Mogollon Rim
The Mogollon Rim is a mountain range in the US state of Arizona . It emerged as a stratum during the uplift of the Colorado Plateau and is its southwestern boundary in the transition to the Basin and Range region. This makes the Mogollon Rim the most important structural structure in Arizona, through which the state is divided into its two main geological areas.
It is named after Juan Ignacio Flores Mogollon , the Spanish governor of Nuevo Mexico in the years 1712-15.
geography
The Mogollon Rim stretches almost 350 km from southwest Flagstaff to the southeast to the White Mountains . To the south-west it drops steeply over 600 meters into the lowlands, to the north-east it slopes gently and with only a slight difference in altitude onto the high plateau. The erosion has cut deep canyons into the southwestern flank . To the northeast, the Mogollon Rim drains to the Little Colorado River via a variety of intermittent washes , including the Diablo Canyon . To the southwest several streams flow partly through the canyons to the Salt River .
Geologically, the Mogollon Rim is composed as the southwestern boundary of the Colorado Plateau like this one. The rocks are those of the Grand Staircase , with the geological layers at the Mogollon Rim corresponding to those of the geology of the Grand Canyon . At the Mogollon Rim, however, are due to the smaller open-minded only the rocks of the height of Perm and the Mesozoic visible. The rocks at the foot of the slope are predominantly Hermit Shale , a slate with parts of clay and sandstone . Above it follows the Schnebly Hill Sandstone , a sandstone with a locally occurring, embedded limestone called Fort Apache Member . The Schnebly Hill sandstone is colored deep red by iron oxides and its weathering forms are responsible for the rock formations that make up the region around Sedona , the Red Rock County . Above it follows the Coconino Sandstone , it is golden yellow and consists of Aeolian sediments . The rocks mentioned so far erode almost vertically due to their low strength. The following Toroweap formation is more stable and therefore weathers at a shallower angle. Therefore, many more plants can grow on it, including junipers and pines . From a distance it looks like a green ribbon on the slopes. Above it is the very light Kaibab Limestone ; the limestone in turn forms almost vertical walls and is the top massive layer of the Mogollon rim. Above it are the thin Moenkopi Formation , as well as some gravel locally and, especially in the central Mogollon Rim near Mormon Lake and the neighboring Mormon Lake volcano , a thin basalt cover .
The steep flank of the mountain range receives an above-average amount of rainfall for Arizona. That is why the largest yellow pine forest in the United States has formed on its back .
history
In prehistoric times, the mountain range was inhabited by members of the Mogollon culture . The region was in the extreme north of the range of the culture, which is named not after the Mogollon Rim, but after the Mogollon Mountains in the state of New Mexico . The Mogollon of the Mogollon Rim are counted among the Forestdale-Mogollon , after one of the first localities in the region. They settled both the gentle northern flank of the mountains and the region at the southern foot of the slope. Their culture is known for extensive irrigation agriculture , the relatively early cultivation of cotton, pit houses and multi-decorated ceramics. Their culture went under before the first whites arrived, the reasons are largely unknown.
When the first whites reached the region, it was sparsely populated by Apaches . They still live in the southeastern part of the area in the Fort Apache Indian Reservation . The gentle north flank of the ridge was used extensively for forestry in the 19th and 20th centuries. Most of the present-day settlements in the region came into being. Today the forests are administered as national forests by the United States Forest Service . Responsibility is divided between the Tonto National Forest , the Coconino National Forest and the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest .
The first developed traffic route over the mountain range was the military route from Fort Whipple on the edge of today's Prescott in the north of the area to Fort Apache in the south. It was laid out as a footpath in 1872 and later replaced by gravel roads. In 1883 investors began building a railroad from Flagstaff across the Mogollon Rim down to the Gila Basin and Globe . They wanted to avoid the actual slope edge with the steepest sections through a 900 m long tunnel. By the time work was stopped in 1887, only around 20 m had been completed, which can be seen east of Strawberry .
The Mogollon Rim today
Today the region lives mainly from tourism. The largest settlements below the slope are Payson and Sedona . The significantly smaller villages of Heber-Overgaard , Strawberry and Show Low are located on the edge of the slope . Forest Road 300 runs along the edge of the slope for most of the mountain range . It opens up forests, simple campsites, lakes and the few inhabited houses.
Only a few streets cross the Mogollon Rim. Only Interstate Highway 17 between Flagstaff and Phoenix and US Highway 60 from Show Low to Phoenix are of major traffic importance . In the north the Arizona State Highway 89A opens up from Prescott via Sedona in Oak Creek Canyon , in the center between Payson and Strawberry the bundled Arizona State Highways 260 and 87 , as well as the Arizona State Highway 288 .
Web links
- Northern Arizona University: Land Use History of the Mogollon Rim
- Town of Payson: Recreation - Mogollon Rim
Individual evidence
- ^ Sedona Geology
- ↑ City of Payson: Recreation - Mogollon Rim
Coordinates: 34 ° 20 ′ N , 110 ° 56 ′ W