Mount Jefferson is the highest
mountain
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 (topography), summit area, and ...
in both the
Toquima Range
The Toquima Range is a mountain range, located primarily in Nye County with a small extension into Lander County, in Nevada, United States. Most of the range is included within the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest. The range reaches a maximu ...
and
Nye County in
Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...
,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. It is the sixth highest mountain in the state. As the high point of a range which is well separated from other ranges by low basins, Mount Jefferson has a high
topographic prominence
In topography, prominence (also referred to as autonomous height, relative height, and shoulder drop in US English, and drop or relative height in British English) measures the height of a mountain or hill's summit relative to the lowest contou ...
of . This makes it the most prominent peak in Nye County and the third most prominent peak in Nevada (after
Charleston Peak
Mount Charleston, including Charleston Peak (Nuvagantu, literally "where snow sits", in Southern Paiute or Nüpakatütün in Shoshoni) at , is the highest mountain in both the Spring Mountains and Clark County, in Nevada, United States. It is ...
and
Wheeler Peak). For similar reasons, it is also the highest mountain for over 90 miles in all directions.
It is located about northeast of the county seat of
Tonopah within the
Alta Toquima Wilderness
The Alta Toquima Wilderness is a protected wilderness area in the Toquima Range of Nye County, in the central section of the state of Nevada in the western United States. It covers an area of , and is administered by the Humboldt-Toiyabe Natio ...
of the
Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, near the smaller towns of
Carvers and
Round Mountain. Three distinct summits are located on a broad area of subalpine
tundra
In physical geography, tundra () is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. The term ''tundra'' comes through Russian (') from the Kildin Sámi word (') meaning "uplands", "treeless moun ...
: North Summit rises to , Middle Summit to ,
and South Summit to .
During the
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...
, alpine
glacier
A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its Ablation#Glaciology, ablation over many years, often Century, centuries. It acquires dis ...
s eroded several
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 ...
s east of the summit plateau.
See also
*
List of Ultras of the United States
References
External links
*
*
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*
*
Mountains of Nevada
Mountains of Nye County, Nevada
Mountains of the Great Basin
Humboldt–Toiyabe National Forest
North American 3000 m summits
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