Everything about The Grand Mesa totally explained
The
Grand Mesa is a large
geologic formation in western
Colorado in the
United States. The largest
mesa in the world, it has an area of about 500 square miles (1300 km²) and stretches for about 40 miles (65 km) east of
Grand Junction between the
Colorado River and the
Gunnison River, its tributary to the south. The north side of the mesa is drained largely by
Plateau Creek, a smaller tributary of the Colorado. It rises about 5,000 feet above the surrounding river valleys, including the
Grand Valley to the west, reaching an elevation of about 10,000 feet (3,000 m), with a maximum elevation of about 11,327 feet (Crater Peak). Much of the mesa is within
Grand Mesa National Forest. Over 300 lakes, including many reservoirs created and used for drinking and irrigation water, are scattered along the top of the formation. The Grand Mesa is flat in some areas, but quite rugged in others.
Geologically the mesa is the result of a hard
volcanic basalt layer on its top. This volcanic layer, created during the birth of the modern
Rocky Mountains approximately 30 million years ago, suppressed erosion compared to the surrounding
sedimentary rock layers, which suffered rapid
downcutting from the Colorado and the Gunnison. The top layer rests on a thick sequence of
Tertiary shale and
sandstone known as the
Green River and
Wasatch Formations. These layers in turn rest on a
Cretaceous layer known as the
Mesaverde Group that forms a cliff about halfway up the side of the mesa. The lowest layers are yellow and gray
Mancos Shale from the early
Cretaceous. The shale continues outward into the surrounding valleys in the vicinity of the mesa, providing a
soil base that's fertile for various kinds of
agriculture, especially in the Gunnison Valley to the south.
The mesa is traversed by
State Highway 65 between the town of
Mesa on the north and the town of
Cedaredge on the south. The route over the mesa provides a dramatic contrast in landscape, climate and vegetation. On the north side, the road climbs the steep cliffs near the
Powderhorn Resort ski area. The forested top of the mesa remains snowbound much later in the spring than the surrounding valley, and is a popular location for
cross-country skiing.
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