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Grayrock Peak
Grayrock Peak is a mountain summit located in San Juan County, Colorado, United States. Description Grayrock Peak is set west of the Continental Divide in the San Juan Mountains which are a subrange of the Rocky Mountains. It is situated north of the community of Durango on land managed by San Juan National Forest. Grayrock is the highest point of Graysill Mountain. Precipitation runoff from the mountain drains into tributaries of the Animas River. Topographic relief is significant as the summit rises above Cascade Creek in less than two miles. Neighbors include line parent Grizzly Peak to the north and Engineer Mountain, to the northeast. An ascent of the peak involves hiking with 2,104-feet of elevation gain.John Peel, Paul Pixler (2020), ''Hiking Trails of Southwestern Colorado'', Fifth Edition, Graphic Arts Books, , p. 146. The mountain's toponym was officially adopted in 1908 by the United States Board on Geographic Names. Climate According to the Köppen clima ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grizzly Peak (Dolores/San Juan Counties, Colorado)
Grizzly Peak is a mountain summit on the boundary shared by Dolores County and San Juan County, in Colorado, United States. Description Grizzly Peak is set west of the Continental Divide in the San Juan Mountains which are a subrange of the Rocky Mountains. The peak is located north of Durango and northwest of Engineer Mountain, on land managed by San Juan National Forest. Grizzly ranks as the fourth-highest peak in Dolores County and 126th-highest in Colorado. Precipitation runoff from the mountain's west slope drains to the Dolores River via Twin Creek, and the east slope drains into Cascade Creek which is a tributary of the Animas River. Topographic relief is significant as the summit rises nearly above Cascade Creek in 0.65 mile (1.05 km). The mountain's toponym has been officially adopted by the United States Board on Geographic Names, and has been printed in publications since 1899.Henry Gannett, United States Geological Survey (1899), ''A Dictionary of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United States Board On Geographic Names
The United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) is a federal body operating under the United States Secretary of the Interior. The purpose of the board is to establish and maintain uniform usage of geographic names throughout the federal government of the United States. History On January 8, 1890, Thomas Corwin Mendenhall, superintendent of the US Coast and Geodetic Survey Office, wrote to 10 noted geographers "to suggest the organization of a Board made up of representatives from the different Government services interested, to which may be referred any disputed question of geographical orthography." President Benjamin Harrison signed executive order 28 on September 4, 1890, establishing the ''Board on Geographical Names''. "To this Board shall be referred all unsettled questions concerning geographic names. The decisions of the Board are to be accepted y federal departmentsas the standard authority for such matters." The board was given authority to resolve all unsettled ques ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
San Juan Mountains (Colorado)
The San Juan Mountains is a high and rugged mountain range in the Rocky Mountains in southwestern Colorado and northwestern New Mexico. The area is highly mineralized (the Colorado Mineral Belt) and figured in the gold and silver mining industry of early Colorado. Major towns, all old mining camps, include Creede, Lake City, Silverton, Ouray, and Telluride. Large scale mining has ended in the region, although independent prospectors still work claims throughout the range. The last large scale mines were the Sunnyside Mine near Silverton, which operated until late in the 20th century and the Idarado Mine on Red Mountain Pass that closed down in the 1970s. Famous old San Juan mines include the Camp Bird and Smuggler Union mines, both located between Telluride and Ouray. The Summitville mine was the scene of a major environmental disaster in the 1990s when the liner of a cyanide-laced tailing pond began leaking heavily. Summitville is in the Summitville caldera, one of m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mountains Of San Juan County, Colorado
A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher than a hill, typically rising at least 300 metres (1,000 feet) above the surrounding land. A few mountains are isolated summits, but most occur in mountain ranges. Mountains are formed through tectonic forces, erosion, or volcanism, which act on time scales of up to tens of millions of years. Once mountain building ceases, mountains are slowly leveled through the action of weathering, through slumping and other forms of mass wasting, as well as through erosion by rivers and glaciers. High elevations on mountains produce colder climates than at sea level at similar latitude. These colder climates strongly affect the ecosystems of mountains: different elevations have different plants and animals. Because of the less hospitable terrain ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dolores County, Colorado
Dolores County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 2,326. The county seat is Dove Creek, Colorado, Dove Creek. History It is thought that the area has been the site of human habitation since at least 2500 B.C. Dolores County's western portions were densely populated between 900 and 1300 AD. Population estimates of as many as 10,000 inhabitants, with villages containing hundreds of rooms, have been discovered by archaeologists and other researchers. But this population was destroyed or migrated elsewhere, apparently following a drought and severe societal upheaval in the 14th century, and for centuries thereafter, both the western and eastern mountainous areas of the county were occupied mostly by nomads, including the Ute Indians, Ute and the Navajo people, Navajo Indians. Like much of southwestern Colorado, Dolores County is rich in Indian ruins and sites of the Anasazi. According to the Anasaz ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
La Plata County, Colorado
La Plata County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 55,638. The county seat is Durango. The county was named for the La Plata River and the La Plata Mountains. "La plata" means "the silver" in Spanish. La Plata County comprises the Durango, CO Micropolitan Statistical Area. The county is home to Durango Rock Shelters Archeology Site, the type site for the Basketmaker II period of Anasazi culture. Geography According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (0.4%) is water. Adjacent counties * San Juan County - north * Hinsdale County - northeast *Archuleta County - east * San Juan County, New Mexico - south *Montezuma County - west *Dolores County - northwest Major Highways * U.S. Highway 160 * U.S. Highway 550 * State Highway 140 * State Highway 151 * State Highway 172 Demographics As of the census of 2000, there were 43,941 people in the county, organized in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Purgatory Resort
Purgatory Resort is a ski resort located in the San Juan Mountains of Southwest Colorado, 25 miles (42 km) north of the town of Durango. Established in 1965, Purgatory offers 105 trails, including 5 terrain parks, over 1,500 skiable acres, and 12 lifts, including one six-person and two high speed quad lifts. Average annual snowfall is 260 inches per year, and artificial snow is produced on approximately one-fifth of the mountain. The elevation at the summit is , with a vertical drop of . Facilities Facilities at the resort include condos that are rented out by their owners to vacationing tourists, a nightclub/bar at the bottom of the ski slopes by the chair lifts, a shuttle that goes back and forth from the resort to the nearby town of Durango, and a ski school with "bunny slopes". One of the more unusual features of the resort is an urgent care clinic, staffed by mid-level health care providers from the nearby town of Durango, Colorado Durango is a home rule municipal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rock Glacier
Rock glaciers are distinctive geomorphological landforms, consisting either of angular rock debris frozen in interstitial ice, former "true" glaciers overlain by a layer of talus, or something in-between. Rock glaciers are normally found at high latitudes and/or elevations, and may extend outward and downslope from talus cones, glaciers or terminal moraines of glaciers. There are two types of rock glaciers: periglacial glaciers (or talus-derived glaciers), and glacial rock glaciers, such as the Timpanogos Glacier in Utah, which are often found where glaciers once existed. Possible Martian rock glacier features have been identified by the Mars Orbiter spacecraft. A rock glacier, especially if its origin is unclear, can be considered as a discrete debris accumulation. Formation The two known factors that must be present in order to create rock glaciers are low ice velocity and permafrost. Most glacial rock glaciers are created by the recession of debris covered glaciers. Glacial ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cirque
A (; from the Latin word ') is an amphitheatre-like valley formed by glacial erosion. Alternative names for this landform are corrie (from Scottish Gaelic , meaning a pot or cauldron) and (; ). A cirque may also be a similarly shaped landform arising from fluvial erosion. The concave shape of a glacial cirque is open on the downhill side, while the cupped section is generally steep. Cliff-like slopes, down which ice and glaciated debris combine and converge, form the three or more higher sides. The floor of the cirque ends up bowl-shaped, as it is the complex convergence zone of combining ice flows from multiple directions and their accompanying rock burdens. Hence, it experiences somewhat greater erosion forces and is most often overdeepened below the level of the cirque's low-side outlet (stage) and its down-slope (backstage) valley. If the cirque is subject to seasonal melting, the floor of the cirque most often forms a tarn (small lake) behind a dam, which marks the down ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alkali Feldspar
Feldspars are a group of rock-forming aluminium tectosilicate minerals, also containing other cations such as sodium, calcium, potassium, or barium. The most common members of the feldspar group are the ''plagioclase'' (sodium-calcium) feldspars and the ''alkali'' (potassium-sodium) feldspars. Feldspars make up about 60% of the Earth's crust, and 41% of the Earth's continental crust by weight. Feldspars crystalize from magma as both intrusive and extrusive igneous rocks and are also present in many types of metamorphic rock. Rock formed almost entirely of calcic plagioclase feldspar is known as anorthosite. Feldspars are also found in many types of sedimentary rocks. Compositions The feldspar group of minerals consists of tectosilicates, silicate minerals in which silicon ions are linked by shared oxygen ions to form a three-dimensional network. Compositions of major elements in common feldspars can be expressed in terms of three endmembers: * potassium feldspar (K-spar) en ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Igneous Rock
Igneous rock (derived from the Latin word ''ignis'' meaning fire), or magmatic rock, is one of the three main The three types of rocks, rock types, the others being Sedimentary rock, sedimentary and metamorphic rock, metamorphic. Igneous rock is formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or lava. The magma can be derived from Partial melting, partial melts of existing rocks in either a Terrestrial planet, planet's mantle (geology), mantle or crust (geology), crust. Typically, the melting is caused by one or more of three processes: an increase in temperature, a decrease in pressure, or a change in composition. Solidification into rock occurs either below the surface as intrusive rocks or on the surface as extrusive (geology), extrusive rocks. Igneous rock may form with crystallization to form granular, crystalline rocks, or without crystallization to form Volcanic glass, natural glasses. Igneous rocks occur in a wide range of geological settings: shields, platforms ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Extrusive
Extrusive rock refers to the mode of igneous volcanic rock formation in which hot magma from inside the Earth flows out (extrudes) onto the surface as lava or explodes violently into the atmosphere to fall back as pyroclastics or tuff. In contrast, intrusive rock refers to rocks formed by magma which cools below the surface.Jain, Sreepat (2014). ''Fundamentals of Physical Geology''. New Delhi, India: Springer. . The main effect of extrusion is that the magma can cool much more quickly in the open air or under seawater, and there is little time for the growth of crystals. Sometimes, a residual portion of the matrix fails to crystallize at all, instead becoming a natural glass or obsidian. If the magma contains abundant volatile components which are released as free gas, then it may cool with large or small vesicles (bubble-shaped cavities) such as in pumice, scoria, or vesicular basalt. Other examples of extrusive rocks are rhyolite and andesite. Texture The texture of ext ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
