Diorite Peak is a mountain

summit A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used only for ...

on the common boundary shared by La Plata County and

Montezuma County Montezuma County is a county located in the southwest corner of the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 25,849. The county seat is Cortez. Montezuma County contains many archaeologically significant Amerindian ...

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

Description

Diorite Peak is located northwest of the community of

Durango Durango, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Durango, is one of the 31 states which make up the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 Federal Entities of Mexico, situated in the northwest portion of the country. With a population of 1,832,650 ...

on land managed by

San Juan National Forest The San Juan National Forest is a U.S. National Forest covering over 1,878,846 acres (2,935.7 sq mi, or 7,603.42 km²) in western Colorado. The forest occupies land in Archuleta, Conejos, Dolores, Hinsdale, La Plata, Mineral, Montezum ...

. It ranks as the seventh-highest summit of the

La Plata Mountains The La Plata Mountains are a small subrange of the San Juan Mountains in the southwestern part of Colorado, United States. They are located on the border between Montezuma and La Plata counties, about northwest of Durango. Their name is Spanish ...

which are a subrange 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 great-circle distance, straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Can ...

. Precipitation runoff from the mountain drains southeast to the

La Plata River LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second most populous city in the United States of America. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music *La (musical note), or A, the sixth note *"L.A.", a song by Elliott Smit ...

and north into the headwaters of Bear Creek which is a tributary of the

Dolores River The Dolores River is a tributary of the Colorado River, approximately long, in the U.S. states of Colorado and Utah. The river drains a rugged and arid region of the Colorado Plateau west of the San Juan Mountains. Its name derives from the Spa ...

Topographic relief Terrain (), alternatively relief or topographical relief, is the dimension and shape of a given surface of land. In physical geography, terrain is the lay of the land. This is usually expressed in terms of the elevation, slope, and orientati ...

is significant as the summit rises above the La Plata River in one mile (1.6 km). Neighbors include Centennial Peak, to the west-northwest and

Mount Moss Mount Moss is a mountain summit on the common boundary shared by La Plata County, Colorado, La Plata County and Montezuma County, Colorado, Montezuma County in Colorado. Description Mount Moss is located northwest of the community of Durango ...

, to the west. An ascent of Diorite Peak's summit involves hiking with of elevation gain.John Peel, Paul Pixler (2020), ''Hiking Trails of Southwestern Colorado'', Fifth Edition, West Margin Press, , p. 71.

Etymology

The mountain's toponym has been officially adopted by the

United States Board on Geographic Names The United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) is a Federal government of the United States, federal body operating under the United States Secretary of the Interior. The purpose of the board is to establish and maintain uniform usage of geogr ...

, and was recorded in publications as early as 1906. The peak is named for

diorite Diorite ( ) is an intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock formed by the slow cooling underground of magma (molten rock) that has a moderate content of silica and a relatively low content of alkali metals. It is Intermediate composition, inter ...

which is an intrusive

igneous rock Igneous rock ( ), or magmatic rock, is one of the three main rock types, the others being sedimentary and metamorphic. Igneous rocks are formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or lava. The magma can be derived from partial ...

formed by the slow cooling underground of

magma Magma () is the molten or semi-molten natural material from which all igneous rocks are formed. Magma (sometimes colloquially but incorrectly referred to as ''lava'') is found beneath the surface of the Earth, and evidence of magmatism has also ...

. Diorite makes up a large

stock Stocks (also capital stock, or sometimes interchangeably, shares) consist of all the Share (finance), shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided. A single share of the stock means fractional ownership of the corporatio ...

of this peak, and a smaller mass makes up nearby Lewis Mountain.Whitman Cross (1935), ''A Brief Review of the Geology of the San Juan Region of Southwestern Colorado''
US Government Printing Office, p. 105.

Climate

According to the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

system, Diorite Peak has an

alpine climate Alpine climate is the typical climate for elevations above the tree line, where trees fail to grow due to cold. This climate is also referred to as a mountain climate or highland climate. Definition There are multiple definitions of alpine cli ...

with cold, snowy winters, and cool to warm summers. Due to its altitude, it receives precipitation all year, as snow in winter and as thunderstorms in summer, with a dry period in late spring.

References

External links

* Weather forecast
Diorite Peak
{{Mountains of Colorado San Juan Mountains (Colorado) Mountains of Montezuma County, Colorado Mountains of La Plata County, Colorado Three-thousanders of the United States San Juan National Forest

Description

Etymology

Climate

See also

References

External links