Topographic map
In modern mapping, a topographic map is a type of map characterized by large-scale detail and quantitative representation of relief using contour lines, but using a variety of methods. Traditional definitions require a topographic map to show both man-made features. A topographic survey is published as a map series, made up of two or more map sheets that combine to form the whole map. A contour line is a line connecting places of equal elevation. Natural Resources Canada provides this description of topographic maps:These maps depict in detail ground relief, forest cover, administrative areas, populated areas, transportation routes and facilities, other man-made features. Other authors define topographic maps by contrasting them with another type of map. However, in the vernacular and day to day world, the representation of relief is popularly held to define the genre, such that small-scale maps showing relief are called "topographic"; the study or discipline of topography is a much broader field of study, which takes into account all natural and man-made features of terrain.
Topographic maps are based on topographical surveys. Performed at large scales, these surveys are called topographical in the old sense of topography, showing a variety of elevations and landforms; this is in contrast to older cadastral surveys, which show property and governmental boundaries. The first multi-sheet topographic map series of an entire country, the Carte géométrique de la France, was completed in 1789; the Great Trigonometric Survey of India, started by the East India Company in 1802 taken over by the British Raj after 1857 was notable as a successful effort on a larger scale and for determining heights of Himalayan peaks from viewpoints over one hundred miles distant. Topographic surveys were prepared by the military to assist in planning for battle and for defensive emplacements; as such, elevation information was of vital importance. As they evolved, topographic map series became a national resource in modern nations in planning infrastructure and resource exploitation. In the United States, the national map-making function, shared by both the Army Corps of Engineers and the Department of the Interior migrated to the newly created United States Geological Survey in 1879, where it has remained since.1913 saw the beginning of the International Map of the World initiative, which set out to map all of Earth's significant land areas at a scale of 1:1 million, on about one thousand sheets, each covering four degrees latitude by six or more degrees longitude.
Excluding borders, each sheet was up to 66 cm wide. Although the project foundered, it left an indexing system that remains in use. By the 1980s, centralized printing of standardized topographic maps began to be superseded by databases of coordinates that could be used on computers by moderately skilled end users to view or print maps with arbitrary contents and scale. For example, the Federal government of the United States' TIGER initiative compiled interlinked databases of federal and local political borders and census enumeration areas, of roadways and water features with support for locating street addresses within street segments. TIGER was used in the 1990 and subsequent decennial censuses. Digital elevation models were compiled from topographic maps and stereographic interpretation of aerial photographs and from satellite photography and radar data. Since all these were government projects funded with taxes and not classified for national security reasons, the datasets were in the public domain and usable without fees or licensing.
TIGER and DEM datasets facilitated Geographic information systems and made the Global Positioning System much more useful by providing context around locations given by the technology as coordinates. Initial applications were professionalized forms such as innovative surveying instruments and agency-level GIS systems tended by experts. By the mid-1990s user-friendly resources such as online mapping in two and three dimensions, integration of GPS with mobile phones and automotive navigation systems appeared; as of 2011, the future of standardized, centrally printed topographical maps is left somewhat in doubt. Topographic maps have multiple uses in the present day: any type of geographic planning or large-scale architecture; the various features shown on the map are represented by conventional symbols. For example, colors can be used to indicate a classification of roads; these signs are explained in the margin of the map, or on a separately published characteristic sheet. Topographic maps are commonly called contour maps or topo maps.
In the United States, where the primary national series is organized by a strict 7.5-minute grid, they are called topo quads or quadrangles. Topographic maps conventionally show land contours, by means of contour lines. Contour lines are curves. In other words, every point on the marked line of 100 m elevation is 100 m above mean sea level; these maps show
Metamorphism
Metamorphism is the change of minerals or geologic texture in pre-existing rocks, without the protolith melting into liquid magma. The change occurs due to heat and the introduction of chemically active fluids; the chemical components and crystal structures of the minerals making up the rock may change though the rock remains a solid. Changes at or just beneath Earth's surface due to weathering or diagenesis are not classified as metamorphism. Metamorphism occurs between diagenesis, melting; the geologists who study metamorphism are known as "metamorphic petrologists." To determine the processes underlying metamorphism, they rely on statistical mechanics and experimental petrology. Three types of metamorphism exist: contact and regional. Metamorphism produced with increasing pressure and temperature conditions is known as prograde metamorphism. Conversely, decreasing temperatures and pressure characterize retrograde metamorphism. Metamorphic rocks can change without melting. Heat causes atomic bonds to break, the atoms move and form new bonds with other atoms, creating new minerals with different chemical components or crystalline structures, or enabling recrystallization.
When pressure is applied, somewhat flattened grains that orient in the same direction have a more stable configuration. The temperature lower limit on what is considered to be a metamorphic process is considered to be 100 – 200 °C; the upper boundary of metamorphic conditions is related to the onset of melting processes in the rock. The maximum temperature for metamorphism is 700 – 900 °C, depending on the pressure and on the composition of the rock. Migmatites are rocks formed at this upper limit, which contains pods and veins of material that has started to melt but has not segregated from the refractory residue. Since the 1980s it has been recognized that rocks are dry enough and of a refractory enough composition to record without melting "ultra-high" metamorphic temperatures of 900 – 1100 °C; the metamorphic process has to be over pressure of at least 100 mega pascals but below 300 mega pascals, the depth of 100 mega pascals varies depending on what type of rock is applying pressure. Regional or Barrovian metamorphism covers large areas of continental crust associated with mountain ranges those associated with convergent tectonic plates or the roots of eroded mountains.
Conditions producing widespread regionally metamorphosed rocks occur during an orogenic event. The collision of two continental plates or island arcs with continental plates produce the extreme compressional forces required for the metamorphic changes typical of regional metamorphism; these orogenic mountains are eroded, exposing the intensely deformed rocks typical of their cores. The conditions within the subducting slab as it plunges toward the mantle in a subduction zone produce regional metamorphic effects, characterized by paired metamorphic belts; the techniques of structural geology are used to unravel the collisional history and determine the forces involved. Regional metamorphism can be described and classified into metamorphic facies or metamorphic zones of temperature/pressure conditions throughout the orogenic terrane. Contact metamorphism occurs around intrusive igneous rocks as a result of the temperature increase caused by the intrusion of magma into cooler country rock; the area surrounding the intrusion where the contact metamorphism effects are present is called the metamorphic aureole.
Contact metamorphic rocks are known as hornfels. Rocks formed by contact metamorphism may not present signs of strong deformation and are fine-grained. Contact metamorphism is greater adjacent to the intrusion and dissipates with distance from the contact; the size of the aureole depends on the heat of the intrusion, its size, the temperature difference with the wall rocks. Dikes have small aureoles with minimal metamorphism whereas large ultramafic intrusions can have thick and well-developed contact metamorphism; the metamorphic grade of an aureole is measured by the peak metamorphic mineral which forms in the aureole. This is related to the metamorphic temperatures of pelitic or aluminosilicate rocks and the minerals they form; the metamorphic grades of aureoles are sillimanite hornfels, pyroxene hornfels. Magmatic fluids coming from the intrusive rock may take part in the metamorphic reactions. An extensive addition of magmatic fluids can modify the chemistry of the affected rocks. In this case the metamorphism grades into metasomatism.
If the intruded rock is rich in carbonate the result is a skarn. Fluorine-rich magmatic waters which leave a cooling granite may form greisens within and adjacent to the contact of the granite. Metasomatic altered aureoles can localize the deposition of metallic ore minerals and thus are of economic interest. A special type of contact metamorphism, associated with fossil fuel fires, is known as pyrometamorphism. Hydrothermal metamorphism is the result of the interaction of a rock with a high-temperature fluid of variable composition; the difference in composition between an existing rock and the invading fluid triggers a set of metamorphic and metasomatic reactions. The hydrothermal fluid may be magmatic, circulating ocean water. Convective circulation of hydrothermal fluids in the ocean floor basalts produces extensive hydrothermal metamorphism adjacent to spreading centers and other submarine volcanic areas
Chair Mountain
Chair Mountain is a prominent mountain summit in the Elk Mountains range of the Rocky Mountains of North America. The 12,727-foot peak is located in the Raggeds Wilderness of Gunnison National Forest, 5.0 miles west by south of the Town of Marble in Gunnison County, United States. List of Colorado mountain ranges List of Colorado mountain summits List of Colorado fourteeners List of Colorado 4000 meter prominent summits List of the most prominent summits of Colorado List of Colorado county high points
Mineral County, Colorado
Mineral County is one of the 64 counties in the U. S. state of Colorado. As of the 2010 census, the population was 712, making it the second-least populous county in Colorado; the county seat and only incorporated municipality in the county is Creede. The county was named for the many valuable minerals found in the streams of the area. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 878 square miles, of which 876 square miles is land and 2.0 square miles is water. Saguache County - northeast Rio Grande County - east Archuleta County - south Hinsdale County - west Rio Grande National Forest San Juan National Forest La Garita Wilderness Weminuche Wilderness Colorado Trail Continental Divide National Scenic Trail Lake Fork National Recreation Trail Silver Thread Scenic Byway As of the census of 2000, there were 831 people, 377 households, 251 families residing in the county; the population density was 1 people per square mile. There were 1,119 housing units at an average density of 1 per square mile.
The racial makeup of the county was 96.87% White, 0.84% Native American, 0.12% from other races, 2.17% from two or more races. 2.05% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. There were 377 households out of which 22.30% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.00% were married couples living together, 5.80% had a female householder with no husband present, 33.40% were non-families. 28.10% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.80% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.20 and the average family size was 2.70. In the county, the population was spread out with 20.50% under the age of 18, 4.70% from 18 to 24, 24.80% from 25 to 44, 32.70% from 45 to 64, 17.30% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 45 years. For every 100 females there were 104.20 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 99.10 males. The median income for a household in the county was $34,844, the median income for a family was $40,833.
Males had a median income of $28,750 versus $19,375 for females. The per capita income for the county was $24,475. About 9.30% of families and 10.20% of the population were below the poverty line, including 18.70% of those under age 18 and 10.60% of those age 65 or over. Mineral County has an high proportion of land under federal ownership, with 96% of the county under the management of the federal government; as of 2015 the largest self-reported ancestry groups in Mineral County, Colorado are: Creede Spar City Wagon Wheel Gap Outline of Colorado Index of Colorado-related articles National Register of Historic Places listings in Mineral County, Colorado Foley, N. K. et al.. Mineralogy, mineral chemistry, paragenesis of gold and base-metal ores of the North Amethyst vein system, San Juan Mountains, Mineral County, Colorado. Washington, D. C.: U. S. Department of the Interior, U. S. Geological Survey. Official Website of Mineral County, Colorado Creede and Mineral County information Colorado County Evolution by Don Stanwyck Colorado Historical Society
Lincoln Memorial
The Lincoln Memorial is an American national memorial built to honor the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. It is located on the western end of the National Mall in Washington, D. C. across from the Washington Monument. The architect was Henry Bacon. Dedicated in May 1922, it is one of several memorials built to honor an American president, it has always been a major tourist attraction and since the 1930s has been a symbolic center focused on race relations. The building is in the form of a Greek Doric temple and contains a large seated sculpture of Abraham Lincoln and inscriptions of two well-known speeches by Lincoln, The Gettysburg Address and his second inaugural address; the memorial has been the site of many famous speeches, including Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, delivered on August 28, 1963, during the rally at the end of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Like other monuments on the National Mall – including the nearby Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Korean War Veterans Memorial, National World War II Memorial – the memorial is administered by the National Park Service under its National Mall and Memorial Parks group.
It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since October 15, 1966. It is open to the public 24 hours a day. In 2007, it was ranked seventh on the List of America's Favorite Architecture by the American Institute of Architects. More than 7 million people visit the memorial annually; the first public memorial to United States President Abraham Lincoln in Washington, D. C. was a statue by Lot Flannery erected in front of the District of Columbia City Hall in 1868, three years after the Lincoln's assassination. Demands for a fitting national memorial had been voiced since the time of Lincoln's death. In 1867, Congress passed the first of many bills incorporating a commission to erect a monument for the sixteenth president. An American sculptor, Clark Mills, was chosen to design the monument, his plans reflected the nationalistic spirit of the time, called for a 70-foot structure adorned with six equestrian and 31 pedestrian statues of colossal proportions, crowned by a 12-foot statue of Abraham Lincoln.
Subscriptions for the project were insufficient. The matter lay dormant until the start of the 20th century, under the leadership of Senator Shelby M. Cullom of Illinois, six separate bills were introduced in Congress for the incorporation of a new memorial commission; the first five bills, proposed in the years 1901, 1902, 1908, met with defeat because of opposition from Speaker Joe Cannon. The sixth bill, introduced on December 13, 1910, passed; the Lincoln Memorial Commission had its first meeting the following year and United States President William H. Taft was chosen as the commission's president. Progress continued at a steady pace and by 1913 Congress had approved of the Commission's choice of design and location. There were questions regarding the commission's plan. Many thought that architect Henry Bacon's Greek temple design was far too ostentatious for a man of Lincoln's humble character. Instead they proposed a simple log cabin shrine; the site too did not go unopposed. The reclaimed land in West Potomac Park was seen by many to be either too swampy or too inaccessible.
Other sites, such as Union Station, were put forth. The Commission stood firm in its recommendation, feeling that the Potomac Park location, situated on the Washington Monument–Capitol axis, overlooking the Potomac River and surrounded by open land, was ideal. Furthermore, the Potomac Park site had been designated in the McMillan Plan of 1901 to be the location of a future monument comparable to that of the Washington Monument. With Congressional approval and a $300,000 allocation, the project got underway. On February 12, 1914, a dedication ceremony was conducted and the following month the actual construction began. Work progressed according to schedule; some changes were made to the plan. The statue of Lincoln designed to be 10 feet tall, was enlarged to 19 feet to prevent it from being overwhelmed by the huge chamber; as late as 1920, the decision was made to substitute an open portal for the bronze and glass grille, to have guarded the entrance. Despite these changes, the Memorial was finished on schedule.
Commission president William H. Taft –, Chief Justice of the United States – dedicated the Memorial on May 30, 1922, presented it to United States President Warren G. Harding, who accepted it on behalf of the American people. Lincoln's only surviving son, 78-year-old Robert Todd Lincoln, was in attendance; the Memorial was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966. The exterior of the Memorial echoes a classic Greek temple and features Yule marble quarried from Colorado; the structure is 99 feet tall. It is surrounded by a peristyle of 36 fluted Doric columns, one for each of the 36 states in the Union at the time of Lincoln's death, two columns in-antis at the entrance behind the colonnade; the columns stand 44 feet tall with a base diameter of 7.5 feet. Each column is built from 12 drums including the capital; the columns, like the exterior walls and facades, are inclined toward the building's interior. This is to compensate for perspective distortions which would otherwise make the memorial appear to bulge out at the top when compared with the bottom, a common feature of Ancient Greek architecture.
Above the colonnade, inscribed on the frieze, are the names of the 36 states in the U
Gunnison County, Colorado
Gunnison County is the fifth-most extensive of the 64 counties in the U. S. state of Colorado. As of the 2010 census, the population was 15,324; the county seat is Gunnison. The county was named for John W. Gunnison, a United States Army officer and captain in the Army Topographical Engineers, who surveyed for the transcontinental railroad in 1853. Archeological studies have dated the Ute people's appearance in the Uncompahgre region of Colorado as early as 1150 A. D. Possibilities exist that they are descendants of an earlier people living in the area as far back as 1500 B. C, they were a nomadic race of dark skin moving about the Western Slope of Colorado in the various parts of the year. In the early to mid-1600s the Spaniards of New Mexico introduced the horse which changed their patterns of hunting taking them across the divide to the eastern slopes and into conflict with the Plains Indians which soon became their bitter enemies; the first recorded expedition of Western Colorado wilderness was led by Don Juan Rivera in 1765.
In 1776, two Spanish priests, Fathers Escalante and Dominguez, led a party into the area around Montrose and Paonia. The 1830s brought the mountainmen into the area to trap beaver. An old cabin located on Cochetopa Creek discovered by Sidney Jocknick was most built between 1830 and 1840 and a rude fort was discovered on a tributary of Tomichi Creek bore signs of a conflict. In 1853, Capt. John W. Gunnison surveyed the area for the transcontinental railroad route. In 1858 gold was discovered near Denver bringing the white man across the divide into the western slope in search of the precious metal. In 1859 a party settled on Texas Gulch in Union Park. Placer gold was found at Washington Gulch in 1861 as part of the Colorado Gold Rush. In 1861 the Territory of Colorado was organized; the territorial governor was made ex officio Superintentant of Indian Affairs. A conference on October 1, 1863 established a boundary line for a reservation; this treaty averted a possible dangerous situation by giving the Utes some cattle and sheep, a blacksmith and 20,000 dollars a year in goods and provisions.
The government failed to fulfill any these obligations straining the relations further. The treaty of 1868 recognized Chief Ouray as the sole spokesman for seven tribes of the Ute People, he held this power over his people through understanding. The Los Pinos Agency was developed through the Treaties of 1868 and 1873; the first agent was 2nd Lieutenant Calvin T. Speer. In 1871 a cow camp was started near the present site of Gunnison with James P. Kelley in charge. In this year, Jabez Nelson Trask, a Harvard grad, relieved Speer as agent upon orders from Governor Edward M. McCook. In 1872 Trask was replaced by Charles Adams. In 1875 orders from Washington to move the agency to the Uncomphgre Valley were completed in November. In 1876 Colorado entered the Gunnison County was formed. 1879 was a year of expansion due to the miners and adventurers seeking wealth. The cattle industry was established by 1880; the short growing season was not conducive to farming and the ranchers had to level fields and construct irrigation ditches to water the fields for hay.
According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 3,260 square miles, of which 3,239 square miles is land and 21 square miles is water, it is the fifth-largest county by area in Colorado. The county seat is Gunnison, Colorado, located in a wide valley at the confluence of Tomichi Creek and Gunnison River; the county rests in the Gunnison Basin formed by the Continental Divide to the east, Collegiate Peaks Wilderness rises in the northeast, Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness and the White River National Forest to the north, the West Elk Wilderness rises in the west of the county with Delta and Montrose Counties on its western slopes. The Uncompahgre Wilderness rises in the southwest of the county and the Powderhorn Wilderness east of there and Saquache County being south of Gunnison county eastward over to Marshall Pass southeast of the county. Taylor Park Reservoir is a man-made lake created by the Taylor Dam constructed in 1934 with appropriations of 2,725,000 dollars; as of the census of 2000, there were 13,956 people, 5,649 households, 2,965 families residing in the county.
The population density was 4 people per square mile. There were 9,135 housing units at an average density of 3 per square mile; the racial makeup of the county was 95.08% White, 0.49% Black or African American, 0.70% Native American, 0.54% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 1.44% from other races, 1.72% from two or more races. 5.02% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. There were 5,649 households out of which 24.10% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.20% were married couples living together, 5.40% had a female householder with no husband present, 47.50% were non-families. 27.20% of all households were made up of individuals and 4.60% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.30 and the average family size was 2.84. In the county, the population was spread out with 17.90% under the age of 18, 21.10% from 18 to 24, 32.90% from 25 to 44, 21.20% from 45 to 64, 6.90% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 30 years.
For every 100 females there were 118.30 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 120.90 males. The median income for a household in the county was $36,916, the median income for a family was $51,950. Males had a median income of $30,885 versus $25,000 for females; the per capita income for the county was $21,407. About 6.00% of families and 15.00% of the population were below the poverty line, including 9.40% of those under age 18 and 7.20% of those age 65 or over. Total population for Gunnison Count
Mountain range
A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills ranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form and alignment that have arisen from the same cause an orogeny. Mountain ranges are formed by a variety of geological processes, but most of the significant ones on Earth are the result of plate tectonics. Mountain ranges are found on many planetary mass objects in the Solar System and are a feature of most terrestrial planets. Mountain ranges are segmented by highlands or mountain passes and valleys. Individual mountains within the same mountain range do not have the same geologic structure or petrology, they may be a mix of different orogenic expressions and terranes, for example thrust sheets, uplifted blocks, fold mountains, volcanic landforms resulting in a variety of rock types. Most geologically young mountain ranges on the Earth's land surface are associated with either the Pacific Ring of Fire or the Alpide Belt.
The Pacific Ring of Fire includes the Andes of South America, extends through the North American Cordillera along the Pacific Coast, the Aleutian Range, on through Kamchatka, Taiwan, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, to New Zealand. The Andes is 7,000 kilometres long and is considered the world's longest mountain system; the Alpide belt includes Indonesia and Southeast Asia, through the Himalaya, Caucasus Mountains, Balkan Mountains fold mountain range, the Alps, ends in the Spanish mountains and the Atlas Mountains. The belt includes other European and Asian mountain ranges; the Himalayas contain the highest mountains in the world, including Mount Everest, 8,848 metres high and traverses the border between China and Nepal. Mountain ranges outside these two systems include the Arctic Cordillera, the Urals, the Appalachians, the Scandinavian Mountains, the Great Dividing Range, the Altai Mountains and the Hijaz Mountains. If the definition of a mountain range is stretched to include underwater mountains the Ocean Ridges form the longest continuous mountain system on Earth, with a length of 65,000 kilometres.
The mountain systems of the earth are characterized by a tree structure, where mountain ranges can contain sub-ranges. The sub-range relationship is expressed as a parent-child relationship. For example, the White Mountains of New Hampshire and the Blue Ridge Mountains are sub-ranges of the Appalachian Mountains. Equivalently, the Appalachians are the parent of the White Mountains and Blue Ridge Mountains, the White Mountains and the Blue Ridge Mountains are children of the Appalachians; the parent-child expression extends to the sub-ranges themselves: the Sandwich Range and the Presidential Range are children of the White Mountains, while the Presidential Range is parent to the Northern Presidential Range and Southern Presidential Range. The position of mountains influences climate, such as snow; when air masses move up and over mountains, the air cools producing orographic precipitation. As the air descends on the leeward side, it warms again and is drier, having been stripped of much of its moisture.
A rain shadow will affect the leeward side of a range. Mountain ranges are subjected to erosional forces which work to tear them down; the basins adjacent to an eroding mountain range are filled with sediments which are buried and turned into sedimentary rock. Erosion is at work while the mountains are being uplifted until the mountains are reduced to low hills and plains; the early Cenozoic uplift of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado provides an example. As the uplift was occurring some 10,000 feet of Mesozoic sedimentary strata were removed by erosion over the core of the mountain range and spread as sand and clays across the Great Plains to the east; this mass of rock was removed as the range was undergoing uplift. The removal of such a mass from the core of the range most caused further uplift as the region adjusted isostatically in response to the removed weight. Rivers are traditionally believed to be the principal cause of mountain range erosion, by cutting into bedrock and transporting sediment.
Computer simulation has shown that as mountain belts change from tectonically active to inactive, the rate of erosion drops because there are fewer abrasive particles in the water and fewer landslides. Mountains on other planets and natural satellites of the Solar System are isolated and formed by processes such as impacts, though there are examples of mountain ranges somewhat similar to those on Earth. Saturn's moon Titan and Pluto, in particular exhibit large mountain ranges in chains composed of ices rather than rock. Examples include the Mithrim Montes and Doom Mons on Titan, Tenzing Montes and Hillary Montes on Pluto; some terrestrial planets other than Earth exhibit rocky mountain ranges, such as Maxwell Montes on Venus taller than any on Earth and Tartarus Montes on Mars, Jupiter's moon Io has mountain ranges formed from tectonic processes including Boösaule Montes, Dorian Montes, Hi'iaka Montes and Euboea Montes. Peakbagger Ranges Home Page Bivouac.com
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