The Bendeleben (/ˈbɛn.dəˌleɪ.bɨn/) Mountains are a mountain range on the heart of the

Seward Peninsula The Seward Peninsula is a large peninsula on the western coast of the U.S. state of Alaska whose westernmost point is Cape Prince of Wales. The peninsula projects about into the Bering Sea between Norton Sound, the Bering Strait, the Chukchi ...

in Nome Census Area,

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

, United States. This range forms a major divide between

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

s draining into the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

and the

Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five oceanic divisions. It spans an area of approximately and is the coldest of the world's oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, ...

. The tallest peak, Mount Bendeleben is at the summit, and is located on the west end. Bits of the range go into the Bering Land Bridge National Preserve, but most of the peaks remain unclaimed. The Tubutulik River flows in the area. Mount Bendeleben is the highest point on the Seward Peninsula east of the

Kigluaik Mountains The Kigluaik Mountains (''Kiglawait'' in Inupiaq) are a mountain chain running east to west on western Alaska's Seward Peninsula. Its highest point is the summit of Mount Osborn, at above sea level. This remote range is home to numerous isola ...

. According to the geologists who studied contiguous areas in 1900, the metamorphic schists of the Bendeleben Mountains were considered distinct from the other schists of the region and were therefore given a name and assigned to a more or less definite stratigraphic position. In 1908, the senior writer of this report made a cross section of the range along the western margin of the area, and in 1909 the party had the opportunity of studying the section north and west. of Death Valley, where rocks previously considered as belonging to the Kigluaik group are exposed. About the head of the Fish River, the mountains are chiefly granitic, but along their flanks and sometimes extending through them in belts of varying breadth which mark the passes are areas of schistose sediments. Similar to the Kigluaik Mountains, the Bendeleban Mountains are rugged, with sharply cut valleys, and many glacial cirques. River basin east of Nome - aerial - P1040600

River basin east of Nome - aerial - P1040600

Flora

On the southern side of the Bendeleben Mountains, scattered spruce trees are reported in the valley of the Niukluk River as far west as Libby River, which rises on the west side of Mount Bendeleben. Eastward, spruce grows along all the streams. On the northern side of the Bendeleben Mountains, spruce is found in the valley of the Koyuk River, west to the vicinity of Timber Creek on the south, and to the tributaries heading toward Kiwalik Mountain on the north. Spruce extends considerably farther west on the south side of the Bendeleben Mountains than it does on the north.

References

* * * {{Authority control Landforms of the Seward Peninsula Mountain ranges of Alaska Mountains of Unorganized Borough, Alaska