White Tank Mountains
| White Tank Mountains | ||
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 White Tank Mountains with petroglyphs. |
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| Highest peak | Barry Goldwater Peak ( 1244 m ) | |
| location | Arizona (USA) | |
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| Coordinates | 33 ° 35 ′ N , 112 ° 35 ′ W | |
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The White Tank Mountains are a mountain range in the central US state of Arizona , west of the Phoenix metropolitan area in Maricopa County . The foothills of the mountains border the towns of Buckeye in the east and south and Surprise in the east and north. The highest peak is Barry Goldwater Peak with a height of 1,244 meters. In the mountains is the White Tank Mountain Regional Park , a local recreation area for the residents of the neighboring cities.
Surname
In summer there are occasional heavy torrential rains that cause a so-called flash flood . The flooding in the otherwise dried up streams develops enormous force in the narrow canyons . Over time, washouts called tanks formed in the white rock at the foot of the mountains . These tubs, which were filled with water for a long time, gave the mountains its name.
Geography and geology
The White Tank Mountains rise abruptly west of Phoenix and close the Valley of the Sun on the west side. The mountains are called White Tanks by the locals and comprise a number of mountains that reach an average height of 1,200 meters. The Barry Goldwater Peak is the highest point with 1,244 m. The mountain range was formed by tectonic plate shifts around 30 million years ago. This period is considered to be relatively short in geology and the White Tanks are therefore a young mountain range. This manifests itself in craggy rock faces, sharp ridges and deep and steep canyons with uneven gradients.
White Tank Regional Park
Most of the White Tank Mountains are within the park boundaries, which encompass a size of around 118.5 km². In the nature reserve, the visitor will find both the typical desert landscape and the mountains of central Arizona. Hiking is limited to the specially marked trails. From here some of the many domestic animals should be observed, including the Mule Deer (Odocoilus hemionus), the coyote (Canis latraus), the peccary (Pecari tajacu), the raccoon (Procyon lotor), the skunk (Mephitis), the chipmunks ( Neotamias), the bobcat (Lynx rufus) and, very rarely, the mountain lion (Puma concolor). Birds in the park include the racing cuckoo (Geococcyx velox), the pigeon (Zenaida macroura), the red-tailed buzzard (Buleo jamaicensis), the gilaspecht (Melanerpes uropygialis), the helmet quail (Callipepla gambelii), the red cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis), the turkey vulture (Carthartes aura), the great horned owl (Bubo virginianus) and the cactus wren (Campylorhynchus brunneicapillus), the heraldic bird of Arizona. The desert is the habitat of numerous reptiles, including the western rattlesnake (Crotalus vindis), the diamond rattlesnake (Crotalus adamanteus), the Arizona coral snake (Micruroides euryxanthum), the gila crustacean (Heloderma suspectum), the California gopher tortoise (Gopherus agassizii ), as well as one of the largest land newts, the tiger salamander (Ambystoma tigrinum).
Indigenous plants (trees, cacti, flowers) include the Parkinsonie or Palo verde (Parkinsonia Florida), the desert ironwood (Olnega tesota), the hedgehog cactus (Echinocereus), the opuntia (Opuntia), the saguaro cactus (Carnegiea gigantea), the ferocactus (Ferocactus), the lupine (Lupinus), the poppy (Papaver rhoeas), the mimosa (Calliandra eriophylla), and the creosote bush (Larrea tridentata).
The park is usually dry and hot, but in late summer there are sudden violent thunderstorms with heavy rain, which causes flooding in the dried up streams and narrow canyons. Huge waterfalls for a limited time offer park visitors a special spectacle. The most popular hiking trail is therefore the 1.4 km long Waterfall Trail , which leads through a narrow canyon to a seasonal waterfall. The clear, dry air almost all year round offers a breathtaking starry sky at night and attracts many amateur astronomers. The park administration organizes several events every year for the purpose of stargazing.
Urban sprawl
The neighboring, rapidly growing cities of Buckeye and Surprise in the Phoenix metropolitan area pose a threat to the nature park's existence. There are plans for several large housing developments on the park's boundaries and conservationists are alerted. The park administration also fears environmental damage to the nature park. In response to these concerns, the city planners proposed creating a green belt as a buffer between the planned housing developments and the park boundary.
history
So far, eleven archaeological sites have been discovered within the park boundaries, which were inhabited between 500 and 1100 AD and can be assigned to the Hohokam culture . Thereafter, there were no other human inhabitants in this region until in historical time around 1750 the Western Yavapai appeared and controlled the area.
Most of the Hohokam settlements were located near the tanks that served as water reservoirs for most of the year. The numerous petroglyphs suggest that these places were permanently inhabited. Ceramic shards on the Agua Fria and Hassayampa rivers indicate that there were Indian villages there and that the rivers may have been connected by trails to the White Tank Mountains long before Europeans explored the area. The construction of terraces for field cultivation and the construction of dams for the ingenious irrigation of the fields also point to the agriculture of the Hohokam, who mainly cultivated corn , but also beans and pumpkins as well as cotton .
In the White Tank Mountains there are hundreds of rock carvings with figures and symbols, some of which are over 10,000 years old. Most of the petroglyphs can be seen in Waterfall Canyon and Petroglyph Plaza . To date, the exact meaning of the rock carvings has not been determined, but they had an important function in the life of the artist. The symbols tell of special events and mark certain places.
Web links
- White Tank Mountain Regional Park homepage
- TrailDEX interactive hiking map
- White Tank Library & Nature Center
Individual evidence
- ↑ Origin of the name , accessed on August 6, 2014
- ↑ Geography and Geology , accessed August 6, 2014
- ↑ a b Fauna and flora in the park ( Memento of the original from July 28, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed August 5, 2014
- ^ White Tank Hiking , accessed August 6, 2014
- ↑ Urbanizing White Tanks , accessed August 6, 2014
- ↑ a b c White Tank Mountain History ( Memento of the original from January 17, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed August 4, 2014
