Needle Rock Natural Area Explained

Needle Rock
Label:	Needle Rock
Elevation Ft:	7797
Range:	West Elk Mountains
Location:	Delta County, Colorado, U.S.
Map:	Colorado
Coordinates:	38.7244°N -107.5501°W
Topo:	USGS 7.5' topographic map Crawford, Colorado
Type:	Igneous Intrusion
Age:	c.a. 28 Ma
Easiest Route:	rock

Needle Rock Natural Area^[1] is located at the western edge of the West Elk Mountains of Colorado. The surrounding terrain is characterized by laccolithic mountains flanked by precipitous cliffs, extensive talus aprons, forested mesas, canyons, and spacious, well-watered intermontane basins.^[2] Needle Rock is an intrusive plug of monzonite porphyry^[3] cropping out 5.6km (03.5miles) east-northeast (bearing 68°) of the Town of Crawford in Delta County, Colorado, United States. With an elevation of 7797feet,^[4] the towering rock spire stands 800feet tall above the floor of the Smith Fork of the Gunnison River valley. The massive rock feature originated in the Oligocene geological epoch when magma intruded between existing sedimentary rocks^[5] as the crown of a buried laccolith or possibly the underlying conduit of a laccolith. Subsequent erosion has exposed the prominent rock formation seen in the natural area today.

The Needle Rock Natural Area is managed by the Bureau of Land Management.^[6]

See also

• West Elk Mountains
• 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

References

External links

Needle Rock Article - summitpost.org

Notes and References

1. 186724. Needle Rock.
2. Web site: Mineral Resources of the West Elk Wilderness and Vicinity, Delta and Gunnison Counties, Colorado: Open-file report 77-751, 110 pp. . PDF . Department of the Interior: United States Geological Survey . 1977.
3. Noe, D. C., and Alexander T. Klink. “OF-15-06 Geologic Map of the Crawford Quadrangle, Delta and Montrose Counties, Colorado.” Geologic, 1:24,000. Open File Report. Golden, CO: Colorado Geological Survey, 2015.
4. The elevation of Needle Rock includes an adjustment of +1.473 m (+4.83 ft) from NGVD 29 to NAVD 88.
5. Web site: America's Volcanic Past: Colorado . USGS: Cascades Volcano Observatory (CVO) . Vancouver, Washington . 2011-10-13 . https://web.archive.org/web/20060923100528/http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/LivingWith/VolcanicPast/Places/volcanic_past_colorado.html . 2006-09-23 . dead .
6. https://www.blm.gov/visit/search-details/16723/2 BLM Needle Rock Natural Area Webpage