Basin and Range Province

E7387

The Basin and Range Province is a vast geologic region of the western United States and northern Mexico characterized by alternating mountain ranges and arid basins formed through crustal extension.


Statements (50)
Predicate Object
instanceOf geologic province
physiographic province
boundedBy Colorado Plateau
Columbia Plateau
Sierra Nevada
Wasatch Range
characterizedBy alternating mountain ranges and basins
arid climate
crustal extension
horst and graben topography
normal faulting
contains Basin and Range National Monument
Death Valley
Great Basin
Rio Grande Rift
numerous closed drainage basins
country Mexico
United States
drainageType endorheic basins
internally drained basins
extendsInto Arizona
Baja California
California
Chihuahua
Idaho
Nevada
New Mexico
Oregon
Sonora
Texas
Utah
geologicProcess continental rifting
extensional tectonics
lithospheric thinning
hasGeologicAge Cenozoic
hasTopography broad alluvial basins
linear north–south trending ranges
influences regional climate patterns in the western United States
locatedIn northern Mexico
western United States
majorExtensionBegan Miocene
namedBy Grove Karl Gilbert
notableFor large crustal extension exceeding 100 percent in some areas
seismic activity associated with normal faults
partOf North America
interior western North America
tectonicSetting intraplate extensional regime
underlies Chihuahuan Desert
Mojave Desert
Sonoran Desert

Referenced by (52)
Subject (surface form when different) Predicate
Amargosa Range
Badwater Basin
Black Mountains (Death Valley)
Carson Range ("Basin and Range Province (eastern margin)")
Death Valley
Devils Golf Course
Doso Doyabi
Eldorado Mountains
Great Basin
Inyo Mountains
Kingston Range
Lincoln Peak (Nevada)
Long Valley Caldera
Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes
Mojave Desert
Mono Basin
Muddy Mountains
Panamint Range
Racetrack Playa
Ruby Mountains
Salton Sea
Schell Creek Range
Snake Valley
Sonoran Desert
Toiyabe Range
Virginia Range
White Mountains
White Mountains (California)
partOf
Cronese Mountains
Owens Lake
Soda Dry Lake
Soda Mountains
geologicalSetting
Basin and Range National Monument
Clark Mountain Range
Little San Bernardino Mountains ("Basin and Range Province (margin)")
geologicalProvince
Eastern California ("Basin and Range Province (California portion)")
North American Cordillera ("Great Basin ranges")
contains
Snake Range
Toiyabe Range ("Great Basin Ranges")
mountainSystem
Colorado Plateau
borderedBy
Alvord Desert ("Basin and Range province")
geology
Intermontane Plateaus
includes
Boundary Peak
isWithin
Rio Grande Rift
linkedTo
Chihuahuan Desert
locatedIn
Truckee Meadows
locatedInPhysiographicProvince
Pine Forest Range
mountainRangeOf
Nevada–Utah state line
nearbyPhysiographicProvince
Black Mountains (Death Valley) ("Basin and Range extension")
orogeny
Mohave County, Arizona
partlyLocatedIn
Pine Forest Range ("Northern Basin and Range ecoregion")
partOfEcoregion
Long Valley Caldera ("Basin and Range extensional province")
volcanicArcOrBelt

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