La Sal Mountains

La Sal Mountains
La Sal Mountains as seen from Arches National Park
Highest point
Peak	Mount Peale
Elevation	12,721 ft (3,877 m)
Coordinates	38°26′19″N 109°13′45″W / 38.43861°N 109.22917°W / 38.43861; -109.22917
Geography
La Sal Mountains Location of the La Sal Range within Utah
Country	United States
State	Utah
Range coordinates	38°26′56″N 109°14′28″W / 38.44889°N 109.24111°W / 38.44889; -109.24111
Parent range	Rocky Mountains

The La Sal Mountains or La Sal Range is a mountain range located in Grand and San Juan counties in the U.S. state of Utah, along the border with Colorado. The range rises above and southeast of Moab and north of the town of La Sal. This range is part of the Manti-La Sal National Forest and the southern Rocky Mountains. The maximum elevation is at Mount Peale, reaching 12,721 feet (3,877 m) above sea level.

The range contains three clusters of peaks separated by passes. The peaks span a distance of about 10 miles (16 km). The name of the range dates to Spanish times, when the Sierra La Sal (meaning the "Salt Mountains") was a prominent landmark on the Old Spanish Trail between Santa Fe and Los Angeles.

The range formed due to intrusion of igneous rocks and subsequent erosion of the surrounding less-resistant sedimentary rocks. The most abundant igneous rocks are porphyritic, with phenocrysts of hornblende and plagioclase: these rocks are called diorite in some accounts, but trachyte in at least one other source. Syenite, some containing the unusual mineral nosean, makes up a few percent of the igneous rocks present. Some igneous intrusions have the shapes of laccoliths. The ages of these igneous rocks fall between 25 and 28 million years. The magmas were emplaced into sedimentary rocks with ages from Permian to Cretaceous.

The La Sal Mountains rise high over the surrounding Colorado Plateau. Two other ranges on the Plateau, the Abajo Mountains and the Henry Mountains, formed around igneous intrusions of about the same age. Yet other nearby ranges, such as the Carrizo Mountains and Ute Mountain, formed about otherwise similar intrusions emplaced about 70 million years ago. The formation of these igneous rocks in two distinct time intervals has attracted the interest of scientists seeking explanations for magma production below relatively stable parts of the Earth's crust.

• 
  The La Sals at Sunset from Gemini Bridges Road
• 
  View of Horse Mountain in winter, looking to the east on La Sal Loop Road, in Pinhook Valley, Utah
• 
  View of the La Sal mountains from the entrance to Arches National Park
• 
  Little Tuk (left) and Mt. Tukuhnikivatz (right) of the La Sal Range in summer, seen from the south.

• Geyser Pass

Jules D. Friedman and A. Curtis Huffman Jr., Coordinators, Laccolith Complexes of Southeastern Utah: Time of Emplacement and Tectonic Setting—Workshop Proceedings, United States Geological Survey Bulletin 2158, 292 pages, 1998. http://pubs.usgs.gov/bul/b2158/B2158.pdf

• (1994) "La Sal Mountains" article in the Utah History Encyclopedia. The article was written by Robert McPherson and the Encyclopedia was published by the University of Utah Press. ISBN 9780874804256. Archived from the original on March 21, 2024 and retrieved on June 17, 2024.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to La Sal Mountains.

• Manti La Sal National Forest