Elephant Butte Dam and Reservoir
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Elephant Butte
Elephant Butte is named for its supposed resemblance to the back of an elephant. The Rio Grande was dammed here, for recreation and agriculture, lessening the downstream flow from a Rio Bravo to a foot deep. Even though the Rio Concho joins the Rio Grande downstream, this water is taken early enough to run it dry at the Gulf of Mexico.
The name "Elephant Butte" refers to a volcanic core similar to Devil's tower, Wyoming. It is now an island in the lake. The butte was said to have the shape of an elephant.
Elephant Butte Reservoir
The Elephant Butte reservoir in New Mexico was created by a dam across the Rio Grande in 1916. It is 40 miles (65 km) long and covers 36,500 acres (147 km²).
It was initially made for flood control and to provide irrigation water, however it now hosts a major watersports resort. The nearest city is Truth or Consequences.
Discoveries
A Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton was discovered nearby, but its exact location is hidden to prevent plunder. Other paleontological sites nearby include fossil trackways of theropods, and numerous invertebrate fossils of the time, the Devonian period, hundreds of millions of years before the theropods, when New Mexico was covered by the Western Interior Sea.