Guadalupe Mountains

Guadalupe Mountains
Range
Guadalupe Mountains
Country	United States
States	Texas, New Mexico
Borders on	Sacramento Mountains, Brokeoff Mountains
Highest point	Guadalupe Peak
- elevation	8,749 ft (2,667 m)
- coordinates	31°53′28″N 104°51′36″W / 31.89111°N 104.86°W / 31.89111; -104.86
Length	65 mi (105 km) [1]
Width	20 mi (32 km)
Geology	Limestone

The Guadalupe Mountains are a mountain range located in western Texas and southeastern New Mexico. The range includes the highest summit in Texas, Guadalupe Peak, 8,749 ft (2,667 m), and the "signature peak" of West Texas, El Capitan, both located within Guadalupe Mountains National Park, as well as Carlsbad Caverns National Park.

The range lies southeast of the Sacramento Mountains and east of the Brokeoff Mountains. It extends north-northwest and northeast from Guadalupe Peak in Texas into New Mexico.^[1] The northeastern extension ends about 10 miles (16 km) southwest of Carlsbad, near White's City and Carlsbad Caverns National Park. The northwestern extension, bounded by a dramatic escarpment known as "The Rim", extends much further into New Mexico, to near the Sacramento Mountains. The range is bounded on the north by Four Mile Canyon; on the east by the valley of the Pecos River; and on the west by Piñon Creek, Big Dog Canyon, Valley Canyon, Middle Dog Canyon and West Dog Canyon.

Much of the range is built from the ancient undersea Capitán Reef. For detail on the area's geology, see Delaware Basin. As the range is built up almost entirely of limestone, upland areas have little or no surface water. The only significant surface water is McKittrick Creek, in McKittrick Canyon, which emerges from the eastern side of the massif, just south of the New Mexico border. Elevations at the base of the range vary from 4,000 feet (1,200 m) above sea level on the western side to 5,000 feet (1,500 m) on the east. Several peaks on the southern end exceed 8,000 feet (2,400 m).

There are three major ecosystems contained within the mountain range. First of all, deserts exhibit Salt flats on the western side of the National Park and creosote desert, with low elevations on the east covered with grassland, pinyon pine and junipers such as alligator juniper and one-seeded juniper. Secondly, Canyon interiors such as McKittrick, Bear, and Pine Springs Canyon on the southeast end exhibit maple, ash, chinquapin oak, and other deciduous trees. These trees are able to grow in the desert due to springs of water recharged by wet uplands. Finally, alpine uplands known as 'The Bowl' exceeding elevations of 7,000 ft (2,100 m) are clothed with denser forests of ponderosa pine, southwestern white pine, and douglas-fir, with small stands of Shumard oak and aspen.^{[citation needed]}

The range contains many world-class caves, including Carlsbad Caverns (the best known) and Lechuguilla Cave, discovered in 1986. The history of the range includes occupation by ancient Pueblo and Mogollon peoples, and by the Apache and various Anglo outlaws in the 19th century.^[2]

West face of Guadalupe Mountains (Lang, 1935)[3]

West face of Guadalupe Mountains (Stout, 2006)

El Capitan (Hill, 1899)[4]

El Capitan (Stout, 2006)

References

See also

• McKittrick Canyon
• Guadalupe Peak
• El Capitan
• West Texas
• Trans-Pecos

This Texas state location article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v • d • e

This New Mexico state location article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v • d • e