The Rocky Mountains are the largest mountain range on the North American continent and stretch across the United States and Canada. This article focuses on the Rockies of the USA and only touches on aspects of the Rocky Mountains in Canada.
Colorado
Idaho
Montana
Wyoming
New Mexico has
significant portions of the Rocky Mountains. In Canada they run
through parts of the provinces of Alberta and British Columbia.
In the USA:
1 Aspen
2 Boise
3 boulders
4 Denver
5
Jackson
6 Park City
7 Salt Lake City
The largest airport in the region is Denver International Airport
(IATA: DEN), which is one of the busiest airports in the USA and serves
as a hub for United Airlines and the low-cost airline Frontier Airlines.
There are also direct flights from Europe, e.g. B. with Lufthansa from
Frankfurt and Munich. Other notable airports are in Boise (Idaho),
Colorado Springs, Grand Junction and Aspen (Colorado), Bozeman, Billings
and Missoula (Montana) and Jackson (Wyoming) - but these are only
important for domestic flights.
Several long-distance Amtrak
lines run through the region: The California Zephyr (Chicago-Denver-San
Francisco) runs through the heart of Colorado and stops in Denver, among
other places. in Granby at Rocky Mountain National Park and Glenwood
Springs near Aspen Ski Resort. The Empire Builder
(Chicago-Minneapolis-Portland/Seattle), on the other hand, runs parallel
to the Canadian border through the northern parts of Montana and Idaho
with stops at e.g. in Havre, Glacier National Park and Sandpoint.
Finally, the Southwest Chief (Chicago-Kansas City-Los Angeles) travels
just a short distance through southeastern Colorado, stopping in La
Junta and Trinidad.
Huge mountains had already formed in North America 600-750 million
years ago, but they were almost completely eroded again in the following
400 million years. Only a few rock masses in the south still come from
that past time.
Today's Rocky Mountains were largely formed
during what geologists call the Laramic orogeny, which began about 70
million years ago and ended about 30-40 million years ago. After the
mountains were about as high as the Himalayas are today, parts of
Northwest America began to stretch and large parts of the crust in the
Southwest of the mountain plateau underwent a strong stretching process,
breaking them up into mountain ranges, plateaus and valleys. This area
is now referred to as the Basin and Range Province and includes the
Great Basin Desert and adjacent regions.
Between the late
Pleistocene and the Holocene (70,000-11,000 years ago) the Rocky
Mountains were largely glaciated.
The Rocky Mountains consist
mostly of metamorphic and igneous rock. Younger sedimentary rocks are
also found on the margins of the southern Rocky Mountains, and Tertiary
volcanic rocks are sometimes found in the San Juan Mountains and other
areas.
The width (east-west extent) of the mountain ranges varies
greatly. The Rocky Mountains in the US state of Colorado are the widest
at 500–600 km. From the Yellowstone area to the north, they split into
several mountain ranges, some with narrow widths of 50 to 120 km.
On average, the Rocky Mountains are 2000-3000 meters high. The
highest mountains in the Rocky Mountains are found in the area of the US
state of Colorado and its direct neighbors, where there are many peaks
over 4000 m. From Glacier National Park to the north, the peaks are
increasingly glaciated. Also in the northern half there are partially
extensive plateaus - the largest is the Great Divide Basin - which are
bounded by parallel mountain ranges. In the southern part, the mountain
forms mostly show more rounded erosion forms.
In the Yellowstone
National Park area, the earth's crust is sometimes very thin and
interspersed with magma. Thousands of volcanic objects such as geysers
and hot springs can be found there.
Westerly winds often prevail in the Rocky Mountains, driving clouds
up from the Pacific and causing them to accumulate and rain down. This
has resulted in above-average rainfall for the Pacific coast and drought
for the Great Plains beyond. The weather in the Rocky Mountains
themselves is accordingly mostly cloudy. An exception is the Yellowstone
area, where there can be weeks of fine weather.
The climate of
the Rocky Mountains is typical of the highlands. The average temperature
is around 6 °C. July is the hottest month at 28 °C, while January is the
coldest at −14 °C. The annual precipitation is estimated at 36 cm.
Summers in the Rocky Mountains are warm and dry with 15 °C and 15 cm
of precipitation. In July there are thunderstorms for an average of 18
hours. Especially in August, thunderstorms often lead to forest fires.
Winter, on the other hand, is very cold and wet, with −2 °C and 29
cm of precipitation. Snow layers of five to six meters are not uncommon;
in the north they can even be 15-18 meters. However, warm air masses
sometimes penetrate inland from the Pacific in winter. This wind is
called the Chinook and can cause sudden increases in temperature of 20
to 25°C.
For several years, forest dieback has been taking on alarming
proportions throughout the Rocky Mountains. The reason for this is a
massive increase in pests that benefit from the milder climate.
Coniferous trees, which are attacked by the mountain pine beetle, are
particularly affected. Although this does not kill the trees, it does
introduce a fungus that prevents the transport of water upwards, so that
the trees dry up. In the case of felled trees, the dark tissue areas
destroyed by the fungus can be clearly seen between the light-colored
heartwood and the bark. In the Rocky Mountain National Park (Colorado),
the dead trees have already been removed from the campsites for safety
reasons, so that pioneer plants (fireweed, thistles, but also real wild
roses) are spreading there. This attracts z. B. moose and wapiti in the
immediate vicinity of the tourists.
Because of the huge areas and
the known dangers of pesticides on the ecosystem, no countermeasures are
currently being taken.
The vegetation of the Rocky Mountains can be divided into several
altitude levels. Except in the boreal reaches of Canada, where the
spruce-dominated northern plains coniferous forests give way to montane
forests of spruce and pine, the large expanses of lower montane areas of
the Rockies are generally covered with pine forests. Spruce and fir
species characterize the narrower areas up to the tree line.
Elevations of the Southern Rocky Mountains
The first two stages are
characterized by sandy soils and precipitation of around 500 mm. There
are hardly any dense forests, instead there are isolated trees with
strong undergrowth. The lowest mountain forest level at 1500-2200 m is
dominated by various juniper (Utah and one-seeded juniper) and pine
species (Colorado fir, coastal pine), the montane level up to 2700 m by
yellow pine and Gambel oak. Between 1800 and 2400 m one often encounters
rocky mountain larches.
From the third stage (2700–3200 m) the
mountain forest becomes denser and the undergrowth decreases. Therefore,
the northern, higher Rocky Mountains are much more densely forested than
the southern ones, which are often overgrown with grass to the top. The
rainfall at this level is about half that at the bottom two. Douglas
fir, American aspen and Colorado fir are common here.
The
subalpine zone extends to the tree line at about 3800 m. The trees there
grow less tall and the forests are spreading. The most common tree
species at this stage are the Engelmann, blue and white spruce, Scots
fir and Nevada stone pine and bristlecone pine.
On the last
vegetation level, the alpine tundra, small plants such as shrubs,
bushes, flowers and grasses grow. Among the woody plants, shrubby willow
species (e.g. arctic willows) are particularly well represented. The
perennials are dominated by the buttercup family (Ranunculus adoneus),
occupational herbs (Erigeron simplex), borage family (Eritrichum
aretioides) and succulent family (Rhodiola integrifolia); in the case of
the grasses, meadow grass and grass hair tress.
Towards the end of the last great ice age, an ice-free corridor
opened up between the glaciers of the Rocky Mountains and the Laurentide
Ice Sheet. In climate history and paleontology, there is a debate as to
whether and from when the corridor was passable for huntable game and
people following it. It is considered a possible migration path of
people into the interior of the continent during the settlement of
America.
As the glaciers continued to retreat, Native American
peoples inhabited the Rocky Mountains. At the time of the conquest of
North America by European colonists, the Absarokee, Apache, Arapaho,
Bannock, Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Flathead, Lakota, Shoshone and Ute, among
others, lived temporarily or permanently in the Rocky Mountains or the
plateaus in between. Many of these peoples migrated to the plains in the
fall and winter to subsist on bison and other big game, and to the
mountains in the spring and summer to fish, hunt game, and gather
berries and roots.
Beginning in 1720, the first white trappers,
hunters, and mineral seekers invaded the Rocky Mountains. Soon the
mountains were known as a rich fur region. Fur trading companies such as
the Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company in Canada and the
American Fur Company and the Missouri Fur Company (later: Rocky
Mountains Fur Company) in the USA fought fiercely for dominance in the
Rocky Mountains. White Rocky Mountain pioneers included William Henry
Ashley, Jim Bridger, Kit Carson, John Colter, Thomas Fitzpatrick, Andrew
Henry, Jedediah Smith, and David Thompson. In 1793, Alexander MacKenzie
of the Hudson's Bay Company became the first white man to cross the
Rocky Mountains. Its route led from Fort Chipewyan across the Peace and
Fraser Rivers to what is now Vancouver. The Lewis and Clark Expedition
of 1804-1806 was the first scientific exploration of the mountains.
Botanists, zoologists, geologists, and other professionals began
collecting data about the Rocky Mountains. The expedition was the
beginning of the conquest of western North America. In the spring of
1824, Jedediah Smith discovered the South Pass in present-day Wyoming, a
crossing in the middle Rocky Mountains that could be crossed by caravans
and covered wagons. The pass became the focal point of all trade and
settler flows in the settlement of the American West between 1830 and
1869.
In 1847 the Mormons began to settle at the Great Salt Lake.
Gold was found in Colorado in 1858. As a result, the whites opened up
the area, built a transcontinental railway and opened Yellowstone, the
world's first national park. More and more white settlers settled in the
valleys and mining towns and pushed the Indian peoples into
reservations. Towards the end of the 19th century, other areas in the
Rocky Mountains were placed under protection. The US government defined
mining, logging, farming, and recreational zones. Camps and tent sites
became forts and farms and eventually villages and towns.
Mining and tourism are the main industries in the Rocky Mountains.
There is also livestock, forestry and some agriculture.
Mining
Valuable minerals such as lead, gold, copper, molybdenum, silver,
tungsten and zinc have been found in the Rocky Mountains. The plateaus
in between also contain coal, natural gas, petroleum and oil shale.
The Climax mine near Leadville, Colorado was the world's largest
producer of molybdenum for over 100 years (1879-1986). Molybdenum is
used as an alloying element for heat-resistant steel, for example in
turbines and power plants. The mine at Climax once employed over 3000
workers. The Coeur d'Alene mine in northern Idaho produces silver, lead
and zinc. Canada's largest coal mine is in the Crowsnest Coal Field near
Sparwood and Elkford in British Columbia, and there are also coal mines
near Hinton in Alberta.
In many places in the Rocky Mountains,
the exploitation of mineral resources led to contaminated and polluted
water and soil.
Tourism
With an average of four people per
square kilometer, the population density of the Rocky Mountains is quite
low and there are few cities with more than 50,000 inhabitants.
Nevertheless, the mountains are a popular holiday destination for people
who either want to enjoy the scenery or want to do sports. Millions of
tourists travel to the Rocky Mountains every year. In summer, the most
popular attractions in the US are Pikes Peak, Royal Gorge, Rocky
Mountain National Park, Yellowstone National Park, Grand Teton National
Park and Glacier National Park and in Canada Waterton Lakes National
Park, Banff National Park, Jasper National Park, Yoho National Park,
Kootenay National Park, Mount Revelstoke National Park and Glacier
National Park and Mount Robson Provincial Park. Mount Revelstoke
National Park and Glacier National Park lie west of the actual Rocky
Mountains in the Columbia Mountains, separated by the wide Rocky
Mountain Trench through which the Columbia River flows. In winter, on
the other hand, skiing is the main attraction. The main ski areas are
Aspen, Vail, Keystone, Breckenridge and Copper Mountain in Colorado;
Alta, Park City and Snowbird in Utah; Sun Valley in Idaho; Whitefish
Mountain Resort (formerly Big Mountain) and Big Sky in Montana; Lake
Louise and Sunshine Village in Alberta, and Fernie and Whistler in
British Columbia.