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Biology:
Amphibians
Birds
Fish
Mammals
Reptiles
Ecology of Lehman
Caves
Plants
History & Culture:
Grazing
the Great Basin
Osceola Ditch
Historical Dates
Geology:
Geology
of Lehman Caves
National Parks with
Caves
South Snake Range
Lexington Arch
Air Quality
Wild
Cave Permits
Resource
Management Newsletter
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The geology of the Great Basin has had profound effects on the region's
ecology and human history. The uplift of the Sierra Nevada Mountains
to the west created a rain shadow effect, making the Great Basin
a desert. However, the latitude and elevation of the Great Basin
make it a relatively cold desert. This desert environment is punctuated
by many north-south trending mountain ranges. Some of these reach
summits of 12,000 or 13,000 feet. These ranges are separated by
lower valleys, creating "islands" of habitat types. Often
a species may be found in one mountain range but not another where
it would seem to thrive, just because there is no mechanism for
it to cross the desert in the valley floors. This has resulted in
a good setting for speciation.
The desert climate and many mountain ranges do not allow any surface
streams to flow from this region to the sea. The Great Basin region
was named for this feature of drainage. Great Basin National Park
is only a small part of the Great Basin region.
Human lives have also been affected by the geology of the region.
Difficulty traveling over the desert playas and mountain passes
made the area hard to settle. Yet gold, silver, and other precious
ores lured miners to the region. Truly, the geology has been essential
to almost every aspect of natural and human history in the Great
Basin.
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