Escalante Desert

Escalante Desert
Desert
Escalante Desert looking southwest from the Lund Highway
Name origin: Silvestre Vélez de Escalante, who explored the area in 1776
Country United States
State Utah
Part of Escalante Desert-Sevier Lake watershed[1]
of Basin and Range Province
Highest point
 - location peripheral range
 - elevation 5,700 ft (1,737 m)
Lowest point [2]
 - location in Lund Flats ~1 mi northwest of Lund
 - elevation 5,069.5 ft (1,545 m)
Area 3,270 sq mi (8,469 km2) [3]
Biome Deserts and xeric shrublands
Points associated with the Escalante Desert[4]

The Escalante Desert is a geographic Great Basin region and arid desert ecoregion, in the Deserts and xeric shrublands Biome, located in southwestern Utah.

Geography

The Escalante Desert is northwest of Cedar City in Iron County, Utah, and extends into part of Millard County.[4] The region spans most of Iron County, which annually has 13 inches (330 mm) rainfall and 5.9 feet (1.8 m) snowfall.[5] The Escalante region also lies primarily between State Route 56 and Route 21, as well as north and west of Interstate 15.

From the Escalante Desert region's peripheral ridges, the elevation slowly declines to Lund Flats (38°01′19″N 113°26′20″W / 38.02194°N 113.43889°W / 38.02194; -113.43889),[4] which has railroad tracks between Milford and Lund.

Subsidence

Near Beryl Junction (37°42′34″N 113°39′22″W / 37.70944°N 113.65611°W / 37.70944; -113.65611)[4] are 3 fissures formed by suspected groundwater-related subsidence caused by groundwater extraction for agricultural irrigation.[6]

References

  1. ↑ "Escalante Desert-Sevier Lake: Subregion 1603, Accounting Unit 160300". USGS.gov. Retrieved 2010-05-03. 16,200 sq mi (42,000 km2)
  2. ↑ "USGS Elevation Web Service Query". United States Geological Survey. Archived from the original on 2010-05-27. Retrieved 2010-02-19. 5069.53 ft (Lund Flats)
  3. ↑ "Region 16: Great Basin Region". USGS.gov. Retrieved 2010-05-03.
  4. 1 2 3 4 U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Escalante Desert (1440959), Escalante Valley (1440962), Lund Flats (1430016), Lund (1430015), Beryl Junction (1437499)
  5. ↑ "Best Places to Live...Utah". BestPlaces.net. Iron County, UT, gets 13 inches of rain per year
  6. ↑ William R. Lund, Southern Utah Office (December 21, 2005). "Earth Fissures near Beryl Junction in the Escalante Desert". Archived from the original on December 17, 2005.


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