Sierra Nevada (US)
- For the mountain range in Spain see Sierra Nevada (Spain)
The Sierra Nevada (Spanish for "Snowy Range") is a mountain range that is almost entirely in the eastern part of California.
The range started to uplift less than five million years ago.[1]
The Sierra Nevada stretches 400 miles (650 km), from North to South. It is bounded on the West by California's Central Valley, and on the East by the Great Basin.
Uplift continues, and ground slips make spectacular fault escarpments along the eastern edge of the southern Sierra. The Sierra Nevada is part of the American Cordillera, an almost continuous chain of mountain ranges which make up the western "backbone" of the Americas.
The Sierra Nevada has played an important role in the history of California and the United States. The California Gold Rush occurred in the western foothills from 1848 through 1855.
Sierra Nevada (US) Media
The Sierra hosts many waterways, such as the Tuolumne River.
Mount Whitney, the highest peak in the range and the contiguous United States
Mount Tallac above Lake Tahoe
View of Sequoia National Park from Moro Rock
Sevehah Cliff, near Convict Lake, shows severely deformed Devonian rock
Yosemite Valley in Yosemite National Park was carved by glaciers
Red Slate Mountain (elevation 13,156 ft or 4,010 m) is still covered with snow in June
Tuolumne Meadows is an example of a subalpine meadow in the Sierra.
John Frémont was an early American explorer of the Sierra
Other websites
References
- ↑ "Cascade-Sierra Mountains Province (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved 2022-02-12.
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