Red Rock Canyon, Nevada

Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area lies in Clark County, Nevada, about 15 miles west of Las Vegas, known for its dramatic red Aztec Sandstone bearing a hard, dark surface varnish. The area's rock record spans an ancient ocean basin that deposited up to 9,000 feet of limey sediment later lithified into limestone during the Paleozoic, followed by further marine deposits through the Mesozoic, and then, starting around 180 million years ago, a desert of vast sand dunes that accumulated up to half a mile thick before being cemented by calcium carbonate and iron oxide into sandstone. About 66 million years ago the Keystone Thrust Fault pushed older gray limestone up and over the younger red sandstone during regional mountain building, producing the varicolored landscape visible today along roughly 13 miles of the Red Rock escarpment. Oxidized iron minerals give the sandstone its red color, canyon walls rise as high as 3,000 feet, and La Madre Mountain, the area's highest point, reaches 8,154 feet. This entity documents Red Rock Canyon specifically as a geological formation, distinct from any other place sharing the common name Red Rock Canyon elsewhere.