The White Tank Mountains are a
mountain range in central
Arizona. The mountains are on the western periphery of the
Phoenix metropolitan area, primarily flanked by the suburban cities of
Buckeye to the southwest, and
Surprise to the northeast. The mountain range is home to the
White Tank Mountain Regional Park
The White Tank Mountain Regional Park is a large regional park located in west-central Maricopa County, Arizona. Encompassing of desert and mountain landscape, it is the largest regional park in the county. The bulk of the White Tank Mountain ...
and is a regional recreation hub.
The range, often referred to simply as the White Tanks, is a moderate-sized mountain range whose peaks rise to an elevation around .
The range consists of a series of numerous ridges and canyons, and as such, lacks a single, prominent peak. The highest point in the range, at an elevation of , is Barry Goldwater Peak.
The mountain range was formed through
tectonic activities as part of a
detachment fault sometime in the mid-
Tertiary period, about 30 million years ago.
Fairly young in geologic terms, it has not been subject to the forces of
erosion for long and retains an extremely rugged topography composed of rocky fault ridges and deep canyons. During seasonal heavy rainfall, accumulated water tends to rush rapidly through the steep canyons, over time scouring out a number of depressions or "tanks" in the white
granite near the base of the mountains. These white tanks are the source of the mountains' name.
References
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Mountain ranges of the Sonoran Desert
Mountain ranges of Maricopa County, Arizona
Mountain ranges of Arizona