The Monitor Range is located in south-central

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The range lies west and northwest of the Hot Creek Range and north of

U.S. Route 6 U.S. Route 6 (US 6) or U.S. Highway 6 (US 6), also called the Grand Army of the Republic Highway, honoring the American Civil War veterans association, is a main route of the United States Numbered Highway System. While it ...

in Nye County. It extends into the southwest corner of Eureka County at its northern end ending just south of

U.S. Route 50 U.S. Route 50 or U.S. Highway 50 (US 50) is a major east–west route of the U.S. Highway system, stretching from Interstate 80 (I-80) in West Sacramento, California, to Maryland Route 528 (MD 528) in Ocean City, Maryland, on the Atlantic ...

. Tonopah is about 15 miles west of the south end of the range and Eureka lies about east of the north end of the range.''Nevada Atlas & Gazetteer'', DeLorme, Eighth ed., 2012, pp. 46 and 54 Its highest point is

Table Mountain Table Mountain (; ) is a flat-topped mountain forming a prominent landmark overlooking the city of Cape Town in South Africa. It is a significant tourist attraction, with many visitors using the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway, cableway or hik ...

at . The Table Mountain Wilderness Area lies in the central part of the Monitor Range. The mountains cover an area of , and lies between the

Antelope Valley The Antelope Valley is a valley primarily located in northern Los Angeles County, California, United States and the southeast portion of Kern County, California, Kern County, and constitutes the western tip of the Mojave Desert. It is situated ...

and the Monitor Valley at the northern end. At the southern end, the mountains lie between the Toquima Range and Stone Cabin Valley. As the map/graphic shows, its extreme linearity is because the range is an extensive linear horst between

graben In geology, a graben () is a depression (geology), depressed block of the Crust (geology), crust of a planet or moon, bordered by parallel normal faults. Etymology ''Graben'' is a loan word from German language, German, meaning 'ditch' or 't ...

(down-dropped) valleys to the east and west. The range lies amongst a series of range-valley-ranges, in south-central Nevada (mostly south of the

Humboldt River The Humboldt River is the longest river in the northern and central part of Nevada. It extends in a general east-to-west direction from its headwaters in northern Nevada's Jarbidge Mountains, Jarbidge, Independence Mountains, Independence, and ...

). The pattern is the result of crustal extension as part of the

basin and range topography Basin and range topography is characterized by alternating parallel mountain ranges and valleys. It is a result of crustal extension due to mantle upwelling, gravitational collapse, crustal thickening, or relaxation of confining stresses. The e ...

of western North America. The Forest Service is in charge of 83.6% of the mountains and the

Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands, U.S. federal lands. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the BLM oversees more than of land, or one ...

manages 16% of the range. Pinon-juniper makes up 39.3% of the area, with

Sagebrush Sagebrush is the common name of several woody and herbaceous species of plants in the genus ''Artemisia (plant), Artemisia''. The best-known sagebrush is the shrub ''Artemisia tridentata''. Sagebrush is native to the western half of North Amer ...

scrub making up 24.8% of the mountains.

Montane Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures lapse rate, fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is ...

shrub accounts for 19.9%.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Mountain ranges of Nevada Mountain ranges of the Great Basin Mountain ranges of Nye County, Nevada Mountain ranges of Eureka County, Nevada Horsts (geology)