The Roberts Mountains are located in central
Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the 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. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...
in the western United States. The mountains are found in
Eureka County, east of the
Simpson Park Mountains and west and southwest of the
Sulphur Spring Range. The range reaches a peak at Roberts Creek Mountain at .
Nevada State Route 278 passes the east margin of the range in Garden Valley and continues about southeast to
Eureka
Eureka (often abbreviated as E!, or Σ!) is an intergovernmental organisation for research and development funding and coordination. Eureka is an open platform for international cooperation in innovation. Organisations and companies applying th ...
.
Roberts Mountains was named after Bolivar Roberts, a division superintendent of the Pony Expressl.
[Carlson, HS. 1974. ''Nevada Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary''. University of Nevada Press]
Geology
The range contains rocks deformed by the
Antler orogeny
The Antler orogeny was a tectonic event that began in the early Late Devonian with widespread effects continuing into the Mississippian and early Pennsylvanian. Most of the evidence for this event is in Nevada but the limits of its reach are un ...
of Late
Devonian to early
Mississippian age. Along the Roberts Mountain
thrust fault
A thrust fault is a break in the Earth's crust, across which older rocks are pushed above younger rocks.
Thrust geometry and nomenclature
Reverse faults
A thrust fault is a type of reverse fault that has a dip of 45 degrees or less.
If ...
, which was named for the range, a
terrane
In geology, a terrane (; in full, a tectonostratigraphic terrane) is a crust (geology), crust fragment formed on a tectonic plate (or broken off from it) and Accretion (geology), accreted or "Suture (geology), sutured" to crust lying on another pla ...
of
oceanic
Oceanic may refer to:
*Of or relating to the ocean
*Of or relating to Oceania
**Oceanic climate
**Oceanic languages
**Oceanic person or people, also called "Pacific Islander(s)"
Places
* Oceanic, British Columbia, a settlement on Smith Island, ...
island arc
Island arcs are long chains of active volcanoes with intense seismic activity found along convergent tectonic plate boundaries. Most island arcs originate on oceanic crust and have resulted from the descent of the lithosphere into the mantle alon ...
volcanic rock
Volcanic rock (often shortened to volcanics in scientific contexts) is a rock formed from lava erupted from a volcano. In other words, it differs from other igneous rock by being of volcanic origin. Like all rock types, the concept of volcanic ...
s and sediments were emplaced over the pre-existing Devonian to Silurian
carbonates
A carbonate is a salt of carbonic acid (H2CO3), characterized by the presence of the carbonate ion, a polyatomic ion with the formula . The word ''carbonate'' may also refer to a carbonate ester, an organic compound containing the carbonate g ...
,
sandstone
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...
s and
shales of the coastal margin of the continent.
[Lageson, David R. ''Great Basin and Sierra Nevada Field Trip Guide Number 2 from Gls Annual Meeting in Reno 2000,'' Geological Society of America, 2000, pp. 281-3 ]
Ecology
The
Bureau of Land Management manages 99.4% of the Roberts Mountains, and 0.6% is privately held.
Mammals
Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur o ...
found in the range include: the
long-tailed vole
The long-tailed vole (''Microtus longicaudus''), in some areas known as the San Bernardino long-tailed vole, is a small vole found in western North America. They have short ears and a long tail. Their fur is gray brown with light gray underparts ...
,
Great Basin pocket mouse,
water shrew Water shrew may refer to any of several species of semiaquatic red-toothed shrews:
*Asiatic water shrews ('' Chimarrogale'' spp.)
** Malayan water shrew (''C. hantu'')
** Himalayan water shrew (''C. himalayica'')
** Sunda water shrew (''C. phaeura'' ...
, and the big
jumping mouse
Zapodidae, the jumping mice, is a family of mouse-like rodents in North America and China.
Although mouse-like in general appearance, these rodents are distinguished by their elongated hind limbs, and, typically, by the presence of four pairs ...
. The large spotted
leopard lizard
''Gambelia'' is a genus of lizards, commonly known as leopard lizards, within the family Crotaphytidae. Leopard lizards are indigenous to arid environments of southwestern North America.
Species in the genus ''Gambelia'' superficially resembl ...
can also be found in the mountains.
Trees found in the range include:
western juniper
''Juniperus occidentalis'', known as the western juniper, is a shrub or tree native to the Western United States, growing in mountains at altitudes of and rarely down to . It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List because it is a wides ...
(''Juniperus occidentalis''),
Utah juniper (''Juniperus osteosperma''), and
single-leaf pinyon
''Pinus monophylla'', the single-leaf pinyon, (alternatively spelled piñon) is a pine in the pinyon pine group, native to North America. The range is in southernmost Idaho, western Utah, Arizona, southwest New Mexico, Nevada, eastern and southe ...
(''Pinus monophylla'').
References
*
*
Mountain ranges of Nevada
Mountain ranges of Eureka County, Nevada
{{EurekaCountyNV-geo-stub