Geological Treasures of Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area and Spring Mountain Ranch State Park: With a Chapter on Archaeology Paperback – April 8, 2022

Red Rock Canyon! Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, Spring Mountain Ranch State Park, and The Reserve at Red Rock Canyon, located west of Las Vegas, Nevada, are all in the geologic and geographic feature called Red Rock Canyon. This book is designed for visitors to Red Rock Canyon who are interested in geology and archaeology. It is also intended for geologists, geology students, people interested in dinosaur footprints and other fossils, hikers, and climbers. And for those interested in the story of an expedition to find dinosaur tracks that almost ended in tragedy.There are six places in Red Rock Canyon where dinosaur footprints have been found. Other discoveries reported in the book are the Triassic channels cut into the Permian limestone, vertebrate fossils in the Triassic Chinle Formation in Spring Mountain Ranch State Park, the siliceous layer and carbonate cap in the upper part of the Jurassic Kayenta Formation, Precariously Balanced Rocks (PBRs) and their relation to seismic activity, and the natural dam in Juniper Canyon.In the chapter on archaeology, petroglyphs, pictographs, agave roasting pits, and rock shelters are discussed, including the magnificent pictograph panels in Brownstone Canyon. Petroglyphs related to the Old Spanish Trail near Lone Grapevine Spring are interpreted. And the "Falling Man" petroglyph in Red Rock is compared to the one in Gold Butte.On the back cover there are favorable reviews of the book by Prof. Steve Rowland of the Geoscience Department at UNLV; Tom Lisby, hike leader/naturalist and former president of the Friends of Red Rock Canyon; and Dr. Douglas Sims, Dean of Science and Mathematics at the College of Southern Nevada. The book contains over 100 figures, including photographs, maps, geological cross sections, and a stratigraphic table. Click on the cover to Look Inside and see the Table of Contents and Introduction. Geology is the great adventure! Read more