Organ Mountains (New Mexico)

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The Organ Mountains are rugged mountains in southern New Mexico in the Southwest United States. The Desert Peaks National Monument is declared a national monument on May 21, 2014. They are located 10 miles (16 km) east of the town of Las Cruces, in DoÃÆ' Â ± a Ana County.

Video Organ Mountains (New Mexico)

Geografi Edit

The Organ Mountains are near the southern end of a long mountain line on the eastern side of the Rio Grande crevice valley. This range is almost adjacent to the San Andres Mountains to the north and the Franklin Mountains to the south, but very different geologically. While the San Andres and Franklin Mountains are both formed from the western fault block-most of the sediment layers (with the most prominent limestone), the Organ Mountains are made mainly from igneous rocks (intrusive granite and extrusive rhyolite). Their names reflect their similarity in appearance (especially granite "needles" at the highest part of the range) with pipes that will be part of the pipe organ.

The San Andres Mountains - (the southern subrange of the San Augustin Mountains), are separated from the Organ Mountains by the San Augustin Pass, where the US Highway 70 passes its journey to White Sands Missile Range, White Sands National Monument and Alamogordo. The Franklin Mountains are separated from the Organ Mountains with a 10-mile wide area known as Anthony Gap. Much of the land of this intervention is part of Fort Bliss.

Maps Organ Mountains (New Mexico)

Geology Edit

Mountains Organ consists of three main parts:

• At the north end is a narrow vertical Granite tertiary ridge (more specifically, quartz monzonite) called The Needles. It is the most beautiful part and covers the highest point in the range, Organ Needle at an altitude of 8,990 feet (2,740 m).
• On the south side of The Needles is a larger section of extrusive igneous rock, mostly purplish gray rhyolites. This section forms most of the mountains and reaches a height almost as large as The Needles. This section is cut in half by Soledad Canyon, which extends west from the east side of the range, separated by a low ridge and Soledad Pass from the Canyon Bar on the west side.
• The third part of the Organ Mountains consists of Cap Hills Chapels on the southwest side of the range and Rattlesnake Ridge on the southeast side of the range. This third part is much smaller and lower in altitude than any other part of the range, and consists of limestone cracks similar to those in San Andres and the Franklin Mountains.

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Botany Edit

The Organ Mountains may be the most botanical mountains in New Mexico, with about 870 species of vascular plants. Some of these, including the Organ Mountains evening-primrose and fine figwort ( Scrophularia laevis ), are endemic to the mountains and occur only in small, dispersed populations.

Organ mountains also have a very high diversity in nail plants, with 30 of the 56 species reported for New Mexico occurring in them. The high diversity and endemism of the range makes Organ Mountain Organ into a very beneficial destination for people who tend to botany, as well as the focus of botanical studies.

The flora differs greatly between the three parts of the mountains, with two frozen sections (The Needles and the central extrusive part) sharing relatively few species with southern limestone parts. The limestone section encompasses some of the northernmost populations of lechuguilla ( Agave lecheguilla ), often considered a species indicator of the Chihuahuan Desert, while the frozen portion of the range includes all endemic taxa and has a botanical affinity with a typical Madrean flora of the western sky island power.

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Hiking and Climbing Hiking and climbing

The first climb documented by the summit of Mount Organ was in the early 1890s, but was mostly done in the mid-1950s by climbers stationed at nearby Fort Bliss Military Base. Most notably, R.L Ingraham, the Guide to Hiking in the Organ Mountains, remains the definitive reference. To quote from this work:

"There are fragmentary notes and local rumors confirming that certain students from A and M College are riding the rabbit's Needle and Plateau Organ, two of the very few Organ's peaks with walking routes, between 1900 and 1910, San Agustin is less likely to rise in or before now, the technical ascent began only in the late 1940s, with some climbing by a group of German rocket scientists who were brought here to work at the White Sands Proving Grounds immediately after the fall of Germany.In 1955 a group of local mountain enthusiasts united into the climbing club, briefly called "Tularosa Climbing Club" before taking the name now "The Southwestern Mountaineers." Since then the technical ascent continues, to this day there are at least several routes on each peak. "

The Land Management Bureau maintains access points accessed from four locations in the Organ Mountains:

• Aguirre Springs Campground and Baylor Canyon Road offer access to the path at The Needles from the east and west sides, respectively, and offer access to the trail leading to Baylor Pass. The track includes a 4.5-mile Pine Tree Trail loop, where visitors can climb from 5,600 feet to 6,880 feet. This trail covers a wide range of ecology, ranging from lower mountain bushes to ponderosa pine forests at the top.
• Dripping Springs Natural Area on the west side of the central rhyolitic part of the Organ Mountains has a set of interconnected low elevation lanes around La Cueva and enters the lower Fillmore and Ice Canyons.
• The Soledad Canyon Day Use Area provides a circular trajectory at the bottom of the Canyon Bar, just south of Dripping Springs on the west side of the range.

Southern limestone is difficult to access and rarely visited. The Cap Bishop can be reached by a heavy dirt road, but has no developed path. Rattlesnake Ridge is fully within Fort Bliss and closed to the general public.

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National monument status Edit

President Obama sets the Mountains of Organ-Desert Peaks national monument by the executive authority on Wednesday, May 21, 2014. White House press secretary Jay Carney stated that "By building a monument, the president will permanently protect over 496,000 hectares to preserve prehistory, historical and scientific area of ​​the area for the benefit of all Americans. "

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See also Edit

• Rio Grande Trail
• National Monument of Prehistoric Monument

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References Edit

Source of the article : Wikipedia