Wichita Mountains
Information about Wichita Mountains
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View from Mount Scott
The Wichita Mountains are located in southwestern Oklahoma. The Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge is a favorite for Southwest Oklahoma hikers and mountain climbers, is located adjacent to Cache, Oklahoma, Medicine Park, Oklahoma, and historic Meers, Oklahoma while just a short drive from Lawton, Oklahoma. Buffalo, elk and deer are protected on the 59,020 acre wildlife refuge. The Field Artillery capital of the world, Fort Sill, occupies the southern part of the range. Backcountry camping is available in the Charon Gardens Wilderness area. Additional points of interest is the Wildlife Refuge visitors center, Holy City of the Wichitas, Quanah Parker Lake & Dam, Lake Lawtonka, Quartz Mountain and Mount Scott, the highest point AGL (above ground level).
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Geology
The geologic history of the Wichita Mountain region began with the deposition of late Precambrian to early Cambrian sandstones. These sandstones were intruded by coarse gabbro sills of about 575 million years ago as the region began to rift apart in a failed continental breakup. The gabbro intrusion was followed by erosion and further intrusion of granite accompanied by volcanic eruptions of rhyolite lava and explosive volcanic breccias some 50 million years later. Following these igneous episodes the region subsided and shallow sea sediments were deposited over the area consisting of sandstones and limestones.)
Granite knob in the Wichita Mtns.
During the Pennsylvanian Period (330-290 million years ago) the region was subjected to intense pressure during the continental collision or orogeny which produced the Ouachita Mountains to the east. This resulted in faulting and folding along with up to 20,000 feet of local uplift. This uplift created rugged mountains which have been reduced to their present state by erosion. At 2,464 ft (750m) Mt Scott is the second tallest mountain in the Refuge and the third tallest in the state. Mt. Pinchot in the Special Use Area is 12 feet taller. A paved road leads to the summit of Mt. Scott, from which visitors can see for dozens of miles on a clear day.
When the area was part of Indian reservations and therefore off-limits to non-Native Americans, the Wichita mountains were rumored to contain rich gold deposits. When the area was first opened up for settlement, many prospectors staked mining claims, and towns were laid out to serve the presumed bonanzas, but no economic deposits were found. The gold boom was prolonged by some unscrupulous assayers who found gold in every sample, but the miners eventually gave up, leaving behind ghost towns such as Wildman, Oklahoma.[1]
References
1. ^ Dan Plazak (2006) A Hole in the Ground with a Liar at the Top, Salt Lake: University of Utah Press, ISBN-10:0-87480-840-5, p.198-200.
External links
- United States Fish and Wildlife Service: Official Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge Homepage
- BikeUSA.com: Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge
State of Oklahoma
Flag of Oklahoma Seal
Nickname(s): Sooner State
Motto(s): Labor omnia vincit (Latin: Labor conquers all things)
Official language(s) None
Capital Oklahoma City
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Flag of Oklahoma Seal
Nickname(s): Sooner State
Motto(s): Labor omnia vincit (Latin: Labor conquers all things)
Official language(s) None
Capital Oklahoma City
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Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, located in southwestern Oklahoma near Lawton, has protected unique wildlife habitats since 1901. The refuge is managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.
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Cache, Oklahoma
Seal
Motto:
Location of Cache, Oklahoma
Coordinates:
Country United States
State Oklahoma
County Comanche
Area
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Seal
Motto:
Location of Cache, Oklahoma
Coordinates:
Country United States
State Oklahoma
County Comanche
Area
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Medicine Park, Oklahoma
Seal
Motto:
Location of Medicine Park, Oklahoma
Coordinates:
Country United States
State Oklahoma
County Comanche
Area
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Seal
Motto:
Location of Medicine Park, Oklahoma
Coordinates:
Country United States
State Oklahoma
County Comanche
Area
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Meers is a small community located on State Highway 115 in Comanche County, Oklahoma, in the foothills of the Wichita Mountains. Founded as a gold mining town in 1901, it was named for mine operator Andrew J. Meers. The Meers Post Office opened March 12, 1902.
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Lawton, Oklahoma
Nickname: L-Town
Location in the state of Oklahoma
Coordinates:
Country United States
State Oklahoma
County Comanche
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Nickname: L-Town
Location in the state of Oklahoma
Coordinates:
Country United States
State Oklahoma
County Comanche
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Fort Sill is a United States Army post near Lawton, Oklahoma, about 85 miles southwest of Oklahoma City.
Today, Fort Sill remains the only active Army installation of all the forts on the South Plains built during the Indian Wars.
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Today, Fort Sill remains the only active Army installation of all the forts on the South Plains built during the Indian Wars.
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Location Oklahoma, USA
Nearest city Lawton, OK
Coordinates
Area 5,723 acres (23 km)
Established 1970
Governing body U.S.
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Nearest city Lawton, OK
Coordinates
Area 5,723 acres (23 km)
Established 1970
Governing body U.S.
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Quartz Mountain is located in southwest Oklahoma. It is the namesake of Quartz Mountain Nature Park on which it is located, and is open to the public year round for Rock Climbing, Hiking, Nature Observation and Photography, and Environmental Education and Interpretation.
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Mount Scott is located in southwestern Oklahoma, in the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge. It is the second tallest mountain in the refuge and the third tallest in the state.
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Oceanic crust 0-20 Ma
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Precambrian (Pre-Cambrian) is an informal name for the supereon comprising the eons of the geologic timescale that came before the current Phanerozoic eon. It spans from the formation of Earth around 4500 Ma (million years ago) to the evolution of abundant
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The Cambrian is a major division of the geologic timescale that begins about 542 ± 1.0 Ma (million years ago) at the end of the Proterozoic eon and ended about 488.3 ± 1.7 Ma with the beginning of the Ordovician period (ICS, 2004).
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Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-size mineral or rock grains. Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust.
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intrusion is a body of igneous rock that has crystallized from a molten magma below the surface of the Earth. Bodies of magma that solidify underground before they reach the surface of the earth are called plutons, named for Pluto, the Roman god of the underworld.
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Gabbro (IPA: /ˈgabrəʊ/) is a dark, coarse-grained, intrusive igneous rock chemically equivalent to basalt.
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In geology, a sill is a tabular pluton that has intruded between older layers of sedimentary rock, beds of volcanic lava or tuff, or even along the direction of foliation in metamorphic rock. The term sill is synonymous with concordant intrusive sheet.
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rift is a place where the Earth's crust and lithosphere are being pulled apart. Typical features are a central linear downdropped fault segment, called a graben, with parallel normal faulting and rift-flank uplifts on either side forming a rift valley.
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Granite (IPA: /ˈɡrænɪt/) is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granites are usually medium to coarsely crystalline, occasionally with some individual crystals larger than the
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Volcano:
1. Large magma chamber
2. Bedrock
3. Conduit (pipe)
4. Base
5. Sill
6. Branch pipe
7. Layers of ash emitted by the volcano
8. Flank 9. Layers of lava emitted by the volcano
10. Throat
11. Parasitic cone
12. Lava flow
13. Vent
14.
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1. Large magma chamber
2. Bedrock
3. Conduit (pipe)
4. Base
5. Sill
6. Branch pipe
7. Layers of ash emitted by the volcano
8. Flank 9. Layers of lava emitted by the volcano
10. Throat
11. Parasitic cone
12. Lava flow
13. Vent
14.
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Rhyolite is an igneous, volcanic (extrusive) rock, of felsic (acidic) composition (typically >69% SiO2 — see the TAS classification. It may have any texture from aphanitic to porphyritic.
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Lava is molten rock expelled by a volcano during an eruption. When first expelled from a volcanic vent, it is a liquid at temperatures from 700 °C to 1,200 °C (1,300 °F to 2,200 °F).
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Breccia (IPA: /ˈbrɛtʃiə, ˈbrɛʃ-/, Italian: breach
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Igneous rocks (etymology from latin ignis, fire) are rocks formed by solidification of cooled magma (molten rock), with or without crystallization, either below the surface as intrusive (plutonic) rocks or on the surface as extrusive (volcanic) rocks.
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Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the mineral calcite (calcium carbonate: CaCO3). Limestone often contains variable amounts of silica in the form of chert or flint, as well as varying amounts of clay, silt and sand as disseminations, nodules, or layers
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Pennsylvanian is an epoch of the Carboniferous period lasting from roughly 325 Ma to 299 Ma (million years ago). As with most other geologic periods, the rock beds that define the period are well identified, but the exact date of the start and end are uncertain by a few million
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Orogeny (Greek for "mountain generating") is the process of mountain building, and may be studied as a tectonic structural event, as a geographical event and a chronological event, in that orogenic events cause distinctive structural phenomena and related tectonic activity,
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Ouachita Mountains are a mountain range located in west central Arkansas and southeastern Oklahoma. The range's subterranean roots may extend as far as central Texas, or beyond it to the current location of the Marathon Uplift.
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Erosion is displacement of solids (soil, mud, rock and other particles) usually by the agents of currents such as, wind, water, or ice by downward or down-slope movement in response to gravity or by living organisms (in the case of bioerosion).
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