Lake Mead - a view looking south across Lake Mead

This view is looking south across Lake Mead from along the South Cove access road. On the opposite shore of the lake, a low structural divide called Jumbo Pass lies between the South Virgin Mountains (to the right) and the Hiller Mountains (to the left). Geologists studying the history of the Colorado River drainage system are examining divides like this to determine whether the Colorado or its tributary streams may have once flowed through these valleys that are now high and dry above the modern river (and lake) level (Howard and others, 2008).