Jackass Flats

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Simulated missile and canister test at Jackass Flats. Peacekeeper - simulated missile and canister test 1.jpg
Simulated missile and canister test at Jackass Flats.

Jackass Flats is a shallow alluvial basin located in the southwest portion of the Nevada National Security Site in Nye County, Nevada, United States. The area lies east of Yucca Mountain, south of the Calico Hills and Shoshone Mountain and northwest of Skull Mountain. The valley drains to the southwest via the Tonopah and Fortymile washes into the Amargosa Valley across US Route 95 at the town of Amargosa Valley, Nevada. The "flat" covers an area of approximately 120 square miles (310 km2) and ranges in elevation from about 2,800 ft (850 m) just north of US 95 to 4,000 ft (1,200 m) at the mountain bases to the north and east. [1]

It is located mostly within Area 25 and extends into Area 14 and Area 26.[ citation needed ]

It was the test site of nuclear-powered rocket engines during project Project Rover and NERVA. [2]

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amargosa Valley</span>

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Lake Tecopa is a former lake in Inyo County, southern California. It developed during the Miocene and the Pleistocene within a tectonic basin close to the border with Nevada. Fed by the Amargosa River and some neighbouring washes, it eventually culminated to a surface area of 235 square kilometres (91 sq mi) around 186,000 years ago and left sediments. Afterwards, the Amargosa River cut a gorge out of the lake and into Death Valley with its Lake Manly, draining the lake. The present-day towns of Shoshone, California and Tecopa, California lie within the basin of the former lake.

References

  1. Beatty, Nevada–California, 30x60 Minute Topographic Quadrangle, USGS, 1986
  2. Clark, John Drury (1972). Ignition! An Informal History of Liquid Rocket Propellants (PDF). Rutgers University Press. p. 109. ISBN   978-0-8135-0725-5 . Retrieved September 23, 2016.

Coordinates: 36°43′5″N116°21′45″W / 36.71806°N 116.36250°W / 36.71806; -116.36250