The Sevier Desert is a large arid section of central-west

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, and is located in the southeast of the

Great Basin The Great Basin () is the largest area of contiguous endorheic watersheds, those with no outlets to the ocean, in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Baja Californi ...

. It is bordered by deserts north, west, and south; its east border is along the mountain range and valley sequences at the perimeter of the Great Basin, with the large north–south

Wasatch Range The Wasatch Range ( ) or Wasatch Mountains is a mountain range in the western United States that runs about from the Utah-Idaho border south to central Utah. It is the western edge of the greater Rocky Mountains, and the eastern edge of the Gr ...

and its associated mountainous landforms. Its eastern border is specifically, the East Tintic, Gilson, and

Canyon Mountains The Canyon Mountains are a long mountain range located in the northeast corner of Millard County, Utah; the range is bisected north-south with a southeast border section of Juab County, Utah, Juab County. The Canyon Mountains are part of the nor ...

; also the massive Pahvant Range. The Sevier Desert contains the course of the Sevier River in a circuitous manner. It flows to Sevier Lake in the extreme southwest Sevier Desert. The Sevier River enters the east desert flowing west, immediately turning southwest, then west, to enter the north of Sevier Lake, which is mostly south-southwest trending. The southeast section of the desert contains the Black Rock Desert volcanic field, with the notable Pahvant Butte, a formation from the time of Lake Bonneville. The volcanic field region is west of an agricultural four-city region from McCornick to Fillmore. The Little Sahara Recreation Area is located in the northeast of the desert.

Description

The desert is about 105-mi (169 km) long north–south, and about 60-mi (97 km) wide. The desert covers a large section of the central-north Sevier River drainage (), and much of the east half of Millard County (). The Sevier Desert is named for the river, which is derived from "Río Severo" (wild river), a local name given by early

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

explorers. In the north and northwest, the desert is composed of small mountain ranges, a few valleys, flatlands, and borders the south-southeast of the

Great Salt Lake Desert The Great Salt Lake Desert (colloquially referred to as the West Desert) is a large dry lake in northern Utah, United States, between the Great Salt Lake The Great Salt Lake is the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere and the ei ...

. The Dugway Range and Dugway Valley on the Great Salt Lake Desert's perimeter, borders the Thomas Range, southeast. The Thomas Range and Drum Mountains lie due west of the Little Sahara Recreation Site. A large dissected flatland lies between drained southwesterly by Cherry Creek Wash. The region contains intermittent reservoirs, Hogback, Crater Bench, and Desert Mountain Reservoir. Also various springs, or wells. It is also the site of Fumarole Butte, , about eastUtah DeLorme Atlas, pp. 31 & 34. of the Drum Mountains.

Geographical layout

The west perimeter of the Sevier Desert has mostly a north–south border because of the

House Range The House Range is a north-south trending mountain range in Millard County, of west-central Utah. The House Range was named in 1859 by James H. Simpson. It was named by Simpson because "...of its well-defined stratification and the resemblan ...

. The south desert perimeter is mostly east–west because the mountains on the south separate the Sevier from the

Escalante Desert The Escalante Desert is a geographic Great Basin region and arid desert ecoregion, in the deserts and xeric shrublands biome, located in southwestern Utah. Geography The Escalante Desert is northwest of Cedar City in Iron County, Utah, and ext ...

, an approximate triangle-shaped desert enclosed amongst mountain ranges, and the Escalante and Cedar Valleys. The east of the Sevier Desert contains the communities lying at the foothills of the mountain ranges. The Black Rock Desert volcanic field is located west of the cities. Pavant Valley lies at the west of the Pahvant Range, and west of the

lies the Oak Creek Sinks adjacent east of the Sevier River, and west of Oak City. The northeast perimeter of the desert lies at the southwest foothills of the

East Tintic Mountains The East Tintic Mountains are a mountain range in central Juab, Utah, and Tooele counties in Utah, United States on the east margin of the Great Basin just west of the Wasatch Front about south-southeast of Salt Lake City. The community of Eur ...

, noted for its mining. Tintic Valley, a small valley between the West Tintic Mountains feeds southwesterly into the Sevier Desert. Adjacent west of the West Tintics, lie two additional bordering mountain ranges, the southwest flank of the Sheeprock Mountains and the small, circular Simpson Mountains west. In the west and southwest, west of the House Range, is the Ferguson Desert; the Confusion Range and

Tule Valley Tule Valley (also known as White Valley) is a valley in Millard County, Utah, United States. Description The valley is a north-south trending endorheic valley within the Great Basin (geographically), Great Basin Desert (ecologically), and Bas ...

lie between the House Range and the Ferguson Desert.

List of cities and landforms

The following is a list of communities or landforms associated with the north, south, east and west desert perimeters (approximate to mountain foothills, valleys, etc.). West desert perimeter * Table Knoll *

Robbers Roost The Robbers Roost was an outlaw hideout in southeastern Utah used mostly by Butch Cassidy and his Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch, Wild Bunch gang in the closing years of the Old West. The hideout was considered ideal because of the rough terrain. ...

Canyon * Kells Knolls * Skull Rock * Steamboat Mountain, Black Hills (Millard County) East desert perimeter * Leamington * Oak City * McCornick * Holden * Kanosh * Cove Fort North desert perimeter * Keg Mountain * Allison Knolls South desert perimeter * Red Rock Knoll * Pinnacle Pass

Route access

Interstate 15 Interstate 15 (I-15) is a major Interstate Highway in the Western United States, running through Southern California and the Intermountain West. I-15 begins near the Mexican border in San Diego County and stretches north to Alberta, Ca ...

transits the southeast perimeter of the desert along mountain foothills. Utah State Route 257 transits north, then northeast through the center-east desert, from Black Rock, Utah to

Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; : oases ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment Jericho Jericho ( ; , ) is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, and the capital of the Jericho Governorate. Jericho is located in the Jordan Valley, with the Jordan River to the east and Jerusalem to the west. It had a population of 20,907 in 2017. F ...

and McIntyre, at the northeast perimeter of the desert. U.S. 6 is also the access route to the Little Sahara Recreation Area in the northeast.

References

* Utah Atlas & Gazetteer, DeLorme, 7th Ed, c. 2010, 64 pages.

External links

File:Sevierrivermap.png, Sevier River watershed, () {{Authority control Great Basin deserts Deserts of Utah Geography of Juab County, Utah Geography of Millard County, Utah