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The Granite Mountains are an east-west mountain range in the Mojave Desert, in northern San Bernardino County, California. They are within Fort Irwin National Training Center, 10 miles north of Fort Irwin.
Geography
editThe mountains are south of Death Valley National Park, south of the Quail Mountains and west of the Avawatz Mountains. They are named in the southern portion of the following USGS topographic quadrangle maps: West of Leach Spring, Leach Spring, and Leach Lake; and the northern portion of West of Drinkwater Lake and Drinkwater Lake. The mountain range extends slightly into the northern edge of West of Nelson Lake and Nelson Lake quadrangles.
The range stretches 24 miles east-southeast from 35.50848, -116.97359 to Granite Pass (35.42529, -116.55146). The hills east-southeast of Granite Pass (highest elevation 4524 feet), extending another 9 miles to 35.38968, -116.35453, are not named on the USGS topographic maps, and are not included in the points given for these mountains in the Geographic Names Information System.[1] However, they are included as part of this range in two government publications.[2]
Highest peak: In the Drinkwater Lake quadrangle, an unnamed peak is at 35°27′5.4″N 116°35′48.6″W / 35.451500°N 116.596833°W 5295 feet above sea level.[3] A road and power line go to the top, where there are several structures and two radio facilities.[4] Microwave antennas and video cameras there are used to monitor military training exercises in the valley to the south. [5] Live-fire exercises are conducted north of the range. [6]
Geology
editThe Granite Mountains Fault Zone runs through most of the range; the primary fault lines are east-west sinistral.[7] The rocks are primarily felsic plutonic, nonfoliated granitoid rocks from the Late Cretaceous period that weather to grus. [8]
Botany
editPlants documented in the Granite Mountains include Psorothamnus arborescens var. arborescens (Mojave indigo-bush),[9] Cylindropuntia echinocarpa (silver cholla), many cacti, Yucca schidigera (Spanish bayonet), and species of Brickellia, Ericameria, Ephedra, and Encelia.[10] Surveys at springs reported Amaranthus fimbriatus (fringed amaranth), Ambrosia dumosa (white bursage), Amsinckia tessellata (bristly fiddleneck), Atriplex canescens (four-wing saltbush), Bromus madritensis (compact brome), Coleogyne ramosissima (blackbrush), Cucurbita palmata (coyote melon), Descurainia pinnata (western tansymustard), Distichlis spicata (saltgrass), Encelia farinosa (brittlebush), Ephedra nevadensis (Mormon tea), Ericameria cooperi (Coopers’s goldenbush), Eriogonum fasciculatum (California buckwheat), Eriogonum panamintense (Panamint Mountain buckwheat), Gutierrezia microcephala (threadleaf snakeweed), Larrea tridentata (creosote bush), Lycium andersonii (water-jacket), Nicotiana obtusifolia (desert tobacco), Phacelia crenulata (notch-leaf scorpion-weed), Polypogon monspeliensis (annual beard-grass), Populus fremontii (Fremont cottonwood), Prunus fasciculata (wild almond), Purshia tridentata (bitterbrush), Salazaria mexicana (bladder sage ), Salix gooddingii (Goodding's willow), and Typha latifolia (cattail).[11]
See also
edit- Granite Mountains (California) (eastern San Bernardino County)
- Granite Mountains (western San Bernardino County, California)
References
edit- ^ See the summary report at https://edits.nationalmap.gov/apps/gaz-domestic/public/search/names/242914
- ^ https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA291289.pdf (page 58) and https://www.sbcounty.gov/Uploads/GIS/OffTheShelfMaps/REGIONAL%20MAPS/County%20Map.pdf
- ^ https://www.sotamaps.org/summit/W6/ND-165 reports the peak at 5295; https://umontana.maps.arcgis.com/apps/mapviewer/index.html says 5293; https://www.peakbagger.com/peak.aspx?pid=16788 says 5298 feet.
- ^ "OpenTopoMap - Topographische Karten aus OpenStreetMap".
- ^ https://history.army.mil/html/books/069/69-3/cmh_pub_69-3.pdf
- ^ https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA291289.pdf
- ^ Shown in pink at the Southern California Earthquake Data Center, https://scedc.caltech.edu/earthquake/mojave.html; see also David M. Miller, Christopher M. Menges, and David J. Lidke, Generalized Surficial Geologic Map of the Fort Irwin Area, San Bernardino County, California, 2014, https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2013/1024/b/downloads/ofr2013_1024_b_report.pdf.
- ^ Miller et al., 2014, https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2013/1024/b/downloads/ofr2013_1024_b_report.pdf. This publication says that there are metamorphic rocks in the eastern Granite Mountains from the Jurassic period, but the map on page 10 does not show any metamorphic rocks in the Granite Mountains. They form much of the Avawatz Mountains. So also with the map on p. 18 of Jill N. Densmore, Drew C. Thayer, Meghan C. Dick, Peter W. Swarzenski, Lyndsay B. Ball, Celia Z. Rosecrans, and Cordell Johnson, Evaluation of the Characteristics, Discharge, and Water Quality of Selected Springs at Fort Irwin National Training Center, San Bernardino County, California, 2024, https://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2023/5142/sir20235142.pdf
- ^ Anthony J. Krzysik, Biodiversity and the Threatened/Endangered/Sensitive Species of Fort Irwin, CA, 1994, https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA291289.pdf
- ^ Integrated Natural Resources Management Plan and Environmental Assessment 2006-2011, National Training Center and Fort Irwin, California, https://www.denix.osd.mil/inrmp/denix-files/sites/98/2024/02/NTC-and-Fort-Irwin-INRMP_Rev20Jan06.pdf
- ^ Jill N. Densmore, Drew C. Thayer, Meghan C. Dick, Peter W. Swarzenski, Lyndsay B. Ball, Celia Z. Rosecrans, and Cordell Johnson, Evaluation of the Characteristics, Discharge, and Water Quality of Selected Springs at Fort Irwin National Training Center, San Bernardino County, California, Scientific Investigations Report 2023–5142, U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Department of the Interior, 2024, https://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2023/5142/sir20235142.pdf