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Elephant Rock is a
Weather
{{Portal bar, Geography, Geology, Mountains Landforms of Clark County, Nevada Sandstone formations of the United States Landforms of the Great Basin Natural arches of Nevada
summit
A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous.
The term (mountain top) is generally used only for ...
in Clark County Clark County may refer to:
*Clark County, Arkansas
*Clark County, Idaho
*Clark County, Illinois
*Clark County, Indiana
*Clark County, Kansas
*Clark County, Kentucky
*Clark County, Missouri
*Clark County, Nevada, containing Las Vegas
*Clark County, ...
, Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...
, United States.
Description
Elephant Rock is located northeast of downtownLas Vegas
Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...
in the Valley of Fire State Park
Valley of Fire State Park is a public recreation and nature preservation area covering nearly located south of Overton, Nevada. The state park derives its name from red sandstone formations, the Aztec Sandstone, which formed from shifting ...
near the park's east entrance. The landform is one of the most photographed attractions within the park. It is set in the Mojave Desert
The Mojave Desert (; ; ) is a desert in the rain shadow of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains and Transverse Ranges in the Southwestern United States. Named for the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous Mohave people, it is located pr ...
and it is one of the most famous sandstone features in Nevada. Elephant Rock is composed of Aztec Sandstone
The Aztec Sandstone is an Early Jurassic geological formation of primarily eolian sand from which fossil pterosaur tracks have been recovered.Early Jurassic
The Early Jurassic Epoch (geology), Epoch (in chronostratigraphy corresponding to the Lower Jurassic series (stratigraphy), Series) is the earliest of three epochs of the Jurassic Period. The Early Jurassic starts immediately after the Triassicâ ...
. Precipitation runoff from the landform drains east to Lake Mead
Lake Mead is a reservoir formed by the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River in the Southwestern United States. It is located in the states of Nevada and Arizona, east of Las Vegas. It is the largest reservoir in the US in terms of water capacity. L ...
via Thomas Wash and Valley of Fire Wash. Topographic relief
Terrain (), alternatively relief or topographical relief, is the dimension and shape of a given surface of land. In physical geography, terrain is the lay of the land. This is usually expressed in terms of the elevation, slope, and orientati ...
is modest as the summit rises above the Valley of Fire Road in 265 feet (81 m). Access to the arch is from a 0.25-mile trail that starts at a roadside parking lot with information and restrooms. This landform's descriptive toponym, which derives its name from a much-photographed natural arch
A natural arch, natural bridge, or (less commonly) rock arch is a natural landform where an arch has formed with an opening underneath. Natural arches commonly form where inland cliffs, Cliffed coast, coastal cliffs, Fin (geology), fins or Stack ...
that resembles an elephant, has been officially adopted by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names.''National Geographic Guide to State Parks of the United States, 4th Edition'', National Geographic Books, 2012, , p. 353.
Climate
Elephant Rock is set within theMojave Desert
The Mojave Desert (; ; ) is a desert in the rain shadow of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains and Transverse Ranges in the Southwestern United States. Named for the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous Mohave people, it is located pr ...
which has hot summers and cold winters. Due to the elevation and aridity, temperatures drop sharply after sunset. Summer nights are comfortably cool. Winter highs are generally above freezing, and winter nights are bitterly cold, with temperatures often dropping well below freezing.
See also
*Great Basin
The Great Basin () is the largest area of contiguous endorheic watersheds, those with no outlets to the ocean, in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Baja Californi ...
References
External links
* Elephant RockWeather
{{Portal bar, Geography, Geology, Mountains Landforms of Clark County, Nevada Sandstone formations of the United States Landforms of the Great Basin Natural arches of Nevada