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This view of the Snake Range was taken along the Great Basin National Park access road near the 6,000 foot elevation level. The alluvial fans along the lower flank of the mountain range are mostly covered with sagebrush. The modern basin-and-range topography of the Great Basin began developing only about 30 million years ago. The region is still experiencing tectonic development (with regional earthquakes as evidence) and erosion. The Great Basin is gradually being stretched apart as coastal North America (much of California, Oregon and Washington) is moving to the northwest relative to the rest of the North American continent. This stretch produced a great series of faults where one side sank while the opposite side rose. This tectonic motion over a period of many millions of years resulted in the uplift of the mountain ranges relative to the subsidence of the intervening basins. |
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