Grand Wash Cliffs

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Grand Wash Cliffs
Meadview Arizona.jpg
Grand Wash Cliffs at Meadview, Arizona
(view due-east)
Coordinates: 35°58′59″N113°58′01″W / 35.983°N 113.967°W / 35.983; -113.967
Location Mohave County, Arizona, Arizona, United States
Formed by Colorado River
Dimensions
  Length115 ft (35 m)
  Width5 ft (1.5 m)
USA Arizona location map.svg
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Foothills of Grand Wash Cliffs, (city-or-landform locations)

The Grand Wash Cliffs [1] extend south-southeast from the Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument in northwest Arizona west of the Shivwits Plateau south through the Grand Cliffs Wilderness and into the Lake Mead Recreation Area. The Grand Wash Cliffs cross the Grand Canyon where the Colorado River enters Lake Mead. To the south of the Grand Canyon the Grand Wash Cliffs continue past the east side of Grapevine Mesa and then southeast above and east of the Hualapai Valley forming the southwest margin of the Music Mountains. [2]

Contents

List of landforms/communities along Grand Wash Cliffs

(form north-to-south)

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mohave County, Arizona</span> County in Arizona, United States

Mohave County is a county in the northwestern corner of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2020 census, its population was 213,267. The county seat is Kingman, and the largest city is Lake Havasu City. It is the fifth largest county in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colorado Plateau</span> Plateau in southwestern United States

The Colorado Plateau is a physiographic and desert region of the Intermontane Plateaus, roughly centered on the Four Corners region of the southwestern United States. This plateau covers an area of 336,700 km2 (130,000 mi2) within western Colorado, northwestern New Mexico, southern and eastern Utah, northern Arizona, and a tiny fraction in the extreme southeast of Nevada. About 90% of the area is drained by the Colorado River and its main tributaries: the Green, San Juan, and Little Colorado. Most of the remainder of the plateau is drained by the Rio Grande and its tributaries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Big Sandy River (Arizona)</span> River in Arizona

The Big Sandy River is both an intermittent and perennial stream in Mohave and La Paz counties in northwestern Arizona in the United States. It begins where Cottonwood Wash and Trout Creek converge in the Hualapai Indian Reservation east of U.S. Route 93 then flows past Wikieup south of Kingman. The Big Sandy River then passes the Signal Ghost Town Site, meanders through the Arrastra Mountain Wilderness, and joins the Santa Maria River in Southern Mohave County to form the Bill Williams River. The Bill Williams River then empties into Alamo Lake State Park. The Big Sandy River is 55.7 miles (89.6 km) long.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hualapai</span> Native American tribe

The Hualapai is a federally recognized Native American tribe in Arizona with about 2300 enrolled members. Approximately 1353 enrolled members reside on the Hualapai Reservation, which spans over three counties in Northern Arizona.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hualapai Mountains</span> Landform in Arizona, US

The Hualapai Mountains are a mountain range located in Mohave County, east of Kingman, Arizona. Rising up to 8,417 feet at its highest peak, the higher elevations of the Hualapai Mountains support Madrean Sky Island habitats, and are host to a plethora of unique flora and fauna in a wide range of microclimates, high above the surrounding Mojave Desert.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sierra Ancha</span> Mountain range in Gila County, Arizona

The Sierra Ancha is a mountain range in Gila County, in central Arizona. It lies between Roosevelt Lake to the south, the Tonto Basin to the west, Cherry Creek to the east, and Pleasant Valley to the north. The range is one of several, including the Bradshaw Mountains, Mingus Mountain of the Black Hills, and the Mazatzal Mountains, which form a transitional zone between the lowland deserts of southern Arizona and the Colorado Plateau of northeastern Arizona. The highest point in the range is Aztec Peak, at an elevation of 2345 m (7694 ft).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sacramento Wash</span> Waterbody in Mohave County, Arizona

The Sacramento Wash is a major drainage of northwest Arizona in Mohave County. The wash is east of the Black Canyon of the Colorado and drains into the south-flowing Colorado River 45 mi south of Lake Mohave, and 90 mi south of Hoover Dam at Lake Mead. The wash outfall is in the center-south of the Havasu-Mohave Lakes Watershed. An equivalent wash drains to the west of the Colorado River and the Black Canyon, draining southeast Nevada and a small part of California, the Piute Wash of the Piute Valley. The Piute Wash outfall is upstream of the Sacramento's outfall by about 15 miles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spirit Mountain Wilderness</span> Federally protected wilderness area in Nevada

Spirit Mountain Wilderness Area is a 33,518-acre (13,564 ha) wilderness area located in the Newberry Mountains in Clark County, Nevada, 10 miles (16 km) northwest of Laughlin. Spirit Mountain lies within the area. It is managed by the Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service.

The Rawhide Mountains are a mountain range of western Arizona, in the southwest of Mohave County. It is part of a block of mountain ranges on the north of an insular region called the Maria fold and thrust belt, containing mountain ranges, valleys, and plains. The Rawhide Mountains border the much smaller Artillery Mountains southeast, bordering on Alamo Lake State Park and the south-flowing Big Sandy River.

Dutch Flat of Arizona is a valley south of the Sacramento Valley and Interstate 40 in southern Mohave County.

Aubrey is a given name and surname of French origin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hurricane Cliffs</span> Landform in Arizona and Utah, United States

The Hurricane Cliffs of southwest Utah and northwest Arizona are a red, limestone geographic feature, sets of cliffs along the western, eroded edge of the Kaibab Limestone; the cliffs are about 135-mi (217 km) long, with the south end terminus just north of the Grand Canyon. The cliffs are associated with the Hurricane Fault.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Course of the Colorado River</span> Route and confluences of the Colorado River in the United States and Mexico

The Colorado River is a major river of the western United States and northwest Mexico in North America. Its headwaters are in the Rocky Mountains where La Poudre Pass Lake is its source. Located in north central Colorado it flows southwest through the Colorado Plateau country of western Colorado, southeastern Utah and northwestern Arizona where it flows through the Grand Canyon. It turns south near Las Vegas, Nevada, forming the Arizona–Nevada border in Lake Mead and the Arizona–California border a few miles below Davis Dam between Laughlin, Nevada and Needles, California before entering Mexico in the Colorado Desert. Most of its waters are diverted into the Imperial Valley of Southern California. In Mexico its course forms the boundary between Sonora and Baja California before entering the Gulf of California. This article describes most of the major features along the river.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aubrey Valley</span> Valley in Arizona

Aubrey Valley is a 35-mile (56 km) long valley located in southwest Coconino County, Arizona with the northwest border of Yavapai County. The valley is located at the southwest border of the Aubrey Cliffs; to the west and southwest, the Yampai Divide and the Seventyfour Plains form flatlands between four bordering mountain ranges at the northwest terminus of the Arizona transition zone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Toroweap Fault</span> Geologic feature in the Grand Canyon, Arizona

The Toroweap Fault of northwest Arizona and southwest Utah is part of a fault system of the west Grand Canyon region, Arizona, US; also the west perimeter regions of the Coconino and Colorado Plateaus. The Hurricane Fault originates at the Toroweap Fault, in the region of the Colorado River, and strikes as the westerly depression of the Toroweap Fault. The Toroweap strikes northerly from the Colorado at the east of Toroweap Valley, and enters south Utah; from the Colorado River, the Hurricane Fault strikes north-northwest along the west flank of the small, regional Uinkaret Mountains, the west border of Toroweap Valley. The Hurricane Fault, and the Hurricane Cliffs strike into southwest Utah as part of the west, and southwest perimeter of the Colorado Plateau. The Hurricane Cliffs are made of Kaibab Limestone, an erosion resistant, cliff-forming rock unit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Esplanade Sandstone</span> Geologic unit found in the Grand Canyon

The Lower Permian Esplanade Sandstone is a cliff-forming, resistant sandstone, dark red, geologic unit found in the Grand Canyon. The rock unit forms a resistant shelf in the west Grand Canyon, south side of the Colorado River, at the east of the Toroweap Fault, down-dropped to west, southeast of Toroweap Overlook, and west of Havasupai. The red, sandstone shelf, The Esplanade is about 20-mi long. At Toroweap Overlook region, Toroweap Valley with Vulcan's Throne, Uinkaret volcanic field, the resistant Esplanade Sandstone is described in access routes exploring the Toroweap Lake area.

The Peacock Mountains are a small, 26 mi (42 km) long mountain range in northwest Arizona, US. The range is a narrow sub-range, and an extension north, at the northeast of the Hualapai Mountains massif, which lies to the southwest. The range is defined by the Hualapai Valley to the northwest, and north and south-flowing washes on its east border, associated with faults and cliffs; the Cottonwood Cliffs are due east, and are connected to the Aquarius Cliffs southward at the west perimeter of the Aquarius Mountains; the cliffs are a result of the Aquarius Fault, which is an extension southward from the Grand Wash Cliffs and Grand Wash Fault which crosses the Colorado River at Lake Mead, and the west perimeter of the Grand Canyon/Colorado Plateau.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bridge Canyon Wilderness</span> Protected area in Nevada, United States

The Bridge Canyon Wilderness is a small wilderness area located in the Newberry Mountains in southern Nevada, United States, in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. It is also within Avi Kwa Ame National Monument. The rock outcrops and caves make this area very striking. Stands of cottonwood trees can be found along the Grapevine Wash and Sacatone Wash water courses. Canyon grape, cattails and rushes grow in Grapevine Canyon. Reptiles include the Western chuckwalla, side-blotched lizard, and Gila monster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hualapai Valley</span> Valley in Arizona, United States

Hualapai Valley is a valley in Mohave County, Arizona.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shivwits Plateau</span> Landform in northwest Arizona

The Shivwits Plateau is a large plateau in northwest Arizona, and in the northwest of the Grand Canyon region. Just like the Kaibab Plateau in the east Grand Canyon forces the course of the Colorado River encircling it, the Shivwits Plateau is the major course changer of the Colorado in west Grand Canyon. The Colorado River goes due-south on the east perimeter of the plateau, goes west, then northwest to its outfall at Lake Mead. The southwest of the plateau borders the Colorado, but a lower elevation section is directly riverside; it is lower elevation hills and small canyons, called Sanup Plateau, and bordering the section of the Colorado called the Lower Granite Gorge.

References

  1. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Grand Wash Cliffs
  2. Arizona Atlas & Gazetteer, DeLorme, Fourth Ed. 2001 pp. 21 and 29 ISBN   0-89933-325-7

Grand Wash Cliffs Wilderness

Geology/Geography