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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.
The 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″N116°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]
The 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]
Plants 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]
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The Granite Mountains are a mountain range in San Bernardino County, California, United States. They are east of Victorville and Apple Valley, west of Lucerne Valley, and are one of four mountain ranges in the Mojave Desert to share this name. The range is about 8 miles east to west, and 8.4 miles north to south.
The Granite Mountains are a mountain range in northern Riverside County, California, United States. The range is east of Joshua Tree National Park, and is one of four mountain ranges in the Mojave Desert to share this name. The range is about 12 miles northwest to southeast, and about 4 miles wide. It is in the Palen/McCoy Wilderness, administered by the Bureau of Land Management.
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