Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada

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 represents a colossal, long-lived sandy desert like today's Sahara or Arabia. The red color results from the presence of iron oxides in the sand.

Official Park home page