Lake Mead

America's largest engineered reservoir drowning ancient towns, canyons, and mining camps

Lake Mead & Hoover Dam

36.0150°N, 114.7378°W

ELEV: 375m (1230 ft)

NAD83 / WGS84 (EPSG:4326)

Illustrative terrain study for Lake Mead & Hoover Dam — Illustrative landscape study · not to scale

DERIVED SPATIAL STORY

The reservoir created by Hoover Dam in 1935 swallowed the Mormon town of St. Thomas, ancestral Virgin River trails, and salt mines—only to reveal their stone foundations again during the 2000–2026 megadrought.

3DEP RELIEF

1158m

Peak: 4500 ft · Base: 700 ft

IMPERVIOUS GROWTH

+4.1%

Surface: 0.8% Paved

NIGHT RADIANCE

4.2 nW/cm²

Bortle Class 3 / 9

PAD-US OVERLAP

94.2%

National Park Service (Lake Mead National Recreation Area) / Bureau of Reclamation