Sawtooth Ridge is an mountain ridge located in

Lewis and Clark County Lewis and Clark County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Montana. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 70,973. Its county seat is Helena, Montana, Helena, the state capital. The nume ...

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

Description

Sawtooth Ridge is located along the Rocky Mountain Front, which is a subset of the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

. It is situated 45 miles west of

Great Falls Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" *Artel Great (born ...

, in the Sun River Wildlife Management Area. Precipitation

runoff Runoff, run-off or RUNOFF may refer to: * RUNOFF, the first computer text-formatting program * Runoff or run-off, another name for bleed, printing that lies beyond the edges to which a printed sheet is trimmed * Runoff or run-off, a stock market ...

from this landform drains into tributaries of the

Sun River The Sun River (also called the Medicine River) is a tributary of the Missouri River in the Great Plains, approximately 130 mi (209 km) long, in Montana in the United States. It rises in the Rocky Mountains in two forks, the North Fork ...

. Topographic relief is significant as the east aspect rises approximately above the prairie. Castle Reef is 6.94 miles to the north, but Fairview Mountain is considered to be the nearest higher neighbor, 6.57 miles to the south-southwest.

Geology

Sawtooth Ridge is composed of

sedimentary rock Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles ...

laid down during the

Precambrian The Precambrian (or Pre-Cambrian, sometimes abbreviated pꞒ, or Cryptozoic) is the earliest part of Earth's history, set before the current Phanerozoic Eon. The Precambrian is so named because it preceded the Cambrian, the first period of the ...

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The J ...

periods. Formed in shallow seas, this sedimentary rock was pushed east and over the top of younger rock during the

Laramide orogeny The Laramide orogeny was a time period of mountain building in western North America, which started in the Late Cretaceous, 70 to 80 million years ago, and ended 35 to 55 million years ago. The exact duration and ages of beginning and end of the o ...

. The

Lewis Overthrust The Lewis Overthrust is a geologic thrust fault structure of the Rocky Mountains found within the bordering national parks of Glacier in Montana, United States and Waterton Lakes in Alberta, Canada. The structure was created due to the collision of ...

extends over from

Mount Kidd Mount Kidd is a double-summit massif centrally located in Kananaskis Country in the Canadian Rockies of Alberta, Canada. Mount Kidd is situated within Spray Valley Provincial Park, and its nearest higher neighbor is Mount Sparrowhawk, to the no ...

in Alberta, south to Steamboat Mountain which is located 18 miles south of Sawtooth Ridge, which places Sawtooth Ridge within the southern extent of the Lewis Overthrust.

Climate

Based on the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

, Sawtooth Ridge has an alpine

subarctic climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of an ocean, ge ...

characterized by long, usually very cold winters, and mild to warm summers. Winter temperatures can drop below −10 °F with wind chill factors below −30 °F.

References

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External links

* Weather
Sawtooth Ridge
Mountains of Montana North American 2000 m summits Landforms of Lewis and Clark County, Montana

Description

Geology

Climate

See also

References

External links