The Shivwits Plateau is a large plateau in northwest Arizona, and in the northwest of the

Grand Canyon The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a mile (). The canyon and adjacent rim are contained within Grand Canyon Nati ...

region. Just like the Kaibab Plateau in the east Grand Canyon forces the course of the

Colorado River The Colorado River () is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The river, the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), 5th longest in the United St ...

encircling it, the Shivwits Plateau is the major course changer of the Colorado in west Grand Canyon. The Colorado River goes due-south on the east perimeter of the plateau, goes west, then northwest to its outfall at

Lake Mead Lake Mead is a reservoir formed by the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River in the Southwestern United States. It is located in the states of Nevada and Arizona, east of Las Vegas. It is the largest reservoir in the US in terms of water capacity. L ...

. The southwest of the plateau borders the Colorado, but a lower elevation section is directly riverside; it is lower elevation hills and small canyons, called Sanup Plateau, and bordering the section of the Colorado called the Lower Granite Gorge. (The Lower Granite Gorge starts on the east side at the start of its due-south excursion around Shivwits Plateau.) The Shivwits Plateau is named for the Shivwits section of the

Paiute Paiute (; also Piute) refers to three non-contiguous groups of Indigenous peoples of the Great Basin. Although their languages are related within the Numic group of Uto-Aztecan languages, these three languages do not form a single subgroup and th ...

Indian tribes. The plateau is also one of the major areas of the Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument that is bordered by the

Lake Mead National Recreation Area Lake Mead National Recreation Area is a U.S. national recreation area in Southeastern Nevada and Northwestern Arizona. Operated by the National Park Service, Lake Mead NRA follows the Colorado River corridor from the westernmost boundary of Gran ...

(west), the Hualapai Indian Reservation (southeast), and

Grand Canyon National Park Grand Canyon National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States located in northwestern Arizona, the 15th site to have been named as a national park. The park's central feature is the Grand Canyo ...

(east).

Geography

The southwest, south, and southeast around the plateau is composed of the Hualapai Indian Reservation along the course of the Colorado River, the section named the ''Lower Granite Gorge''. The north section is enclosed within

and the Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument. The Hurricane Cliffs are on the east and the Grand Wash Cliffs are at the west. Grand Canyon area of Arizona by Sally Ride EarthKAM

Grand Canyon area of Arizona by Sally Ride EarthKAM

References

* ''Arizona Atlas & Gazetteer,'' DeLorme, 4th ed. 2001 pp. 21, 29–30

External links

{{commons category, Shivwits Plateau
Mount Dellenbaugh, coordinates & elevation at topozone.com
Mohave County, Arizona Plateaus of Arizona

Geography

See also

References

External links