Mogollon Rim

The Mogollon Rim is a mountain range in the U.S. state of Arizona. It was created as a layer stage in the uplift of the Colorado Plateau and the southwestern boundary in the transition to Basin and Range region. This makes the Mogollon Rim to the important outline structure Arizona, by dividing into its two main geological areas of the state.

It is named after Juan Ignacio Flores Mogollon, the Spanish governor of Nuevo Mexico in the years 1712-15.

Geography

The Mogollon Rim stretches over nearly 350 km from southwest to southeast Flagstaff to the White Mountains. To the south east it falls over about 600 meters steep in the lowlands from, to the northeast it slopes gently and with only a slight difference in height on the high plateau of the Colorado River. In the southwestern flank erosion has cut deep canyons. To the northeast of the Mogollon Rim to the Little Colorado River drains a variety of water only temporarily leading Washes, including the Canyon Diablo. To the southwest several streams flow in part through the canyons to the Salt River

Geologically, the Mogollon Rim as south-eastern border of the Colorado Plateau like this put together. The rocks are those of the Grand Staircase, where the Mogollon Rim correspond to the geological strata where the geology of the Grand Canyon. On the Mogollon Rim, however, only the rocks of Permian and Mesozoic are visible due to the lower level open-minded. The rocks at the foot of the slope are predominantly Hermit Shale, a shale with proportions of clay and sandstone. It follows the Schnebly Hill Sandstone, a sandstone with a only locally occurring intercalated limestone called Fort Apache Member. The Schnebly Hill sandstone is colored deep red by iron oxides and its weathering forms are responsible for the rock formations, the region around Sedona, the Red Rock County account. It follows the Coconino Sandstone, he is golden yellow and consists of aeolian sediments. The rocks previously mentioned erode almost vertically by low strength. The following Toroweap Formation is more stable and therefore weathered at a shallower angle. Therefore, to keep her far more plants, including juniper and pine trees. It therefore acts from a distance like a green ribbon on the slopes. It is the very bright Kaibab Limestone; the limestone in turn forms nearly vertical walls and is the uppermost layer of the massive Mogollon Rim. Above this are still the thin Moenkopi Formation, and locally some gravel and in particular in the central Mogollon Rim near the Mormon Lake and its adjacent Mormon Lake Volcano, a thin basalt cover.

The steep slope of the mountain range receives a disproportionately many precipitation for Arizona. Why has formed on the backs of the largest yellow pine forest of the United States.

History

In prehistoric times the mountain was inhabited by members of the Mogollon culture. The region lay in the extreme north of the range of culture, which is not named after the Mogollon Rim, but according to the Mogollon Mountains of New Mexico. The Mogollon of the Mogollon Rim are counted among the Forestdale Mogollon, according to one of the first localities in the region. They settled both the gentle northern flank of the mountains, and the region at the southern foot of the slope. Their culture is known for elaborate irrigation agriculture, the relatively early cultivation of cotton, pit houses, often decorated ceramics. Their culture became extinct before the arrival of the first white, the reasons are largely unknown.

When the first white men reached the region, it was sparsely populated by Apaches. They still live in the southeastern part of the area in the Fort Apache Indian Reservation. The gentle northern flank of the ridge was used heavily forested in the 19th and 20th centuries. Here, most of today's settlements of the region originated. Today the forests are managed as national forests by the United States Forest Service. The responsibility is divided between the Tonto National Forest, the Coconino National Forest and the Apache Sitgreaves National Forest.

The first -developed transport route over the mountain range was the military route from Fort Whipple at the edge of present-day Prescott in the north of the area to Fort Apache in the south. It was created in 1872 as a footpath and later replaced by gravel roads. 1883 began investors with the construction of a railroad from Flagstaff on the Mogollon Rim down to the Gila Basin and Globe. The actual edge of the slope with the steepest sections they wanted to by a 900 m long tunnel bypass. Were set up the work in 1887, just 20 m were completed, which are east of Strawberry to see.

The Mogollon Rim today

The region now lives mainly from tourism. The largest settlements beneath the slope are Payson and Sedona. On the edge of the slope are much smaller, however, the localities Heber - Overgaard, Strawberry and Show Low. The largest part of the mountain range leads the Forest Road 300 along the edge of the slope. It opens up forests, primitive campsites, lakes and the few inhabited houses.

Few roads cross the Mogollon Rim. Prior greater importance verkehrlicher are just off Interstate Highway 17 between Flagstaff and Phoenix, and U.S. Highway 60 from Show Low to Phoenix. In the north of the Arizona State Highway 89A from Prescott opens up about Sedona in Oak Creek Canyon, the height, in the center between Payson and Strawberry bundled Arizona State Highways 260 and 87, as well as the Arizona State Highway 288