Sierra Nevada

/see er"euh neuh vad"euh, -vah"deuh/; for 2 also Sp. /syerdd"rddah ne vah"dhah/.

1. a mountain range in E California. Highest peak, Mt. Whitney, 14,495 ft. (4420 m).

2. a mountain range in S Spain. Highest peak, Mulhacén, 11,420 ft. (3480 m).

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Mountain range, eastern California, U.S. The Sierra Nevada range extends more than 250 mi (400 km) from the Mojave Desert to the Cascade Range, and it averages about 50 mi (80 km) in width.

The peaks of the range are 11,000–14,000 ft (3,350–4,270 m) high; Mount Whitney is the highest mountain. It is a year-round recreation centre and is easily accessed from the state's large urban areas.

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▪ mountain range, Spain

      mountain range in southeastern Spain, near the Mediterranean coast, the highest division of the Baetic Cordillera. The range itself is a domed mountain elongated for about 26 miles (42 km) from east to west. It is clearly defined by the faulted troughs of the vega (lowland) of Granada to the northwest, the Guadix tableland to the northeast, and the Alpujarras depression to the south. The highest peak of the range is Mulhacén Peak (11,421 feet [3,481 metres]), which is also the highest point of the Iberian Peninsula. Several other summits rise above the snow line of about 10,000 feet (3,000 metres) and have given significance to the name Sierra Nevada, which means “Snowy Range.” The range of elevations is reflected in a sequence of flora from subtropical to alpine species. The Sierra Nevada is a favourite skiing locale that comprises many resorts.

Vicente Rodriguez

 

▪ mountains, United States

Introduction

also called  Sierra Nevadas  

 major mountain range of western North America, running along the eastern edge of the U.S. state of (United States) California. Its great mass lies between the large Central Valley depression to the west and the Basin and Range Province to the east. Extending more than 250 miles (400 kilometres) northward from the Mojave Desert to the Cascade Range of northern California and Oregon, the Sierra Nevada varies from about 80 miles wide at Lake Tahoe to about 50 miles wide in the south. Its magnificent skyline and spectacular landscapes make it one of the most beautiful physical features of the United States. Biologically, it is home to the largest trees in the world—the giant sequoias (Sequoia). As a recreation centre, its year-round facilities prove a magnet to the inhabitants of the huge urban areas of California, and it has considerable importance as a source of power and water. It was the focus of the celebrated California gold rush.

      The Sierra Nevada range is an excellent example of how the human occupation and use of an area can modify its landscape. First mining and later logging and tourism have done more in 150 years to alter the flavour of the mountain scenery in many areas than the actions of ice and water over millennia.

Physical features

Physiography

      The Sierra Nevada is an asymmetrical range with its crest and high peaks decidedly toward the east. The peaks range from 11,000 to 14,000 feet (3,350 to 4,270 metres) above sea level, with Mount Whitney (Whitney, Mount), at 14,494 feet (4,418 metres), the highest peak in the coterminous United States. Summits in the northern portion are much lower, those north of Lake Tahoe reaching altitudes of only 7,000 to 9,000 feet.

      Much of the rock is granite or a near relative of granite. There are dividing bands of metamorphosed (heat- and pressure-altered) sedimentary rock—all that is left of a once extensive sedimentary basin—and some large areas of extrusive rock, especially from Lake Tahoe northward; at the northern limit of the Sierras, these rocks merge with the volcanic rocks of the Cascades.

Geology

      It has long been recognized that the Sierra Nevada is an upfaulted, tilted block of the Earth's crust. A major fault zone bounds the block on the east, and it was along this that the great mass that became the Sierra Nevada was uplifted and tilted westward. This explains the asymmetry of the range. As the block was uplifted the abrupt, east-facing escarpment was cut into by the erosive action of wind, rain, temperature change, frost, and ice, and a series of steep-gradient canyons developed. On its western flank, streams flow more gently down the geologic dip slope, creating massive alluvial fans that encroach into the Central Valley of California. Though the massive uplift began many millions of years ago, much of it occurred in the past two million years. The present-day relief of 10,000 to 11,000 feet along the eastern slopes in the southern Sierra Nevada attests to the tremendous uplift.

Drainage and glaciation

      The more gentle west-facing slope has been dissected by a series of streams, much longer than those of the eastern slope. Such rivers as the Yuba, American, Mokelumne, Stanislaus, Merced, and Kern have carved deep valleys into the predominant granite and some volcanics. All but the Kern drain either into the Sacramento River in the Central Valley on the north or into the San Joaquin (San Joaquin River) on the south, their waters ultimately reaching the Pacific Ocean through the combined delta of these two rivers at San Francisco Bay. The Kern River has internal drainage into the Buena Vista Lake basin, south of the San Joaquin River.

      During the Pleistocene (Pleistocene Epoch) Epoch, which started about 1,600,000 years ago and ended about 10,000 years ago, the river-eroded valleys were covered several times by great expanses of ice. Glacial climates developed and dissipated at least twice, and each time excessive snows built snow and ice fields and deep glaciers. The ice carved U-shaped valleys down to an elevation of about 5,000 feet on the western slopes. So much ice existed on the mountaintops that an ice cap was formed as the glaciers coalesced. This cap extended almost 200 miles from Lake Tahoe in the north to the southern high sierra near Mount Whitney.

      Extending from the cap were fingerlike valley glaciers, long on the more gentle western slopes but shorter on the sharply uplifted and steeper eastern face. The erosion caused by these glaciers is spectacular. It includes huge cirques (cirque) (amphitheatre-shaped basins with precipitous walls), moraines (accumulations of rock debris at the former glacier margins), and thousands of glacial lakes dotting the Alpine and subalpine landscape. Such striking and beautiful landforms are the focus of Yosemite National Park and the Lake Tahoe basin. Lake Tahoe is the largest and deepest Alpine lake in the world; it has a surface area of nearly 200 square miles and reaches a maximum depth of about 1,640 feet in its northwestern portion.

Climate

      The mid-latitude location of the range and its proximity to the moderating influence of the Pacific Ocean give the Sierra Nevada an unusually mild mountain climate. Although winter temperatures below 0° F (-18° C) are common in valley locations, they are rare on mountain slopes. The northwest-southeast orientation of the range, athwart the winter-storm tracks of central North America, produces copious precipitation during the wet season (November to April) on the windward (western) slopes, but a sharp rain-shadow effect occurs on the leeward (eastern) face. Precipitation averages from 30 inches (760 millimetres) in the western foothill zone to 70–80 inches between elevations of 4,500 to 6,500 feet in the northern half of the range. The leeward slopes receive substantially less—from 20 to 40 inches. Snowfall increases with elevation and latitude, the northern peaks of the range averaging 33 to 38 feet per year. As much as 5.5 feet has fallen in a single day at Echo Summit, and about 67 feet has been measured at the 7,085-foot Donner Pass. Snowpacks of 10 to 15 feet are not uncommon above altitudes of 7,000 feet.

      The Pacific High anticyclone, which dominates the wind pattern over the Sierra Nevada, is at its strongest in summer, when it draws dry air seaward across the mountains. Droughts of several years' duration—such as those of the mid-1930s, mid-1970s, and mid-1980s to early '90s—result when this high-pressure zone fails to loosen its grip during successive winters; when this occurs, the mid-latitude jet-stream storm track is weakened, split, or pushed to the north.

Plant life

      Generally speaking, there are five fairly distinct vegetation zones on the western slopes. The lower foothills support mostly deciduous trees and shrubs, as well as the evergreen interior live oak (Quercus wislizenii). Black oak, Ponderosa pine, and incense cedar occur in the upper foothills. The montane forest, which constitutes the primary commercial timber zone, contains Douglas fir, red fir, Jeffrey pine, and the celebrated big tree, or giant sequoia, for which Sequoia National Park was designated a public preserve. Lodgepole pine, mountain hemlock, Sierra juniper, and western white pine are among the trees of the subalpine forest. Mosses, lichens, and low-flowering Alpine plants prevail above the tree line. The arid eastern slopes support sagebrush, bitterbrush, juniper, piñon pine, and aspen. Chaparral, a shrublike assemblage of broad-leaved evergreen shrubs dominated by chamiso, scrub oak, manzanita, and ceonothus, grows in all but the Alpine zones on both sides of the range.

Animal life

      The large mammals most readily identified with mountainous regions became less plentiful in the Sierra Nevada in the 20th and early 21st century, in part because of increased human presence. Black bear inhabit a larger area than the more reclusive grizzly. The mule deer and its predator the mountain lion live in the foothills. There is evidence that the mountain lion population is making a comeback, which, combined with increasing human occupancy, poses a potential problem. Mountain sheep are now found only in the southern part of the range. Smaller mammals of the lower- and middle-elevation forests include the American badger, striped skunk, bobcat, golden beaver, and northern flying squirrel. The fisher and wolverine have become rare. At the upper limit of woody vegetation live the pika and marmot.

      The rich birdlife of the Sierra Nevada includes the Brewer blackbird, California horned lark, and pheasant of the lower valleys; the California quail, canyon wren, and roadrunner of the chaparral and foothills; mountain chickadee, spotted owl, and band-tailed pigeon in the timber zone; and goshawk and Hammond flycatcher in the upper forests. The pine grosbeak and white-toed woodpecker are among the birds of the subalpine zone.

      Some trout species are native to the streams of the Sierra Nevada, but others have been introduced; fish stocking is now common in all areas because of damming and other disturbances to the natural habitat. Salmon and steelhead reach the mountain rivers during spawning season.

The people and economy

      The American Indian inhabitants of the Sierra Nevada were divided into five main groups: the Yokut, Sierra Miwok, and Maidu on the western slopes and the Owens Valley Paiute (previously called the Eastern Mono) and the Washoe on the eastern. The hunting-and-gathering economy of these peoples had little permanent effect on the landscape other than locally through fires set to catch game. The first Europeans in the region were Spanish explorers and missionaries, who visited Alta (Upper) California beginning in the 1700s; their impact on the Sierra Nevada also was negligible. In the early 1800s Jedediah Smith, Joseph Walker, and other, less-celebrated American hunters and fur trappers passed through the region. In the mid-19th century the pristine serenity of the Sierra Nevada was ended as prospectors came, stayed, and stamped their mark on the region.

      The gold nuggets found in January 1848 on the American River (near present-day Placerville, Calif.) ushered in an international gold rush that was to have tremendous significance in the historical evolution not only of California but of the entire United States as well. Within two years of the initial discovery there were perhaps 50,000 working miners in the range. Banks, retail businesses, transportation facilities, timber operations, agriculture, and industry all arose and prospered in response to the needs of a burgeoning population. This economic boom hastened California's admission to the Union and fostered the region's first urban centres, notably San Francisco and Sacramento. By 1880 the gold era had peaked, though some mining activity has continued there since that time.

      The first crude mine roads were followed by the regional and transcontinental railroads built in the 1860s and '70s. The first paved highways crossed the Sierra Nevada in the 1920s. The central portion of the range, however, still lacks a year-round road or rail crossing. Rapid economic development has brought environmental compromise. The Lake Tahoe basin, for example, one of the most beautiful settings in any mountain region and thus a tourist magnet, now incurs periodic air and water pollution, traffic congestion, and sewage-disposal problems, as well as aesthetic degradation.

      The need for water and power (and, since World War II, recreation) also has changed the face of the Sierra Nevada. Three-fourths of the streams that drain the long western slopes are controlled. The first large water project in the early 1900s impounded the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite National Park for water use in San Francisco, inundating natural features that rivaled those of nearby Yosemite Valley. A more recent and extensive scheme is the California State Water Project, which was begun in the 1960s with the construction of the Oroville Dam on the Feather River in the northern Sierra Nevada.

Study and exploration

      For many readers, the naturalist John Muir's (Muir, John) My First Summer in the Sierra, a diary of camping and exploration in 1869, is one of the classics of American geographic writing. Muir, the founder of the Sierra Club (1892), a conservationist group concerned with the preservation of the scenic resources of the Sierra Nevada and like areas of the United States, dedicated his book to members of the club in 1911.

      Geologists have studied the Sierra Nevada systematically since the late 19th century. Especially significant studies concern the Mother Lode (Mother Lode Country) system, Jurassic (Jurassic Period) stratigraphy and its relation to intrusive granites, glacial erosion, placer gold, multiple intrusions, isotope ages, and chronology and nature of emplacement.

Armand J. Eardley John W. James

Additional Reading

On the natural history of the Sierra Nevada, classic accounts of explorations are found in Roderick Peattie (ed.), The Sierra Nevada (1947); John Muir, My First Summer in the Sierra (1911, reissued 1990), a classic of geographic writing, and The Wilderness World of John Muir, compiled by Edwin Way Teale (1954, reissued 1982); and Tracy I. Storer and Robert L. Usinger, Sierra Nevada Natural History: An Illustrated Handbook (1963). Analyses of the geology of the mountains are found in John L. Burnett, “Geology of the Lake Tahoe Basin,” California Geology, 24(7):119–127 (1971); Edward B. Scott, The Saga of Lake Tahoe: A Complete Documentation of Lake Tahoe's Development over the Last One Hundred Years (1957); and Mary Hill, Geology of the Sierra Nevada (1975). The climate is detailed in John W. James, “A Record-Breaking Sierra Nevada Snowfall: Its Meteorologic and Topographic Causes,” in American Meteorological Society, Third Conference on Mountain Meteorology (1984), pp. 144–146; and David H. Miller, Snow Cover and Climate in the Sierra Nevada (1955).John W. James

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