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Isostatic rebound
Wild speculation here, but when the glaciers covering northern Europe retreated at the end of the last ice age, the (regions of the) tectonic plates which were relieved of their weight responded by rising relative to the surrounding areas, a phenomenon which geologists (which I am not) call "isostatic rebound". This persists today, such that the rising north of the UK is causing the never-glaciated south of the UK to lower slightly.
I would have thought that the very rapid removal of such a large volume of water as Lake Mead would result in the same effect; that is, if the geologically brief presence of Lake Mead has been adequate to cause any compression in the first place.
Googling for "isostatic rebound Lake Mead" suggests that geologists are thinking on the same lines. While economists will doubtless conclude that building the Hoover Dam lead to a great depression...
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