Rocky Mountains

The Rocky Mountains , usually called Rock , indicate large a Assembly line intracontinentale in the west of the North America which extends on more 4  800 km since the Mexico with the Southern until the Alaska with the Northern . It extends on the territory from the the United States and the Canada. Its Altitude varies between 1  500 meters close to the high plains and 4  401 meters with the Mount Elbert in the Colorado. Its Largeur lies between 120 and 650 kilometers. The Rocky Mountains take a form Oblongue, extended in Longitude on several thousands of kilometers.

They represented an obstacle for the Americans and the Canadians, in the conquest of their territory at the time of the Conquête of the West .

Geography and geology of the Rocky Mountains

Formation

The Rocky Mountains were mainly formed during the Crétacé during the Orogénie Laramide, approximately 70 million years ago. However, certain sectors of the south date from the Précambrien (is to say between -4,5 billion years and -542 million years).

The chain of Rock is a complex of metamorphic rocks and magmatic. The erosion intense, in particular due to the Glaciation S, levelled basins located at the center of the chain, such as the Bassin of Wyoming. The glacial erosion also formed of the deep and boxed Vallée S.

Like the solid mass of the Altaï in Asia, they are the result of intense compressions inside the American continent. It is about a Chaîne of collision activates. The south-western part was dislocated in the Horst S with the basins (Graben S) in the medium. This zone is named basin and provincial extent .

Glaciations

The area of Rock knew several phases of Glaciation between the Pléistocène and the Holocène. The glacial episodes most recent are that of the Bull Lake Glaciation which started there is approximately 150  000 years, and that of the Pinedale Glaciation whose apogee is towards 15  000-20  000 years before J. - C. During the Small Age Ice (1550-1860), the glaciers Agassiz and Jackson in the National Glacier Park extended until towards 1860 before knowing a considerable retreat.

Cours d' water

The rivers which run since the Rock ones throw in three of the four oceans of the world: the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean and the Arctic Ocean. The area constitutes a Watershed. As, it is considered as the Rock ones are one of the towers water of the North America. The rivers feed the Ville S of the area, in particular the agglomeration of Denver and allow the installation of hydroelectric stoppings.

; Basin of the Gulf of Mexico:

  • the river Arkansas,
  • the river Missouri,
  • the river Río Large,
  • the river Platte,
  • the river Yellowstone.

; Basin of the Pacific Ocean:

  • the River Athabasca,
  • the river Colorado,
  • the river Columbia,
  • the river Fraser,
  • the river Black poplar,
  • the Green River,
  • the Salmon To rivet,
  • the San Juan To rivet,
  • the river Peace,
  • the River Saskatchewan,
  • the river Snake,
  • the river Yukon.

; Basin of the Arctic Ocean:

  • the river Bow.

History

See also: Forwarding Lewis and Clark

Since the last Ice Age, the Rocky Mountains were regarded as a place crowned by the paléo-Indians and then by the Amerindian S Apaches, Arapaho, Bannock S, Pieds-Noirs (Blackfoot), Cheyennes, Crows, Flathead S, Shoshone S, Sioux, Ute S. the first inhabitants of these areas drove out the Mammouth and the Bison in the hills and the valleys. They probably migrated towards the plains at the beginning of the Automne and wintered in the least hostile areas. They returned in the mountains to the Printemps and lived fishing, hunting and gathering. They also practiced the burn-beating, which has, as in Australia for example, modified the natural environment. The archaeological traces oldest go back to 10 or 12  000 years.

The first Européens which explore the Rock ones are the Spanish S: in 1540, a forwarding of Francisco Vásquez de Coronado traverses part of the mountains since the south. As from this time, the White introduced significant innovations: the Horse, metal tools, the firearms and of news Maladie S which changed the lifestyle of the Amerindians.

In 1739, the tradesmen of French furs Pierre and Paul Mallet discovered a chain of the mountains to water more close to the source of the Rivière Platte, that the Amerindian call the " Rocheuses" , becoming the first Europeans to give an account of this unexplored chain.

In 1803, the north of Rock passes under the control of the Americans, after the sale of the Louisiana by the France. The Forwarding Lewis and Clark (1804 - 1806) is the first American forwarding in the Rocky Mountains. Previously, only some trappers and gold digger as well as the Canadian Alexander Mackenzie had penetrated in the area. Forwarding was to recognize a river passage towards the Pacific Ocean and to collect specimens for the botanists, the zoologists and the geologists.

At the beginning of the 19th century, several Americans appear in the area: William Henry Ashley, Jim Bridger, Kit Carson, John Colter, Thomas Fitzpatrick, Andrew Henry and Jedediah Smith. The July 24th 1832, Benjamin Bonneville drove the first trains of carriages of the Conquête of the West through the Rock ones by the southern master key of the Wyoming.

The Mormon S start to be established on banks of the Big lake Salted in 1847. In 1859, gold is discovered close to Cripple Creek, in the Colorado. The First railroad transcontinental is completed in 1869 and the national park of the Yellowstone is established in 1872. Benjamin Harrison establishes several forests protected in 1891-1892. The economic development of Rock is based on the exploitation of the mining resources, the exploitation of the Forêt, agriculture and the leisures. The cities develop in the Vallée S and around the stations of the Transcontinental.

Tourism and industry

The population is not very dense with an average of four human per km ², and there are few cities of more than 50.000 inhabitants. It is a tourist destination popular with much of parks. In winter the main activity is the ski in stations like Aspen, Vail, Keystone, Breckenridge, and Copper Mountain in Colorado. In Idaho, Sun Valley and in Utah, Snowbird. In Canada, the stations of the Lake Louise, Banff and Golden delicious are very popular.

The English is the most used language, followed by Spanish. Before its closing in 1998, the mine of Climax located at Leadville, Colorado was the largest mine of Molybdène of the world. The mine of Heart of Awl, in the north of the Idaho, produced Money, Lead and Zinc.

Coasting flight

Canada, a mountain being between the trench of rock and the canyon of the river Kicking Horse allow the best flown away during the summer. The mountain names the mont  7 for figure 7 being formed under the top in spring by melting snow. Several world records of coasting flight were established starting from mount 7 in the Eighties and Nineties. Two flights hang gliders of several hundred kilometers finishing in Trego in Montana, the USA, constitute the best flights any time for this site of vol.

List ski stations

Vegetation

As in other mountains of high-altitude, the vegetation in the Rocky Mountains depends on many factors: being given the stretching of the chain in latitude, the geographical position determines the aspect of the flora mainly. The other criteria of differentiation are the exposure to the sun or the wind and the situation in altitude. The vegetation is indeed staged. Thus, with the alpine stage for example, it is the Pelouse which replaces the forest.

Climate

The average temperature is of 6ºC with July the hottest month with 28º while in January it is of -2ºC. Average annual precipitations of snow are of 36 cm.

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