Uinta Mountains

Coordinates: 40°46′N 110°35′W / 40.767°N 110.583°W / 40.767; -110.583
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Uinta Mountains
Rock age
Precambrian
Rock types
  • quartzite
  • shale
  • slate

The Uinta Mountains (

Mirror Lake Highway crosses the western half of the Uintas on its way to Wyoming. Utah State Route 44 crosses the east end of the Uintas between Vernal and Manila
.

Etymology

The name "Uinta" derives from the

Ute word Yoov-we-teuh, meaning "pine forest" or "pine tree".[2]

Geology

Bald Mountain

The Uinta Mountains are

reverse faults that meet below the range, on the north by the North Flank fault and on the south by the Uinta Basin boundary fault.[6]

The Uinta Mountain Group, from oldest to youngest, includes Uinta Mountain undivided quartz arenite, overlain by the Moosehorn Lake, Mount Watson, Hades Peak, and Red Shale formations.[7] The flanks of the east-west trending Uinta Mountains contain a sequence of Paleozoic and Mesozoic strata ranging from the Cambrian Lodore Formation to the Cretaceous Mancos Shale, all of which have been tilted during the uplift of the mountain range.

The uplift of the range dates to the

reverse faults on both the north and south sides of the present mountain range. The east-west orientation of the Uintas is anomalous compared to most of the ranges of the Rocky Mountains; it may relate to changing stress patterns and rotation of the Colorado Plateau.[8] The Green River used to flow into the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico, but changed to the Colorado River by going through the Uintas in ways not fully understood.[9]

The high Uintas were extensively glaciated during the last ice age, and most of the large stream valleys on both the north and south sides of the range held long valley glaciers.[10] However, despite reaching to over 13,500 feet (4,110 m) in elevation, the climate today is sufficiently dry that no glaciers survived even before the rapid current glacial retreat began in the middle nineteenth century. The Uintas are the most poleward mountain range in the world to reach over 13,000 feet (4,000 m) without modern glaciers, and are in fact the highest mountain range in the contiguous United States with no modern glaciers. Permafrost occurs at elevations above 10,000 feet (3,000 m)[11] and at times forms large rock glaciers.

Between the summits and ridgelines are wide, level basins with around 500 small lakes. One of the most popular lakes is

Mirror Lake
because of its good fishing, scenic views, and easy road access.

Hydrology

Weber River

The south and east sides of the range are largely within the

Green River
. The Green is the major tributary of the Colorado River and flows in a tight arc around the eastern side of the range. (Indeed, John Wesley Powell said the Green was the "master stream" where it and the Colorado River came together.)

The Bear and Weber rivers, the two largest tributaries of Great Salt Lake, are born on the west slope of the range. The Provo River, the largest tributary to Utah Lake, begins on the southern side of the range and flows west to Utah Lake, which itself drains via the Jordan River into Great Salt Lake.

Large portions of the mountain range receive over 40 inches (100 cm) of precipitation annually.[12] The high Uintas are snowcapped most of the year except for late July through early September. The Uinta Mountains have more than 400 miles (640 km) of streams and 1,000 lakes and ponds.[13]

Ecology

Gilbert Peak seen from lake 151

The Uinta Mountains are part of the

quaking aspen. There are also many species of grasses, shrubs, and forbs
growing in the Uinta Mountains.

Fauna is typical of the central Rocky Mountains. Large grazing and browsing animals include the Rocky Mountain elk, mule deer, moose, pronghorn antelope, mountain goats, and Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep. Mammalian predators include the American black bear, mountain lion, coyotes, red fox, badger, wolverine, marten, and the long-tailed weasel. A gray wolf pack has been observed at the eastern end of the range, in Moffat County, Colorado. Raptors include bald and golden eagles, turkey vultures, various hawks and harriers, and owls including the great horned owl, great grey owl, and barn owls. Other notable large birds include the sage grouse and white-tailed ptarmigan.

Points of interest

The Uintas are home to

Boy Scout
camp in the U.S., at 10,400 feet (3,200 m). The camp is near mile marker 33 of the Mirror Lake Highway.

The Uinta Highline Trail traverses the entire range and is a popular backpacking trail.

Dinosaur National Monument is on the Uintas' southeast flank, on the border between Colorado and Utah.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Kings Peak, Utah". Peakbagger.com. Retrieved 2008-02-23.
  2. ^ "Brief History of the Combined Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest". United States Forest Service. Archived from the original on 14 July 2021. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  3. ^ Paleomagnetic results from the Neoproterozoic Uinta Mountain Group
  4. doi:10.1130/B30094.1
    .
  5. ^ John McPhee, Basin and Range, New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1981, pp.198-199.
  6. doi:10.2113/gsrocky.43.1.1
    .
  7. doi:10.1016/s0037-0738(01)00086-0
    .
  8. ^ Hamilton, W.B., 1981, Plate-tectonic mechanism of Laramide deformation, in Boyd, D.W., and Lillegraven, J.A., eds., Rocky Mountain foreland basement tectonics: University of Wyoming Contributions to Geology, v. 19, p. 87–92.
  9. ^ Davis, Jim. "Glad You Asked: Why Does A River Run Through It?". Utah Geological Survey. Archived from the original on 2019-02-09.
  10. ^ Utah Geological Survey. "Are there glaciers in Utah's mountains?". Retrieved 2008-04-11.
  11. ^ Glacial Geology of the Northern Uinta Mountains
  12. ^ WRCC.dri.edu
  13. ISBN 0-7627-3911-8

Further reading
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