The Gallatin Range is a

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have ari ...

of the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico ...

, located in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

s of

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...

and

Wyoming Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to t ...

. It includes more than 10 mountains over . The highest peak in the range is Electric Peak at . The Gallatin Range was named after

Albert Gallatin Abraham Alfonse Albert Gallatin (January 29, 1761 – August 12, 1849) was a Genevan–American politician, diplomat, ethnologist and linguist. Often described as "America's Swiss Founding Father", he was a leading figure in the early years o ...

, the longest-serving

US Secretary of the Treasury The United States secretary of the treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, and is the chief financial officer of the federal government of the United States. The secretary of the treasury serves as the principal a ...

. The range extends north to south and averages in width.

Geography

The southernmost peaks of the range are in the northwestern section of

Yellowstone National Park Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U.S. Congress with the Yellowst ...

. However, the majority of the range is in Gallatin National Forest. The

Yellowstone River The Yellowstone River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately long, in the Western United States. Considered the principal tributary of upper Missouri, via its own tributaries it drains an area with headwaters across the mountains a ...

flows north on the eastern flank of the range. The Madison Range parallels the Gallatins to the west. The northern end of the range is near

Livingston, Montana Livingston is a city and county seat of Park County, Montana, United States. It is in southwestern Montana, on the Yellowstone River, north of Yellowstone National Park. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 8,040. History T ...

and Bozeman Pass separates the Gallatins from the Bridger Mountains to the north. The range is an integral part of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and has

grizzly bears The grizzly bear (''Ursus arctos horribilis''), also known as the North American brown bear or simply grizzly, is a population or subspecies of the brown bear inhabiting North America. In addition to the mainland grizzly (''Ursus arctos horri ...

wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...

and other

threatened Threatened species are any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of '' critical depe ...

and

endangered species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inv ...

also found in Yellowstone National Park.

Gallatin Petrified Forest

Within the Gallatin Range, the Gallatin Petrified Forest is one of the largest

petrified forest Petrified wood, also known as petrified tree (from Ancient Greek meaning 'rock' or 'stone'; literally 'wood turned into stone'), is the name given to a special type of '' fossilized wood'', the fossilized remains of terrestrial vegetation. ...

s of the

Eocene The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''ēṓs'', ...

Epoch. The petrified wood that comprise it consist of the mineralized fossils of a mixture of transported logs and in place (''

in situ ''In situ'' (; often not italicized in English) is a Latin phrase that translates literally to "on site" or "in position." It can mean "locally", "on site", "on the premises", or "in place" to describe where an event takes place and is used in ...

'') wooden tree trunks rooted. The in place tree trunks are rooted in moderately developed fossil soils, (

paleosol In the geosciences, paleosol (''palaeosol'' in Great Britain and Australia) is an ancient soil that formed in the past. The precise definition of the term in geology and paleontology is slightly different from its use in soil science. In geolo ...

s). The petrified logs, stumps, and trunks found in the Gallatin Range were buried by

volcanic A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plat ...

lahar A lahar (, from jv, ꦮ꧀ꦭꦲꦂ) is a violent type of mudflow or debris flow composed of a slurry of pyroclastic material, rocky debris and water. The material flows down from a volcano, typically along a river valley. Lahars are extr ...

s. The lahar deposits sometimes have been reworked and redeposited by small streams. These sediments accumulated approximately 50 million year ago.Amidon, L (1997)
Paleoclimate Study of Eocene Fossil Woods and Associated Paleosols from the Gallatin Petrified Forest
Gallatin National Forest, SW Montana''. unpublished Master's thesis, University of Montana. The

U.S. Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency inc ...

has a 2-mile (3.2 km) long interpretive trail which details the petrified trees.Soderberg, K, and V Soderberg (2005) ''The Best in Tent Camping: Montana: A Guide for Car Campers Who Hate RVs, Concrete Slabs, and Loud Portable Stereos.'' Menasha Ridge Press, Birmingham, Alabama. In regard to these fossil forests and other fossils, collecting of fossils in Yellowstone National Park is illegal. In addition, visitors should stay on marked and maintained trails. BlacktailPlateauPanoramaGallatinRangeAnnotated

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References

{{Authority control Ranges of the Rocky Mountains Mountain ranges of Montana Mountain ranges of Wyoming Gallatin National Forest Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem Landforms of Park County, Montana Landforms of Gallatin County, Montana Landforms of Park County, Wyoming

Geography

Gallatin Petrified Forest

See also

References