Reasons for the formation of Rocky Mountain

The Rocky Mountains experienced the formation process of 1 100 million years, and interpreted a spectacular and dramatic history of landform changes. At first, it was a huge geosyncline. Until the early Cretaceous, it was still a shallow sea with rippling blue waves, where all kinds of creatures lived freely. Later, the area began to rise, and finally changed from sea to land. In order to survive, all kinds of creatures have waged a life-and-death struggle with nature. Some people survived, while others disappeared from this planet forever. Then there was an avalanche-like large-scale orogeny in this area, and the magma was suppressed for hundreds of millions of years. At this moment, it suddenly rushed out of the ground, illuminating this land that has been silent for hundreds of millions of years, and many animals fled in fear. The earth's crust has undergone intense folding and compression, and the mountains have risen, forming a huge granite mountain system. After the anger subsided, the mountains were eroded by glaciers, leaving behind steep glacial landforms such as tinder and ice bucket valleys. After this long orogeny, the Rocky Mountains finally stood like giants on the vast land of North America.

At the end of Cretaceous, it folded into mountains, and after long-term weathering, it rose again at the end of Tertiary, accompanied by extensive volcanic activity. The mountains are large, the structure and topography are complex, and the difference between north and south is obvious. The Rocky Mountain in the north of Huangshi National Park is based on the long folds and thrust structures in the east, and is characterized by the interval between NNW-SE strip mountains and fault valleys. The western United States is deeply cut, with mountains and valleys crisscrossing. Yellowstone National Park has a great width from the Rocky Mountain in Wyoming Basin. Fold and thrust structures are developed in the west, with alternating valleys; The eastern part is dominated by a single anticlinal uplift, and the mountains extend intermittently with different trends, with a wide syncline basin between them. The South Rocky Mountain in the south of Wyoming Basin is composed of two groups of anticline folded mountains parallel to the north and south, with Precambrian crystalline rocks exposed and towering mountains. There are 48 peaks above 4,200 meters above sea level, such as Mount Albert, which is the most majestic part of the whole mountain range. In the Quaternary, the Rocky Mountains experienced intense glaciation. Glacier erosion landforms such as tinder, ice beans and U-shaped valleys are widely distributed. There are modern glaciers on high-altitude peaks, especially in the northern Rocky Mountains at high latitudes.

Vegetation in mountainous areas has the characteristics of vertical differentiation, and the vertical zoning map is subject to height, latitude and slope direction. For example, the upper boundary of the forest belt gradually decreases from south to north; The lower limit is that the wet west slope is lower than the dry east slope. Conifer species such as Pinus ponderosa, Douglas fir, tent pine, larch and spruce are widely distributed.

An important climatic dividing line in the North American continent. It acts as a barrier to the eastward invasion of the polar Pacific air mass and the westward invasion of the polar Canadian air mass or the tropical Gulf of Mexico air mass, resulting in a huge difference in precipitation between the eastern and western parts of the mainland, which has a certain impact on the temperature distribution. The rain in winter is mainly in the west. Except for coastal areas and windward slopes north of latitude 40, the annual precipitation is below 500 mm, and the temperature in winter is higher than that in the eastern part of the same latitude. The eastern part is dominated by summer rain, and the annual precipitation is above 500 mm, except for the northern high latitude area and some great plains areas close to mountainous areas.

The most important watershed in the North American continent, except the St. Lawrence River, almost all the major rivers in North America originate here. The rivers to the west of the mountain range belong to the Pacific water system, and the rivers to the east of the mountain range belong to the Arctic Ocean water system and the Atlantic Ocean water system respectively.

Natural obstacles to east-west traffic in North America. However, there are also a few mountain passes that can pass through railways and highways. At present, there are 9 railways crossing.

Rich in mineral resources, it is a famous metal mining area in North America, zinc in Sullivan, Canada, copper, silver, zinc and lead in Bayut and Bingham, lead, silver and zinc in Cordalen, molybdenum in Colemax, etc. , are all famous. Logging owners should be located in the humid mountains of Montana and northern Idaho. Animal husbandry (cattle and sheep) is mainly distributed in the southern Rocky Mountain, with the mountainous area as summer pasture and the basin as winter pasture. Agricultural management is limited to valleys with good soil quality and irrigation conditions or areas suitable for dry farming.

The scenery of this mountain is strange and beautiful. With the development of transportation, tourism has developed rapidly. There are national parks such as Rocky Mountain, Yellowstone National Park, Grand Teton and Glacier, as well as tourist attractions such as Moon Crater, Dinosaur, Big Dune and Black Canyon of Ganeshan River. Mountain cities are small, mostly built with the development of mining industry, or are transportation and sightseeing centers.