The
top of Yucca Mountain |
Yucca Mountain is located in the Mojave Desert in a remote area of southern Nevada.
It is about 100 miles northwest of Las
Vegas and about 40 miles east of Death Valley. (View
maps)
Yucca Mountain's climate is warm and dry. Temperatures
in the summer often go well above 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
Temperatures in the winter will often fall below
40 degrees Fahrenheit. The average annual temperature
is 63 degrees Fahrenheit.
Yucca Mountain itself receives about 7.5 inches
of rainfall a year. The area has many different
species of plants and animals that have adapted
to survive the harsh desert climate without much
water.
No one lives at Yucca Mountain. The closest family
lives about 14 miles away in the Amargosa Valley.
The Yucca Mountain area is surrounded by land controlled
by the U.S. government, including the Bureau
of Land Management, the U.S.
Air Force, and the Department
of Energy.
Yucca Mountain is more like a very large hill than
a typical mountain. If you could see it from the
air, Yucca Mountain looks like a long ridge of volcanic
rock sticking up out of the desert. Depending on
where you do the measuring, the top of Yucca Mountain
is only about 1000 feet from the base of the mountain.
But the layers of volcanic rock that make up Yucca
Mountain go thousands of feet below the desert floor.
The highest point on Yucca Mountain is at an elevation
of 4,950 feet above sea level.
Between 12 and 15 million years ago, there were
volcanoes in the Yucca Mountain area. When these
volcanoes erupted, they spewed out a lot of hot
ash, which eventually settled on the ground. Each
time a volcano would erupt, it would form a layer
of ash. Over millions of years, pressure and heat
hardened these layers of ash into a type of rock
called "volcanic tuff." (It is important to know
that the conditions that caused volcanoes
millions of years ago no longer exist. Because of
this, scientists think that it is very unlikely
that another volcano could ever erupt near Yucca
Mountain.)
Yucca Mountain is made of layer upon layer of volcanic
tuff. Some of these rock layers are very hard and
brittle. Because of this, there are many cracks
and fractures that run through these layers, and
water could flow through these cracks if enough
of it gets into the rock. Other layers of the rock,
however, have very few cracks and fractures, so
it would be hard for water to move through those
layers.
The multiple layers are kind of like a huge rock
sandwich, with some of its layers letting water
move and some of its layers blocking water from
moving. Even the layers with cracks and fractures,
however, have only a little water that can move
through them - simply because the desert climate
is so dry.
 Scientists with the Yucca Mountain Project have performed detailed studies of the area’s plants and animals.
We did these studies to help protect the animals and where they live.
To see some of the plants and animals at Yucca Mountain, click on any species listed below.
Last reviewed 05/08 |
