Trap Mountain is a

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 ...

Brewster County, Texas Brewster County is a county (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Texas. It is in West Texas and its county seat (and only city) is Alpine, Texas, Alpine. It is one of the nine counties that comprise the Trans-Pecos region, and b ...

, United States.

Description

Trap Mountain is part of the

Chisos Mountains The Chisos Mountains, also known as the Chisos, are a mountain range located in the Big Bend, Texas, Big Bend area of the Trans-Pecos region of Texas, United States. The mountain system covers 40 square miles (104 square km) and is contained enti ...

where it is set in the Chihuahuan Desert and

Big Bend National Park Big Bend National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States located in West Texas, bordering Mexico. The park has national significance as the largest protected area of Chihuahuan Desert topograph ...

. The mountain is composed chiefly of Burro Mesa Rhyolite (volcanic rock) which formed 29 million years ago during the

Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch (geology), epoch of the Paleogene Geologic time scale, Period that extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that defin ...

period. Based on 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 ...

, the mountain is located in a

hot arid climate The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk'') is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...

zone with hot summers and mild winters. This climate supports plants on the slopes such as

creosote bush ''Larrea tridentata'', called creosote bush, greasewood, and chaparral is a medicinal herb. In Sonora, it is more commonly called ''hediondilla''; Spanish ''hediondo'' = "smelly". It is a flowering plant in the family Zygophyllaceae. The specific ...

ocotillo ''Fouquieria splendens'', commonly known as ocotillo, is a plant indigenous to the Mojave, Sonoran, Chihuahuan and Colorado deserts in the Southwestern United States (southern California, southern Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas), and nor ...

, lechuguilla and

yucca ''Yucca'' ( , YUCK-uh) is both the scientific name and common name for a genus native to North America from Panama to southern Canada. It contains 50 accepted species. In addition to yucca, they are also known as Adam's needle or Spanish-bayon ...

. Any scant precipitation runoff from the peak's slopes drains to the

Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( or ) in the United States or the Río Bravo (del Norte) in Mexico (), also known as Tó Ba'áadi in Navajo language, Navajo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the Southwestern United States a ...

which is six miles to the southwest.

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 Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive in one-half mile (0.8 km). 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 has been listed in publications since at least 1914.''The Mineral Resources of Texas''
William B. Phillips, Bulletin of the University of Texas, Number 365, October 15, 1914, p. 320. The mountain's name refers to

trap rock Trap rock, also known as either trapp or trap, is any dark-colored, fine-grained, non-granitic intrusive or extrusive igneous rock. Types of trap rock include basalt, peridotite, diabase, and gabbro.Neuendorf, K.K.E., J.P. Mehl, Jr., and J.A ...

,''Trap Mountain''
Texas State Historical Association, Retrieved 2024-11-09. which is any dark-colored, fine-grained, non-granitic intrusive or extrusive

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 ...

. There are several large areas of dark rock on the west slope of the mountain visible from the Mule Ears Overlook below Trap Mountain.

Gallery

File:Trap Mountain TX.jpg, West-southwest aspect File:Scenery in Big Bend National Park in the "Trans-Pecos" region of Texas LCCN2014631101.tif, Southwest aspect File:Scenery in Big Bend National Park, Texas LCCN2014631127.tif, Southwest aspect viewed from Mule Ears Overlook File:Trap and Goat.jpg, South aspect of Trap Mountain (left) and Goat Mountain (right) File:Trap Mountain, Chisos.jpg, West aspect of Trap Mountain centered. (Goat Mountain to left) File:Trap Mountain close up.jpg, Summit detail, southwest aspect

References

External links

* Trap Mountain
Weather
{{Portal bar, Mountains, Geology, Geography, Texas Mountains of Texas One-thousanders of the United States Landforms of Brewster County, Texas Big Bend National Park Chihuahuan Desert

Description

See also

Gallery

References

External links