 Landsat TM (Thematic Mapper) false-color image of Las Vegas
Valley and adjacent areas. (From U.S. Geological Survey
Flagstaff Image Processing Facility, 1984)
As one of the fastest growing cities in the country, Las Vegas, Nevada, is challenged
by major issues such as water supply and contamination, land subsidence due
to ground-water withdrawal, and seismic and flood hazards. This report was
designed to provide earth-science information that can be used to investigate
these major issues. Also included in the report is information for Las Vegas
visitors about how the rocks and landscape of the area’s scenic parks and lands
formed.
The report also provides an integrated geologic and geophysical framework
for ground-water investigations in the Las Vegas region. Geologic and geophysical
mapping conducted for this report helped to identify faults, fractures, and
other permeable zones that are pathways for ground-water flow and to determine
the distribution of potential aquifers and ground-water barriers.
The publication
contains two parts: the first, part A, includes the geologic map of the Las
Vegas quadrangle, cross sections, and text with description
of map units and discussion of the stratigraphic and structural framework
of the map area; the second part, part B, includes isostatic gravity, aeromagnetic,
and gravity inversion maps, geophysical cross sections of Las Vegas and
Pahrump Valleys, and text describing the geophysical framework of the map area.
The
integration of geologic and geophysical information contained in the report
offers a unique opportunity to apply basic geoscience techniques to help
solve
urban growth issues in this arid population center.
Version 1.0
|
| Posted June 2005 |
| Part or all of this report is presented in Portable Document Format. The latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader or similar software is required to view it. If you wish to download the latest version of Acrobat Reader free of charge, click here.
|
1U.S. Geological Survey, Denver, CO
2U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, CA
3Southwest Geology, Inc., Blackfoot, ID
4Geologic Mapping, Inc., New Harmony, UT
5Massachussetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
6Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology, Reno, NV
7University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV
Downloading Suggestion:
It is best to download a large PDF file to your hard drive rather than open
it inside your browser. (A standard click may automatically open the PDF file
inside the browser but doing so will result in a very slow load.) For guidance
on how to do this, go to [http://cpg.cr.usgs.gov/toolbox/download_advice.html].
Downloading the PDF file may take several moments but will be worth the wait. Once it is downloaded, open the PDF from your hard drive using
Adobe Acrobat—it will open in a fraction of the time it would take to open the PDF over
the Internet.
|
