Rocky Mountain Futures: An Ecological Perspective

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Table of Contents

Factors and Forces of Geological Features
Rocky Mountain System
Geologic Events in the Region
Geological Features
Geological features and types of rocks
Tectonic Plates
Important Features
References

Factors and Forces of Geological Features

Rocky Mountain System:
- The Rocky mountain systems are very spectacular features.
- The rocks are regularly shaped while the entire physical feature is about twelve thousand feet above sea level.
- In making up the feature, there is a high flat land in form of a plateau accompanied by vast plains on the eastern side of the rocky feature. (Warren,1860).

Geological features are important natural formations. One of such features is the rocky mountain systems

Rocky Mountain System

A Glacier Feature on a mountain top (Warren,1860). Glaciers are common mountain features.

River formation in a rocky mountain system (Warren,1860). Rivers can also be formed when geologic activities take place.

Geologic Events in the Region

The Front range:
- This is one of the geological feature which is quite notable within the rocky mountain systems.
- The front range has been formed by the lifting of the small layers
- There has been a lot of wearing out of the front range especially the regions which have been uplifted
- The central region of the range is quite well exposed on the surface and it is assuming almost the same level as the flat land along the plains.
- There are rivers which drain water to the ridges right from the upper layer of the front range . (Warren,1860).
- One of the notable features here is the gorge called Clear Creek. Furthermore, the uplifted areas rise to a level of about 9000 feet above sea level. At the peak of the front range is a small relief on top of a raised surface.
- This structure of the front range is not uniform all through. There is a curved Palaeozoic layer which pushes itself on the eastern side of the front rage, a feature which is completely different from western side of the rage.
The inner ranges:
- The inner ranges are quite complicated that it s not easy to explain each ad every part. One of the remarkable features here is the Uinta range.
- It is a very wide structure.
- This feature has been formed by the action of faulting of the deep underlying sedimentary rocks.
- Another inner range is the Wasatch range which is also a very conspicuous structure created from geologic activity of faulting (Warren,1860).

The central region of the range is quite well exposed on the surface and it is assuming almost the same level as the flat land along the plains.

Front ranges are fairly steep.

Feature is formed by the action of faulting.

Geological Features

Volcanic features.

Volcanic features

The rocky mountain system does not have a very elaborate feature generated from volcanic activities.
However, there is one uniquely outstanding volcanic feature at the West Spanish zone.
This volcanic feature has quite a number of low lying areas in form of ridges. At the Yellow Stone National Park which is as a result of a volcanic activity, there are other tiny features.
For instance, geysers and hot springs are prevalent at this spot.

Rocky mountain systems does not have elaborate volcanic formations.

Glaciers (Gerrard, 1990). The central part of the rocky mountains, there are tops which are round in shape.

Glaciers

At the central part of the rocky mountains, there are tops which are round in shape unlike the common characteristics found on the other parts of the rocky mountain systems.
The tops are fairly round because they have been eroded from time to time.
Moreover, there is little vegetation at these round tops. The formation of glaciers at these peaks are very minimal hence glaciers are not very common features here.

The intermontane basins.

The intermontane basins

The rocky mountains are well endowed with low lying areas which are generally of lower altitudes than the rest of the mountain ranges.
The intermontane basins are the main areas where eroded sediments are deposited.
There are several basins which exist on these mountain ranges.
Some of these include the South Park Basin and the one situated at the Valley of San Luis which is about 2000 metres above sea level.

Geological features and types of rocks

There are several geological features that make up the rocky mountains.
However, the type and mineral content of these rocks are very important in this study.
One of the main components of the rocky mountains is the sedimentary rocks which are deeply laid down in form of layers.
The mineral composition of the sedimentary rocks include sandstone and limestone.
The sedimentary rocks are the main types of rocks found in these regions. These rocks are structured in form of layers.

Geological features and types of rocks.

Canyons.

Canyons

Canyons are very important features found on mountain peaks although they are often disregarded in the study of features that make up rocky mountain systems. They are also formed by rivers.
The emergence of the glaciers have however, interrupted the formation of canyons as the former took over much of the space traversed by river banks. As a result, broad valleys are formed, as the quantity of ice has been reducing with time.
Canyons may also have existed under the glaciers. There are quite a number of research studies which have suggested the possibility of the existence of this feature alongside glaciers. (Gerrard, 1990).

Canyons Formation

Canyons are formed in a very unique way. As rivers traverse through long distances, they finally reach a destination where large water bodies act as points of drainage to the rivers flowing in.
The point of entry of a river to a large water body and the river height is the key determinant during the formation of canyons.
This is because the energy utilised by the river during the process of eroding loose surface is the one which will determine the formation of a canyon (Gerrard, 1990).

Formation.

Tectonic Plates.

Tectonic Plates

Plate tectonic are also very instrumental in the formation of canyons. As noted earlier, the rocky mountains have rivers which flow out of them and such rivers eventually drain their waters to the large water bodies.
The speed at which a river is traversing the ridges will determine the formation of canyons similar to tectonic plates which are capable of moving apart and forming a canyon between them. Basically, the surface of the earth is always suspend like an object floating on the surface of a fluid.
The fluid upon which the earths surface is floating is called magma. If the land masses in form of plates push against each other, the formation fold mountains which are rocky in nature is inevitable. On the contrary, it is also possible for these plates to separate ad pull away from each other later forming canyon.

Important Features

The most important feature in the formation of canyons is a river which is created from the erosion of the rocky surface or pulling apart of the rocky tectonic plate.

Additionally, gorges are also notable features which may accompany the formation of canyons (Baron, 2009).

References

Baron J. (2009). Rocky Mountain futures: an ecological perspective. Washington D.C: Island Press.
Gerrard G. (1990). Mountain environments: an examination of the physical geography of mountains. London : First MIT Press.
Warren, M.D (1860). A system of physical geography. Philadelphia: H. Cowperth Wait & Co. Ltd.