Goat Hill (Larimer County, Colorado)

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Goat Hill
Bellvue Dome

Goat Hill (Larimer County, Colorado).JPG

The dome as seen from the north northwest.
Highest point
Elevation 1,708 m (5,604 ft) [1]
Coordinates 40°38′33″N105°10′12″W / 40.64250°N 105.17000°W / 40.64250; -105.17000 Coordinates: 40°38′33″N105°10′12″W / 40.64250°N 105.17000°W / 40.64250; -105.17000 [1]
Geography
USA Colorado location map.svg
Red triangle with thick white border.svg
Goat Hill
Location in Colordo.
Location Larimer County, Colorado
Parent range Front Range
Topo map USGS
Laporte

Goat Hill—also called Bellvue Dome—is a dome in Larimer County, Colorado near Bellvue.

Dome (geology) Deformational feature in structural geology of symmetrical anticlines that intersect each other at their respective apices.

A dome is a feature in structural geology consisting of symmetrical anticlines that intersect each other at their respective apices. Intact, domes are distinct, rounded, spherical-to-ellipsoidal-shaped protrusions on the Earth's surface. However, a transect parallel to Earth's surface of a dome features concentric rings of strata. Consequently, if the top of a dome has been eroded flat, the resulting structure in plan view appears as a bullseye, with the youngest rock layers at the outside, and each ring growing progressively older moving inwards. These strata would have been horizontal at the time of deposition, then later deformed by the uplift associated with dome formation.

Larimer County, Colorado County in the United States

Larimer County is one of the 64 counties in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2010 census, the population was 299,630. The county seat and most populous city is Fort Collins. The county was named for William Larimer, Jr., the founder of Denver.

Bellvue, Colorado Unincorporated community in State of Colorado, United States

Bellvue is an unincorporated community and U.S. Post Office in Larimer County, Colorado. It is a small agricultural community located in Pleasant Valley, a narrow valley just northwest of Fort Collins near the mouth of the Poudre Canyon between the Dakota Hogback ridge and the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. The ZIP Code of the Bellvue Post Office is 80512.

The dome has a gradual slope on its east side, but its west side is an almost-vertical cliff that hangs over the Cache la Poudre River that passes directly below. The mountain was formed as sedimentary rock was uplifted and folded during the Laramide orogeny. [2]

Cache la Poudre River river in the United States of America

The Cache la Poudre River, also known as the Poudre River, is a river in the state of Colorado in the United States.

Laramide orogeny Mountain building in Western North America, 80-35 million years ago

The Laramide orogeny was a period of mountain building in western North America, which started in the Late Cretaceous, 70 to 80 million years ago, and ended 35 to 55 million years ago. The exact duration and ages of beginning and end of the orogeny are in dispute. The Laramide orogeny occurred in a series of pulses, with quiescent phases intervening. The major feature that was created by this orogeny was deep-seated, thick-skinned deformation, with evidence of this orogeny found from Canada to northern Mexico, with the easternmost extent of the mountain-building represented by the Black Hills of South Dakota. The phenomenon is named for the Laramie Mountains of eastern Wyoming. The Laramide orogeny is sometimes confused with the Sevier orogeny, which partially overlapped in time and space.

Access

The mountain itself is on property owned by the Bureau of Land Management, but it's surrounded by private land, so access is difficult or impossible without permission from the adjacent property owners. [3]

Bureau of Land Management agency within the United States Department of the Interior

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior that administers more than 247.3 million acres (1,001,000 km2) of public lands in the United States which constitutes one eighth of the landmass of the country. President Harry S. Truman created the BLM in 1946 by combining two existing agencies: the General Land Office and the Grazing Service. The agency manages the federal government's nearly 700 million acres (2,800,000 km2) of subsurface mineral estate located beneath federal, state and private lands severed from their surface rights by the Homestead Act of 1862. Most BLM public lands are located in these 12 western states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

Goat Hill is prominently seen by motorists driving south on Highway 287. One can see the mountain in profile, with the slope on the left and the cliff on the right, before the highway turns east towards Fort Collins.

U.S. Route 287 in Colorado

U.S. Highway 287 is the portion of a north-south highway in Colorado that travels from the Oklahoma state line just south of Campo to the Wyoming state line north of Fort Collins.

Fort Collins, Colorado Home Rule Municipality in Colorado, United States

Fort Collins is the Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Larimer County, Colorado, United States. Situated on the Cache La Poudre River along the Colorado Front Range, Fort Collins is located 56 mi (90 km) north of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver. With a 2016 estimated population of 161,000, it is the fourth most populous city in Colorado after Denver, Colorado Springs, and Aurora. Fort Collins is a midsize college city, home to Colorado State University.

The dome from Highway 287. DSCN0605 287and14 e 600.jpg
The dome from Highway 287.

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References

  1. 1 2 "Goat Hill". Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey.
  2. "Bellvue Dome Earthcache". Geocaching. Retrieved 2017-09-02. Locally know [sic] as Goat Hill, the geologic structure that dominates this landscape is a dome. Bellvue Dome, was formed by the bending of the sedimentary rocks layer underneath due to the same tectonic forces that uplifted the Rocky Mountains. A combination of the river’s erosive action and the nature of the fold gives the dome its actual appearance.
  3. Roe, Josiah. "Hike the Bellvue Dome". The Outbound Collective. Retrieved 2017-09-02.