The Chiwaukum Mountains are a north–south
mountain range
A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...
in central
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
, United States. They stretch from
Snowgrass Mountain at , to .
The mountains are made of
schist
Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock showing pronounced schistosity. This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a low-power hand lens, oriented in such a way that the rock is easily split into thin flakes o ...
, part of the Nason
terrane
In geology, a terrane (; in full, a tectonostratigraphic terrane) is a crust fragment formed on a tectonic plate (or broken off from it) and accreted or " sutured" to crust lying on another plate. The crustal block or fragment preserves its own ...
. The original rock in the Nason terrane was laid down 210 Myr ago. The terrane then smashed into the western coastline of the continent, and the
Mount Stuart
Mount Stuart is a mountain in the Cascade Range, in the U.S. state of Washington. It is the second highest non-volcanic peak in the state, after Bonanza Peak and seventh-highest overall. Mount Stuart is the highest peak in the Stuart Range, and ...
batholith
A batholith () is a large mass of intrusive igneous rock (also called plutonic rock), larger than in area, that forms from cooled magma deep in Earth's crust. Batholiths are almost always made mostly of felsic or intermediate rock types, such ...
intruded into it in the late
Cretaceous
The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...
. The intrusion of the granitic rock metamorphosed the rock into schist.
In July 2014, the lightning-caused
Chiwaukum Creek Fire burned the east flank of the Chiwaukum Mountains.
Partial list of peaks:
*
Big Chiwaukum – 8,081' (2463m) –
*
Snowgrass Mountain – 7,993' (2436m) –
*
Big Lou – 7,780' (2370m) –
*
Big Jim Mountain – 7,765' (2367m) –
*
Ladies Peak – 7,708' (2349m) –
*
Grindstone Mountain – 7,533' (2296m) –
*
Cape Horn
Cape Horn ( es, Cabo de Hornos, ) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which are the Diego Ramírez ...
– 7,316' (2230m) –
*
Bulls Tooth – 6,840' (2080m) –
Nearby peaks:
*
Jim Hill Mountain – 6,765' (2062m) –
*
Arrowhead Mountain – 6,020' (1835m) –
*
Cowboy Mountain
Cowboy Mountain is a 5,853-foot-elevation (1,784 meter) mountain summit located in northeast King County of Washington state.
It is situated at Stevens Pass, on land managed by Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. This mountain is best kn ...
– 5,853' (1784m) –
See also
*
Chiwaukum Lake
*
List of mountain ranges in Washington
There are at least 64 named mountain ranges in the U.S. state of Washington. Names, elevations and coordinates from the U.S. Geological Survey, Geographic Names Information System and trail guides published by The Mountaineers. Some of the ran ...
*
List of lakes of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness
The Alpine Lakes Wilderness is a large wilderness area in the North Cascades mountain range, located in northern Washington (state), Washington state, the Northwestern United States. Lakes in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness are protected within the We ...
References
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Cascade Range
Mountain ranges of Washington (state)
Landforms of Chelan County, Washington