Sierra Nevada (Mexico)

The Sierra Nevada ( ) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily in Nevada. The Sierra Nevada is part of the American Cordillera, an almost continuous chain of mountain ranges that forms the western "backbone" of the Americas.

The Sierra runs north-south, and its width ranges from to across east–west. Notable features include the General Sherman Tree, the largest tree in the world by volume; Lake Tahoe, the largest alpine lake in North America; Mount Whitney at , the highest point in the contiguous United States; and Yosemite Valley sculpted by glaciers from one-hundred-million-year-old granite, containing high waterfalls. The Sierra is home to three national parks, twenty-six wilderness areas, ten national forests, and two national monuments. These areas include Yosemite, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon National Parks, as well as Devils Postpile National Monument.

More than one hundred million years ago during the Nevadan orogeny, granite formed deep underground. The range started to uplift less than five million years ago, and erosion by glaciers exposed the granite and formed the light-colored mountains and cliffs that make up the range. The uplift caused a wide range of elevations and climates in the Sierra Nevada, which are reflected by the presence of five life zones (areas with similar plant and animal communities). Uplift continues due to faulting caused by tectonic forces, creating spectacular fault block escarpments along the eastern edge of the southern Sierra.

The Sierra Nevada has played an important role in the history of California and the United States. The California gold rush occurred in the western foothills from 1848 through 1855. Due to its inaccessibility, the range was not fully explored until 1912.

Name and etymology

Used in 1542 by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo to describe a Pacific Coast Range (Santa Cruz Mountains), the term "Sierra Nevada" was a general identification of less familiar ranges toward the interior. In 1776, Pedro Font's map applied the name to the range currently known as the Sierra Nevada.

The literal translation is "snowy mountains", from ''sierra'' "a range of mountains", 1610s, from Spanish "jagged mountain range", lit. "saw", from Latin "a saw"; and from the Spanish adjective "snowy".

While many mountain ranges are unanimously referred to in the plural ( Smokies, Rockies, Cascades, etc.), some locals who live in "the Sierra" are not hesitant to admonish those who refer to the area as "the Sierras". However, there are historical and literary references that use the plural, such as the 1871 collection of Joaquin Miller poems, ''Songs of the Sierras''. Ansel Adams, in response to a publication of his photographs under the title '' Parmelian Prints of the High Sierras'', commented, "To add an ''s'' is a linguistic, Californian, and mountaineering sin."

Geography

The Sierra Nevada lies primarily in Central and Eastern California, with the Carson Range, a small but historically important spur, extending into Nevada. West-to-east, the Sierra Nevada's elevation increases gradually from in the Central Valley to more than atop the highest peaks of its crest to the east. The east slope forms the steep Sierra Escarpment. Unlike its surroundings, the range receives a substantial amount of snowfall and precipitation due to orographic lift.

Setting

The Sierra Nevada's irregular northern boundary stretches from the Susan River and Fredonyer Pass to the North Fork Feather River. It represents where the granitic bedrock of the Sierra Nevada dives below the southern extent of Cenozoic igneous surface rock from the Cascade Range. It is bounded on the west by California's Central Valley, on the east by the Basin and Range Province, and on the southeast by the Mojave Desert. The southern boundary is at Tehachapi Pass.

Physiographically, the Sierra is a section of the Cascade–Sierra Mountains province, which in turn is part of the larger Pacific Mountain System physiographic division. The California Geological Survey states that "the northern Sierra boundary is marked where bedrock disappears under the Cenozoic volcanic cover of the Cascade Range."

Watersheds

The range is drained on its western slope by the Central Valley watershed, which discharges into the Pacific Ocean at San Francisco. The northern third of the western Sierra is part of the Sacramento River watershed (including the Feather, Yuba, and American River tributaries), and the middle third is drained by the San Joaquin River (including the Mokelumne, Stanislaus, Tuolumne, and Merced River tributaries). The southern third of the range is drained by the Kings, Kaweah, Tule, and Kern rivers, which flow into the endorheic basin of Tulare Lake, which rarely overflows into the San Joaquin during wet years.

The eastern slope watershed of the Sierra is much narrower; its rivers flow out into the endorheic Great Basin of eastern California and western Nevada. From north to south, the Susan River flows into intermittent Honey Lake, the Truckee River flows from Lake Tahoe into Pyramid Lake, the Carson River runs into Carson Sink, the Walker River into Walker Lake; Rush, Lee Vining and Mill Creeks flow into Mono Lake; and the Owens River into dry Owens Lake. Although none of the eastern rivers reach the sea, many of the streams from Mono Lake southwards are diverted into the Los Angeles Aqueduct which provides water to Southern California.

Elevation

The height of the mountains in the Sierra Nevada increases gradually from north to south. Between Fredonyer Pass and Lake Tahoe, the peaks range from to more than . The crest near Lake Tahoe is roughly high, with several peaks approaching the height of Freel Peak (). Farther south, the highest peak in Yosemite National Park is Mount Lyell (). The Sierra rises to almost with Mount Humphreys near Bishop, California. Finally, near Lone Pine, Mount Whitney is at , the highest point in the contiguous United States.

South of Mount Whitney, the elevation of the range quickly dwindles. The crest elevation is almost near Lake Isabella, but south of the lake, the peaks reach only a modest .

Notable features

There are several notable geographical features in the Sierra Nevada:

* Lake Tahoe is a large, clear freshwater lake in the northern Sierra Nevada, with an elevation of and an area of . Lake Tahoe lies between the main Sierra and the Carson Range, a spur of the Sierra.
* Hetch Hetchy Valley, Yosemite Valley, Kings Canyon, and Kern Canyon are examples of many glacially-scoured canyons on the west side of the Sierra.
* Yosemite National Park is filled with notable features such as waterfalls, granite domes, high mountains, lakes, and meadows.
* Groves of giant sequoias ''Sequoiadendron giganteum'' occur along a narrow band of altitude on the western side of the Sierra Nevada. Giant sequoias are the largest trees in the world.
* Two of the largest rivers in California, which form the Central Valley and drain into San Francisco Bay, derive most of their flow from the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada. The northern of the two is the Sacramento River (which also drains the adjacent Cascade Range and Klamath Range); the southern one is the San Joaquin River.

Communities

Communities in the Sierra Nevada include Paradise, South Lake Tahoe, Truckee, Grass Valley, Lee Vining, Mammoth Lakes, Sonora, Nevada City, Placerville, Pollock Pines, Portola, Auburn, Colfax, Kennedy Meadows and Shaver Lake.

Protected areas

Much of the Sierra Nevada consists of federal lands and is either protected from development or strictly managed. The mountain range is home to three National ParksYosemite, Kings Canyon, and Sequoiaand two national monumentsDevils Postpile and Giant Sequoia. Ten national forests span much of the mountain range's remaining area. Within these national parks, monuments, and forests lie 26 wilderness areas, which together protect 15.4% of the Sierra's from logging

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