Geologic Map of the Copper Mountain Quadrangle, Gila County, Arizona v.2.0
Dates
Publication Date
2022-04-01
Time Period
2022-04-01
Citation
Skotnicki, S.J. (2022). Geologic Map of the Copper Mountain Quadrangle, Gila County, Arizona v.2.0
Summary
The Copper Mountain quadrangle is centered just north of the southwest-facing escarpment on the southwest side of the crest of the Sierra Ancha (see Figure 1). Elevations range from about 4200 feet in the southwest corner of the map to 6676 feet at Copper Mountain. The lower elevations in the southwest part of the map contain a mix of open Pinyon-Juniper forest and grassland and thick stands of oak mostly along the drainages. The Pinyon-Juniper gives way higher up to larger oak woodlands. The higher elevations up on the plateau are a mix of thick tangles of oak and manzanita and Ponderosa Pine conifer forest. The proliferation of dense brush in the higher elevations makes travel and mapping very difficult. This is especially true for [...]
Summary
The Copper Mountain quadrangle is centered just north of the southwest-facing escarpment on the southwest side of the crest of the Sierra Ancha (see Figure 1). Elevations range from about 4200 feet in the southwest corner of the map to 6676 feet at Copper Mountain. The lower elevations in the southwest part of the map contain a mix of open Pinyon-Juniper forest and grassland and thick stands of oak mostly along the drainages. The Pinyon-Juniper gives way higher up to larger oak woodlands. The higher elevations up on the plateau are a mix of thick tangles of oak and manzanita and Ponderosa Pine conifer forest. The proliferation of dense brush in the higher elevations makes travel and mapping very difficult. This is especially true for the southfacing cliffs and slopes along the main escarpment where a thin cover of colluvium and dense chaparral form an almost impenetrable barrier (particularly at the aptly named Malicious Gap). The conifer forest is locally fairly open beneath the canopy but the litter of pine needles and leaves effectively obscures most of the rock exposures.
This is a new version of the OFR-99-24 map. Principal changes include the addition of GIS data in the USGS GeMS format and may also include corrections to metadata, map units, age information, and other geologic interpretations. This work was funded by the USGS National Geological and Geophysical Data Preservation Program under grant G21AP10428.