Vesta Temple Explained

Vesta Temple
Label:Vesta Temple
Label Position:bottom
Elevation Ft:6299
Elevation Ref:[1]
Prominence Ft:889
Isolation Mi:1.27
Isolation Ref:[2]
Parent Peak:Diana Temple (6,683 ft)
Country:United States
State:Arizona
Region:Coconino
Region Type:County
Part Type:Protected area
Part:Grand Canyon National Park
Range:Coconino Plateau
Colorado Plateau
Map:Arizona#USA 
Map Size:230
Coordinates:36.0935°N -112.269°W
Coordinates Ref:[3]
Topo:USGS Piute Point
Rock:limestone, sandstone, mudstone
First Ascent:Alan Doty

Vesta Temple is a 6299feet summit located in the Grand Canyon, in Coconino County of northern Arizona, US.[3] It is situated eight miles west-northwest of Grand Canyon Village, and immediately northeast of Mimbreno Point. Marsh Butte is one mile northeast, Eremita Mesa immediately southeast, and nearest higher neighbor Diana Temple is one mile north. Topographic relief is significant as Vesta Temple rises 3900abbr=offNaNabbr=off above the Colorado River in 2.5 miles. Vesta Temple is named for Vesta, the goddess of the hearth, home, and family according to Roman mythology.[4] Clarence Dutton began the practice of naming geographical features in the Grand Canyon after mythological deities.[5] This geographical feature's toponym was officially adopted in 1908 by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names.[3] According to the Köppen climate classification system, Vesta Temple is located in a Cold semi-arid climate zone.[6]

Geology

The summit of Vesta Temple is composed of Permian Kaibab Limestone and Toroweap Formation overlaying cream-colored, cliff-forming, Permian Coconino Sandstone.[7] The sandstone, which is the third-youngest of the strata in the Grand Canyon, was deposited 265 million years ago as sand dunes. Below the Coconino Sandstone is reddish, slope-forming, Permian Hermit Formation, which in turn overlays the Pennsylvanian-Permian Supai Group.[8] Further down are strata of the conspicuous cliff-forming Mississippian Redwall Limestone, the Cambrian Tonto Group, and finally granite of the Paleoproterozoic Vishnu Basement Rocks at river level in Granite Gorge. Precipitation runoff from Vesta Temple drains northeast to the Colorado River via Topaz Canyon and Boucher Creek.

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. 77133. Vesta Temple, Arizona. 2021-02-01.
  2. Web site: Vesta Temple – 6,299' AZ . Lists of John . 2021-02-01 .
  3. 13220 . Vesta Temple . 2021-02-01.
  4. N.H. Darton, Story of the Grand Canyon of Arizona, 1917, page 81.
  5. Randy Moore and Kara Felicia Witt, The Grand Canyon: An Encyclopedia of Geography, History, and Culture, 2018, ABC-CLIO Publisher, page 151.
  6. Peel, M. C. . Finlayson, B. L. . McMahon, T. A. . 2007 . Updated world map of the Köppen−Geiger climate classification . Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. . 11 . 5 . 1633 . 10.5194/hess-11-1633-2007 . 2007HESS...11.1633P . 9654551 . 1027-5606 . free .
  7. N.H. Darton, Story of the Grand Canyon of Arizona, 1917.
  8. William Kenneth Hamblin, Anatomy of the Grand Canyon: Panoramas of the Canyon's Geology, 2008, Grand Canyon Association Publisher, .