Iron Mountain is a elevation

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 ...

located in the eastern

Olympic Mountains The Olympic Mountains are a mountain range on the Olympic Peninsula of the Pacific Northwest of the United States. The mountains, part of the Pacific Coast Ranges, are not especially high – Mount Olympus (Washington), Mount Olympus is the high ...

in Jefferson County of

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

state. It is set within Buckhorn Wilderness, on land managed by

Olympic National Forest Olympic National Forest is a U.S. National Forest located in Washington. With an area of , it nearly surrounds Olympic National Park and the Olympic Mountain range. Olympic National Forest contains parts of Clallam, Grays Harbor, Jefferson, ...

. It is situated between

Buckhorn Mountain Buckhorn Mountain is a peak in the Olympic Mountains in the U.S. state of Washington. It is in Olympic National Forest on the Olympic Peninsula. Description At high Buckhorn Mountain is the 23rd highest peak of the Olympic Mountains. Se ...

, to the southwest, and Mount Worthington, to the northeast. Precipitation runoff from Iron Mountain drains south into the

Big Quilcene River The Big Quilcene River is a river on the Olympic Peninsula in the U.S. state of Washington. Etymology The name "Quilcene" comes from the Twana word /qʷəʔlsíd/, referring to a tribal group and the name of an aboriginal Twana village and com ...

, and north into Copper Creek which is a tributary of the Dungeness River.

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 southeast aspect rises above the Big Quilcene River in less than one mile, and the north aspect rises above Buckhorn Lake in one-half mile. Old-growth forests of Douglas fir, western hemlock, and western redcedar grow in the valleys surrounding the peak. The nearest community is Quilcene 11 miles to the east.

Climate

Iron Mountain is located in the

marine west coast An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring co ...

climate zone of western North America.

Weather front A weather front is a boundary separating air masses for which several characteristics differ, such as air density, wind, temperature, and humidity. Disturbed and unstable weather due to these differences often arises along the boundary. For ins ...

s originating in the Pacific Ocean travel northeast toward the Olympic Mountains. As fronts approach, they are forced upward by the peaks (

orographic lift Orographic lift occurs when an air mass is forced from a low elevation to a higher elevation as it moves over rising terrain. As the air mass gains altitude it quickly cools down adiabatically, which can raise the relative humidity to 100% and cr ...

), causing them to drop their moisture in the form of rain or snow. As a result, the Olympics experience high precipitation, especially during the winter months in the form of snowfall. Because of maritime influence, snow tends to be wet and heavy, resulting in

avalanche An avalanche is a rapid flow of snow down a Grade (slope), slope, such as a hill or mountain. Avalanches can be triggered spontaneously, by factors such as increased precipitation or snowpack weakening, or by external means such as humans, othe ...

danger. During winter months weather is usually cloudy, but due to high pressure systems over the Pacific Ocean that intensify during summer months, there is often little or no cloud cover during the summer.

Geology

The Olympic Mountains are composed of obducted

clastic Clastic rocks are composed of fragments, or clasts, of pre-existing minerals and rock. A clast is a fragment of geological detritus,Essentials of Geology, 3rd Ed, Stephen Marshak, p. G-3 chunks, and smaller grains of rock broken off other rocks by ...

wedge material and oceanic crust, primarily

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

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

turbidite A turbidite is the geologic Deposition (geology), deposit of a turbidity current, which is a type of amalgamation of fluidal and sediment gravity flow responsible for distributing vast amounts of clastic sediment into the deep ocean. Sequencing ...

, and

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

ic oceanic crust. The mountains were sculpted during the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

era by erosion and glaciers advancing and retreating multiple times.

Gallery

File:Iron and Buckhorn.jpg, Iron Mountain (left) and Buckhorn Mountain (center and right) seen from the north along Tubal Cain Trail. File:Iron mtn 3.jpg, Northwest aspect File:Iron mtn 2.jpg, Northwest aspect File:Mount Constance summit view.jpeg, View from Mount Constance with Buckhorn, Iron, and Worthington at top

References

External links

Weather forecast
{{Geographic Location 2 , Center = Iron Mountain , North = Buckhorn Lake , Northeast = Mount Worthington , East =

, Southeast = Big Quilcene River , South = Boulder Ridge , Southwest =

, West = Petunia Peak , Northwest = Copper Creek Mountains of Washington (state) Olympic Mountains Mountains of Jefferson County, Washington Two-thousanders of the United States

Climate

Geology

Gallery

See also

References

External links