Last updated: December 3, 2023
Place
Basin and Range (Stop 5)
NPS
Great Basin National Park is only a small portion of the area it represents. The Great Basin stretches from the Sierra Nevada of California to the Wasatch Mountains of Utah, and from southern Oregon to southern California. The term "basin" refers to the fact that there is no surface water that flows to the sea here. All the snow and rain that falls either evaporates or collects and absorbs into the ground.
On your way here, did you notice how many mountain ranges you passed through? This landscape of parallel mountains rangers and the valleys between them extends from the Great Basin all the way to Texas and Mexico. When this area was uplifted around 60 million years ago, the crust began to stretch up and out, fracturing into huge blocks. As time went on, some of those blocks were thrust up to become the mountain ranges divided by the broad valleys you see around you.
On your way here, did you notice how many mountain ranges you passed through? This landscape of parallel mountains rangers and the valleys between them extends from the Great Basin all the way to Texas and Mexico. When this area was uplifted around 60 million years ago, the crust began to stretch up and out, fracturing into huge blocks. As time went on, some of those blocks were thrust up to become the mountain ranges divided by the broad valleys you see around you.