Eldorado Valley

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Coordinates: 35°52.211′N 114°55.975′W / 35.870183°N 114.932917°W / 35.870183; -114.932917
Eldorado Valley
Valley
View south of Eldorado Valley's center & north;
(Highland Range, (center photo) on valley's southwest perimeter; playa visible, ~5-mi)
Country United States
State Nevada
Regions (southeast)-Mojave Desert
(central-southeast)-Great Basin
County Clark
Borders on McCullough Range-W
River Mountains-NNE
Eldorado Mountains-E
Piute Valley-S
Highland Range-SSW
Communities Boulder City, NV-NE
Searchlight, NV-(south)
Henderson, NV-NW
Playa Eldorado Playa
Coordinates 35°52.211′N 114°55.975′W / 35.870183°N 114.932917°W / 35.870183; -114.932917
Lowest point Eldorado Dry Lake
 - location Eldorado Valley (extreme north)
 - elevation 1,750 ft (533 m)
 - coordinates 35°52.211′N 114°55.975′W / 35.870183°N 114.932917°W / 35.870183; -114.932917
Length 35 mi (56 km), N-S
Width 18 mi (29 km), E-W
Eldorado Valley (north at Eldorado Dry Lake)
in Nevada

Eldorado Valley, or El Dorado Valley, is a Great Basin valley in the Mojave Desert southeast of Las Vegas and southwest of Boulder City, Nevada. The valley is endorheic, containing the Eldorado Dry Lake. The Great Basin Divide, transects ridgelines and saddles, on the north, northeast, east, and south around the valley, as the valley sits on the east of the McCullough Range, a Great Basin massif, on the Great Basin Divide at its north teminus and its south terminus.

Geography

The north end of the valley contains a large salt pan, or dry lake, Eldorado Dry Lake or Eldorado Playa, while the southern two thirds drains northwards. U.S. Route 95 traverses eastern portions of the valley, and climbs steeply to meet U.S. Route 93, connecting Boulder City to Henderson.

The endorheic basin lies north of the Piute Wash Watershed,[1] of the north-south Piute Valley. The Piute Wash drains south, then southeast to the Colorado River.

Solar power

Acciona Solar Power owns and operates a 64-megawatt concentrating solar thermal plant in the Eldorado Valley.[2]

Highland Range Crucial Bighorn Habitat

A habitat nature reserve for the Desert Bighorn Sheep is located in the southern portion of the Eldorado Valley, named the 'Highland Range Crucial Bighorn Habitat'.[3] There are no public access routes into the habitat area, to protect the Bighorn.

<gallery widths="230px" heights="200px" perrow=widths="230px" heights="200px" perrow="2"> File:McCullough Mountain from Eldorado Valley 1.jpg|Valley's center-south, from east side.
(North end of Highland Range (from east-southeast), McCullough Range massif beyond.) </gallery>

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Eldorado Valley.
  1. ↑ "Piute Wash watershed--15030102". U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Retrieved 13 August 2011. 
  2. ↑ "Solar projects". NVEnergy. Retrieved 13 August 2011. 
  3. ↑ "Highland Range Crucial Bighorn Habitat". recreation.gov. Retrieved 13 August 2011. 

External links


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