional marks.- http://geology.about.com/od/geology_nv/ig/vofparknevada/ |
Incipient Arch.When a surface of the sandstone hardens from groundwater minerals, erosion can work beneath this crust to create arches of all sizes |
Cambrian Cliffs.The older limestones of the Bonanaza King Formation make rugged mountains in this dry climate; here and there red sandstone peeks out from beneath their talus. |
Valley of Fire is NevadaТs oldest and largest state park, dedicated in 1935. Ancient trees and early man are represented throughout the park by areas of petrified wood and 3,000 year-old Indian petroglyphs.
The Valley of Fire derives its name from red sandstone formations, formed from great shifting sand dunes during the age of dinosaurs, 150 million years ago. Complex uplifting and faulting of the region, followed by extensive erosion, have created the present landscape.
Other important rock formations include limestones, shales, and conglomerates. Prehistoric users of the Valley of Fire included the Basket Maker people and later the Anasazi Pueblo farmers from the nearby fertile Moapa Valley.
The span of approximate occupation has been dated from 300 B.C.E. to 1150 C.E. Their visits probably involved hunting, food gathering, and religious ceremonies, although scarcity of water would have limited the length of their stay. Fine examples of rock art left by these ancient peoples can be found at several sites within the park
Elevation 610Ц790 m. It abuts the Lake Mead National Recreation Area at the Virgin River confluence. Complex uplifting and faulting of the region, followed by extensive erosion, have created the present landscape. The rough floor and jagged walls of the park contain formations of eroded sandstone and sand dunes more than 150 MY. Other important rock formations include limestones, shales, and conglomerates
Valley of Fire State Park is northeast of Las Vegas, Nevada, near the Arizona border. The US Geological Survey has a capsule history of the region that includes Valley of Fire. The park displays red sandstones exposed beneath the Sevier fold-thrust belt, where older rocks of Cambrian age (about 500 million years old) were pushed sideways on a thrust fault over younger rocks (Jurassic, about 160 million years old) of the Aztec Sandstone. The sandstone was laid down in a colossal, long-lived sandy desert like today''s Sahara or Arabia. The red color is from the presence of iron oxides in the sand.
The Valley of Fire derives its name from red sandstone formations, believed to be the remains of a huge 150,000 square mile desert which existed in this region from about 192 to 178 million years ago Other rock formations include limestones, shales, and conglomerates. There are also remains of permineralized vegetation - petrified wood and other fossilized flora