Great Basin

Coordinates: 40°40′N 117°40′W / 40.667°N 117.667°W / 40.667; -117.667
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Not to be confused with Great Divide Basin.
Great Basin
Endorheic basin
Relief map with Great Basin overlay
Relief map with Great Basin overlay
Coordinates: 40°40′N 117°40′W / 40.667°N 117.667°W / 40.667; -117.667
LocationUnited States, Mexico
Area
 • Total209,162 sq mi (541,730 km2)[1]
Highest elevation14,505 ft (4,421 m)
(Mount Whitney summit)

The Great Basin (Spanish: Gran Cuenca) is the largest area of contiguous endorheic watersheds, those with no outlets to the ocean, in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Baja California. It is noted for both its arid climate and the basin and range topography that varies from the North American low point at Badwater Basin in Death Valley to the highest point of the contiguous United States, less than 100 miles (160 km) away at the summit of Mount Whitney. The region spans several physiographic divisions, biomes, ecoregions, and deserts.

Definition

The hydrographic Great Basin (magenta outline), distinguished from the Great Basin Desert (black), and the Basin and Range Geological Province (teal).[3]

The term "Great Basin" is applied to

floristic,[4]: 21  physiographic,[4]: 14  topographic,[3] and ethnographic geographic areas.[4]: 34  The name was originally coined by John C. Frémont, who, based on information gleaned from Joseph R. Walker as well as his own travels, recognized the hydrographic nature of the landform as "having no connection to the ocean".[4]: 8–9  The hydrographic definition is the most commonly used,[3] and is the only one with a definitive border. The other definitions yield not only different geographical boundaries of "Great Basin" regions but regional borders that vary from source to source.[4]
: 11 

The Great Basin Desert is defined by plant and animal communities, and, according to the National Park Service, its boundaries approximate the hydrographic Great Basin but exclude the southern "panhandle".[3]

The Great Basin Floristic Province was defined by botanist Armen Takhtajan to extend well beyond the boundaries of the hydrographically defined Great Basin: it includes the Snake River Plain, the Colorado Plateau, the Uinta Basin, and parts of Arizona north of the Mogollon Rim.[5]

The Great Basin physiographic section is a geographic division of the

Physiographic division of the United States.[7]
The "section" is somewhat larger than the hydrographic definition.

The Great Basin Culture Area or

cultural region located between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada. The culture area covers approximately 400,000 sq mi (1,000,000 km2),[8]
or just less than twice the area of the hydrographic Great Basin.

Hydrology

For the subdivisions and major waterways of the Great Basin, see List of Great Basin watersheds and List of rivers of the Great Basin.
hydrologic unit

The hydrographic Great Basin is a 209,162-square-mile (541,730 km2) area that once drained internally. All precipitation in the region evaporated, sank underground or flowed into lakes (mostly saline). However, since the advent of the

Sierra Nevada and Cascade Ranges to the west, and the Snake River Basin to the north. The south rim is less distinct. The Great Basin includes most of Nevada, half of Utah, substantial portions of Oregon and California, and small areas of Idaho, Wyoming, and Baja California, Mexico. The term "Great Basin" is slightly misleading; the region comprises many small basins. The Great Salt Lake, Pyramid Lake, and the Humboldt Sink are a few of the "drains" in the Great Basin.[3] The Salton Sink is another closed basin within the Great Basin.[9]

The

geographic sinks.[11] Lake Tahoe, North America's largest alpine lake,[12] is part of the Great Basin's central Lahontan
subregion.

Ecology

Main articles: Great Basin Desert and Mojave Desert
Ecoregions as currently delineated by the Environmental Protection Agency[13] and World Wildlife Fund[14]
Great Basin snowstorm in the Snake Valley of Utah and Nevada

The hydrographic Great Basin contains multiple deserts and ecoregions, each with its own distinctive set of flora and fauna.[3] The ecological boundaries and divisions in the Great Basin are unclear.[15]

The Great Basin overlaps four different deserts: portions of the

creosote bush occur in the hot deserts, while the cold deserts have neither. The cold deserts are generally higher than the hot and have more even spread of precipitation throughout the year.[16]

The climate and flora of the Great Basin are strongly dependent on elevation; as the elevation increases, the temperature decreases and precipitation increases. Because of this, forests can occur at higher elevations.

riparian areas with dependable water cottonwoods (Populus fremontii) and quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides
) groves exist.

Because the forest ecosystem is distinct from a typical desert, some authorities, such as the

World Wildlife Fund, separate the mountains of the Great Basin desert into their own ecoregion: the Great Basin montane forests.[17] Many rare and endemic species occur in this ecoregion, because the individual mountain ranges are isolated from each other. During the Last Glacial Period, the Great Basin was wetter. As it dried during the Holocene epoch, some species retreated to the higher isolated mountains and have high genetic diversity.[17]

Other authorities divide the Great Basin into different ecoregions, depending on their own criteria.

Mojave Basin and Range ecoregion
.

Fauna

Great Basin wildlife includes

gopher snakes are also present. The Inyo Mountains salamander is endangered. Shorebirds such as phalaropes and curlews can be found in wet areas. American white pelicans are common at Pyramid Lake. Golden eagles are also very common in the Great Basin.[18] Mourning dove, western meadowlark, black-billed magpie, and common raven
are other common bird species.

Two endangered species of fish are found in Pyramid Lake: the Cui-ui sucker fish (endangered 1967) and the Lahontan cutthroat trout (threatened 1970).[19]

Large

burros are highly reproductive, and ecosystem-controversial, alien species. Most of the Great Basin is open range and domestic cattle and sheep
are widespread.

Geology

Basin and Range topography as seen from the air

The Great Basin includes valleys, basins, lakes and mountain ranges of the Basin and Range Province.[20]

The

listric normal faulting, or faults that level out with depth. Opposing normal faults link at depth producing a horst and graben geometry, where horst refers to the upthrown fault block and graben to the down dropped fault block.[21][22]

Sediment build-up over thousands of years filled the down-faulted basins between ranges and created relatively flat

Red Rock Pass and lowered to the "Provo Lake"[24] level (the Great Salt Lake, Utah Lake, Sevier Lake, Rush Lake, and Little Salt Lake remain).[25] Lake Lahontan, Lake Manly, and Lake Mojave were similar Pleistocene
lakes.

Geography

Map showing the Great Basin physiographic section (shown as 22a)

Great Basin physiographic section

The Great Basin physiographic section of the Basin and Range Province contains the Great Basin, but extends into eastern Oregon, southern Idaho, and the Colorado River watershed and the northwest corner of Arizona).[26] The Basin and Range region is the product of geological forces stretching the Earth's crust, creating many north–south trending mountain ranges. These ranges are separated by flat valleys or basins. These hundreds of ranges make Nevada the most mountainous state in the country.[3]

Settlements and roads

The Great Basin's two most populous metropolitan areas are the

Palm Springs. Interstate Highways traversing the Great Basin are Interstate 80 (I-80) and I-15, and I-70 and I-84 have their respective endpoints within its boundaries. Other major roadways are U.S. Route 6 (US 6), US 50, US 93, US 95 and US 395. The section of US 50 between Delta, Utah, and Fallon, Nevada, is nicknamed "The Loneliest Road in America",[27] and Nevada State Route 375 is designated the "Extraterrestrial Highway".[28] The Great Basin is traversed by several rail lines including the Union Pacific Railroad's Overland Route (Union Pacific Railroad) through Reno and Ogden, Feather River Route, Central Corridor and Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad
.

History

Indigenous populations

tribal classifications.

There has been a succession of

Great Basin tribes began as early as 10,000 B.C. .[29] Archaeological evidence of habitation sites along the shore of Lake Lahontan date from the end of the ice age when its shoreline was approximately 500 feet (150 m) higher along the sides of the surrounding mountains. The Paleo-Indians were mainly hunters and hunted bison, the extinct mammoth, and extinct ground sloth. For housing, since they followed the animals they were hunting, they had no permanent villages.[30]

The next group to live in the area was the Great Basin Desert Archaic, from approximately 9,000 to 1,500 years ago. They hunted animals like mule deer and antelope and gathered onions, wild rye, and pinyon pine nuts. Then, from 1,500 to 700 years ago, the Fremont lived in the area. Unlike the Paleo-Indians, who moved around to follow bison herds, the Fremont built small villages and grew crops like corn and squash.

Seven hundred years ago, the Shoshone inhabited the area after the Fremont. They were hunter-gathers and lived in temporary homes to be able to follow animal herds and collect plants. Now, Shoshone descendants live in nearby areas.

Numic
language group.

To close a 1951 Indian Claims Commission case, the Western Shoshone Claims Distribution Act of 2004 established the United States payment of $117 million to the Great Basin tribe for the acquisition of 39,000 square miles (100,000 km2).[citation needed]

Europeans

European exploration of the Great Basin occurred during the 18th century

California Gold Rush, with its immigrants crossing the Great Basin on the California Trail along Nevada's Humboldt River to Carson Pass in the Sierras. The Oregon Territory was established in 1848 and the Utah Territory
in 1850.

In 1869 the

Promontory Summit in the Great Basin.[33] Around 1902, the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad was constructed in the lower basin and Mojave Desert for California-Nevada rail service
to Las Vegas, Nevada.

Climate

For more detail of Great Basin climate, see Great Basin Desert § Climate, and Mojave Desert § Climate.
Wah Wah Valley, Utah, thunderstorm

The climate varies throughout the Great Basin by elevation, latitude, and other factors. Higher elevations tend to be cooler and receive more precipitation. The western areas of the basin tend to be drier than the eastern areas because of the

diurnal temperature variation
.

Significant special designations

See also

References

  1. ^ "What is the WBD?". U.S. Geological Survey. Retrieved 2010-10-23. GIS files used for both the acreage calculations and the overlay of the above map.
  2. ^ "Great Basin (2087988)". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved 2011-10-01.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from What is the Great Basin?. National Park Service. Retrieved 2015-07-14.
  4. ^
    ISBN 1560982225
    .
  5. Thorne, Robert F. "Phytogeography of North America North of Mexico". Archived from the original
    on 2004-03-17.
  6. OCLC 487636
    .
  7. ^ "Physiographic Regions". United States Geological Survey. 2003-04-17. Archived from the original on 2006-05-15.
  8. ISBN 978-0-19-513877-1. Retrieved 2010-06-04 – via Internet Archive
    .
  9. ^ "Salton Sea: California's Everglades" (PDF). Redlands Institute. p. 6. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-05-25. Retrieved 2015-08-02.
  10. ^ "Bear River Watershed Description". Bear River Watershed Information System. Archived from the original on 2011-07-19. Retrieved 2010-04-28. (an additional ~1% is in the SW corner of WY)
  11. ^ "Great Basin". Geologic Provinces of the United States: Basin and Range Province. nature.nps.gov: National Park Service. Archived from the original on 2009-01-16. Retrieved 2009-01-10.
  12. ^ "Amazing Lake Tahoe". Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority. Archived from the original on 2008-12-07. Retrieved 2008-10-26.
  13. ^ Level III and IV Ecoregions of the Continental United States, EPA, archived from the original on 2016-04-12, retrieved 2016-03-31
  14. ^ "Great Basin shrub steppe". Terrestrial Ecoregions. World Wildlife Fund.
  15. ^ Brussard, P.F.; Charlet, D.A.; Dobkin, D.S.; Ball, L.C.; et al. (1998). "Great Basin-Mojave Desert Region" (PDF). In Mac, M.J.; Opler, P.A.; Puckett Haeker, C.E.; et al. (eds.). Status and trends of the nation's biological resources. Vol. 2. Reno, Nevada: U.S. Geological Survey.
  16. ^ "Deserts of North American". Encyclopedia of Earth.
  17. ^ a b "Great Basin montane forests". Terrestrial Ecoregions. World Wildlife Fund.
  18. ^ Schmitt, Dave N. (Winter 1995). "The Taphonomy of Golden Eagle Prey Accumulations at Great Basin Roosts" (PDF). J. Ethnobiol. 15 (2): 237–256.
  19. Environmental Protection Agency
    Technology Series. Washington D.C.: Earth Metrics Inc.
  20. ^ "Basin and Range Province". Geologic Provinces of the United States. United States Geological Survey. 2004. Archived from the original on 2009-01-25. Retrieved 2009-01-10.
  21. ^ Mooney, Walter D; Braile, Lawrence W (1989). "The seismic structure of the continental crust and upper mantle of North America". The Geology of North America – An Overview. Geological Society of America. p. 42.
  22. ^ "Geologic Provinces of the United States: Basin and Range Province". USGS. Archived from the original on 2009-01-25.
  23. ^ Jackson, Richard H.; Stevens, Dale J. (1981). "Physical and Cultural Environment of Utah Lake and Adjacent Areas". Great Basin Naturalist Memoirs (5: Utah Lake Monograph): 5. Retrieved 2010-04-06.
  24. ^ Gilbert, Grove Karl (1890). Lake Bonneville. United States Geological Survey. p. 127. Retrieved 2010-04-23 – via Internet Archive.
  25. ISBN 0-87480-478-7
    .
  26. ^ "Physiographic regions" (PDF). Tapestry of Time and Terrain. USGS.
  27. ^ Nevada Commission on Tourism. The Official Hwy 50 Survival Guide: The Loneliest Road in America (PDF). Nevada Commission on Tourism. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 30, 2010. Retrieved December 15, 2007.
  28. ^ "Tourism Commission Has Really Gone Far Out There". Las Vegas Sun. July 5, 1996. Retrieved January 13, 2009.
  29. ^ "Archaeology, Cultural Transmission, and the Indigenous Native American Indians of the Great Basin Region of North America". Bauu Institute. Archived from the original on 2009-12-15. Retrieved 2010-04-22.
  30. ^ a b "People-Great Basin National Park (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved 2022-04-11.
  31. ^ Morgan (1953, 1964), Jedediah Smith and the Opening of the West, p. 7
  32. ^ Ogden, Peter Skene, Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
  33. ^ "Ceremony at "Wedding of the Rails," May 10, 1869 at Promontory Point, Utah". World Digital Library. 1869-05-10. Retrieved 2013-07-20.
  34. ^ The National Parks Index (PDF). Washington, D.C.: National Park Service. 2003. p. 26. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-12-19. Retrieved 2008-10-05.
  35. ^ Zarki, Joe. "A Park for Minerva". Joshua Tree National Park, NPS. Retrieved 17 December 2013.
  36. ^ "Park History". Joshua Tree National Park, NPS. Retrieved 17 December 2013.
  37. ^ "California Desert Protection Act". Joshua Tree National Park. U.S. National Park Service. Retrieved 2015-08-02.
  38. ^ "Black Rock Desert-High Rock Canyon Emigrant Trails National Conservation Area Act of 2000" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2004-11-08. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
  39. ^ "Join Our Friends". Great Basin National Park. U.S. National Park Service. Retrieved 2015-08-02.
  40. ^ "Amargosa River Natural Area". U.S. Bureau of Land Management. Archived from the original on 2016-03-01. Retrieved 2015-08-02.
  41. ^ "Secretary Jewell Applauds President Obama's Designation of Basin and Range National Monument in Nevada". Bureau of Land Management News Release. U.S. Department of the Interior. Archived from the original on 2015-07-12. Retrieved 2015-07-11.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Great_Basin&oldid=1220162990"