Uncompahgre Peak
Geology (Uncompahgre Peak) Title: Lake City, where the ash flows like water Entered by: WSC_Geologist12 Added: 1/31/2012, Last Updated: 1/31/2012 Sources: Lipman, P.W., 1976, Geologic map of the Lake City Caldera area, western San Juan Mountains, southwestern Colorado: U.S. Geological Survey, Miscellaneous Investigations Series Map I-962, scale 1:48000. The title says it all. The rocks in the area of Uncompahgre Peak, Nellie Creek, and Ultimately the Henson Creek drainage are what I like to think of as a volcanic nightmare. If you only want to hear about the rock types, then scroll through my history story to the bottom, where I describe the rock types. Picture it this way: 32 Million Years ago the San Juan region was dominated by volcanic activity, think Mordor from Lord of the Rings (maybe less rugged, but there is no way to know). Each time a volcano erupted (there were quite a few) it left a deposit in the form of ash, lava, or breccia. Some volcanoes held their eruptions to the last minute before blowing their tops in an extremely violent manner. After eruption, the volcano's magma chamber is left empty and the weight of the volcano collapses in on the magma chamber likely rattling everything around (I've always wondered if this is an instantaneous process, if so it would be extreme. Unfortunately no humans were around 32 Million Years ago to tell me). At this point all the rocks and soils are shifted and fault as a result of the ever changing topography. The resulting landform is a "caldera" which we see now as a ring shaped fault that outlines the flanks of the volcano that erupted. This happened a total of 13 times in the San Juan Mountains. There are 4 separate calderas in the Lake City Region, the Uncompahgre Caldera, the Silverton Caldera, the Lake City Caldera, and the San Juan Caldera. Every time these calderas collapsed they shifted the landscape which causes the rock layers to tilt (dip), and overturn to whatever position they rested. Today the mountains do NOT reflect the shape of the ancient volcanoes and it is difficult to distinguish what rocks came from what volcanoes, let alone determine where the center of the volcanoes are. The majority of the mountains in the region are composed of the ash, lava, or breccia that was deposited by these volcanoes. That brings us to Uncompahgre. Uncompahgre Peak has been mapped as a sequence of 3 separate lava flow units that are unique to the peak. All other evidence of these flows has been eroded. Take a look at the images attached I have drawn approximate lines where the contact between these units exists (extrapolated from the map cited below). The bottom layer of the flows is a sequence of Andesite. The next layer, observed by the mappers only on the west face is essentially sedimentary, originated from mudflows that flowed down the flanks of a volcano. The composition of this unit is volcanic clasts bound together by ash and mud (weathered/eroded ash). The upper unit which makes up the most of the peak is a Quartz Latite which for general terms is Ryolite. These can be distinguished from the lower andesite by composition. These three units lie on top of the Carpenter Ridge Tuff, which is a very thick unit composed of ash that likely flowed down the flanks of an ancient volcano. Most of the units near Lake City have this origin. For more information see a local geologist, or check out the geologic map of the area: Geolgic map of the Lake City Caldera area 1976. Thanks for reading! Largest Version Largest Version
Name History (Uncompahgre Peak) Title: Naming of Uncompahgre Peak Entered by: 14erFred Added: 5/14/2010, Last Updated: 5/14/2010 Sources: Borneman, W.R., & Lampert, L.J. (1978). A climbing guide to Colorado's Fourteeners. Boulder, CO: Pruett Publishing Company. Eberhart, P., & Schmuck, P. (1970). The Fourteeners: Colorado's great mountains. Chicago: The Swallow Press. Hart, J.L.J. (1977). Fourteen thousand feet: A history of the naming and early ascents of the high Colorado peaks (Second Edition). Denver, CO: The Colorado Mountain Club. Historians disagree about the exact origin of the mountain's name. The earliest recorded sighting of the mountain was by Lieutenant E.G. Beckwith, official recorder for the Gunnison Expedition of 1853, who called it Uncompahgre. Some scholars contend that "Uncompahgre" is a derivation from the ancient Ute words that mean hot ("unca") water ("pah") spring ("gre"). Others argue that the mountain's name is a distortion of the Ute word "ancapogari," which means "red lake." Both of these possible word-origins seem to refer to the natural reddish hot springs, located near the present-day town of Ouray (about 12 miles WSW of the mountain), that were a favorite campground of the Utes. Another early recorded sighting of Uncompahgre was from Engineer Pass (about 9.5 miles SW of the mountain) by E.H. Rufner, during a reconnaissance of the Ute Indian territory in 1873. Apparently unaware of Beckwith's earlier sighting, Rufner named the peak "Mt. Chavenet," in honor of a professor of astronomy at Washington University in St. Louis. Contributing to the host of names by which the peak was known, early miners in the area referred to it as "the Leaning Tower" or "Capitol Mountain."

Uncompahgre Peak

Geology (Uncompahgre Peak)

Title: Lake City, where the ash flows like water
Entered by: WSC_Geologist12
Added: 1/31/2012, Last Updated: 1/31/2012
Sources: Lipman, P.W., 1976, Geologic map of the Lake City Caldera area, western San Juan Mountains, southwestern Colorado: U.S. Geological Survey, Miscellaneous Investigations Series Map I-962, scale 1:48000.

The title says it all. The rocks in the area of Uncompahgre Peak, Nellie Creek, and Ultimately the Henson Creek drainage are what I like to think of as a volcanic nightmare. If you only want to hear about the rock types, then scroll through my history story to the bottom, where I describe the rock types.
Picture it this way: 32 Million Years ago the San Juan region was dominated by volcanic activity, think Mordor from Lord of the Rings (maybe less rugged, but there is no way to know). Each time a volcano erupted (there were quite a few) it left a deposit in the form of ash, lava, or breccia. Some volcanoes held their eruptions to the last minute before blowing their tops in an extremely violent manner. After eruption, the volcano's magma chamber is left empty and the weight of the volcano collapses in on the magma chamber likely rattling everything around (I've always wondered if this is an instantaneous process, if so it would be extreme. Unfortunately no humans were around 32 Million Years ago to tell me). At this point all the rocks and soils are shifted and fault as a result of the ever changing topography. The resulting landform is a "caldera" which we see now as a ring shaped fault that outlines the flanks of the volcano that erupted. This happened a total of 13 times in the San Juan Mountains. There are 4 separate calderas in the Lake City Region, the Uncompahgre Caldera, the Silverton Caldera, the Lake City Caldera, and the San Juan Caldera. Every time these calderas collapsed they shifted the landscape which causes the rock layers to tilt (dip), and overturn to whatever position they rested.
Today the mountains do NOT reflect the shape of the ancient volcanoes and it is difficult to distinguish what rocks came from what volcanoes, let alone determine where the center of the volcanoes are. The majority of the mountains in the region are composed of the ash, lava, or breccia that was deposited by these volcanoes. That brings us to Uncompahgre.
Uncompahgre Peak has been mapped as a sequence of 3 separate lava flow units that are unique to the peak. All other evidence of these flows has been eroded.
Take a look at the images attached I have drawn approximate lines where the contact between these units exists (extrapolated from the map cited below). The bottom layer of the flows is a sequence of Andesite. The next layer, observed by the mappers only on the west face is essentially sedimentary, originated from mudflows that flowed down the flanks of a volcano. The composition of this unit is volcanic clasts bound together by ash and mud (weathered/eroded ash). The upper unit which makes up the most of the peak is a Quartz Latite which for general terms is Ryolite. These can be distinguished from the lower andesite by composition. These three units lie on top of the Carpenter Ridge Tuff, which is a very thick unit composed of ash that likely flowed down the flanks of an ancient volcano. Most of the units near Lake City have this origin.
For more information see a local geologist, or check out the geologic map of the area: Geolgic map of the Lake City Caldera area 1976.
Thanks for reading!

Largest Version

Name History (Uncompahgre Peak)

Title: Naming of Uncompahgre Peak
Entered by: 14erFred
Added: 5/14/2010, Last Updated: 5/14/2010
Sources: Borneman, W.R., & Lampert, L.J. (1978). A climbing guide to Colorado's Fourteeners. Boulder, CO: Pruett Publishing Company. Eberhart, P., & Schmuck, P. (1970). The Fourteeners: Colorado's great mountains. Chicago: The Swallow Press. Hart, J.L.J. (1977). Fourteen thousand feet: A history of the naming and early ascents of the high Colorado peaks (Second Edition). Denver, CO: The Colorado Mountain Club.

Historians disagree about the exact origin of the mountain's name. The earliest recorded sighting of the mountain was by Lieutenant E.G. Beckwith, official recorder for the Gunnison Expedition of 1853, who called it Uncompahgre. Some scholars contend that "Uncompahgre" is a derivation from the ancient Ute words that mean hot ("unca") water ("pah") spring ("gre"). Others argue that the mountain's name is a distortion of the Ute word "ancapogari," which means "red lake." Both of these possible word-origins seem to refer to the natural reddish hot springs, located near the present-day town of Ouray (about 12 miles WSW of the mountain), that were a favorite campground of the Utes.

Another early recorded sighting of Uncompahgre was from Engineer Pass (about 9.5 miles SW of the mountain) by E.H. Rufner, during a reconnaissance of the Ute Indian territory in 1873. Apparently unaware of Beckwith's earlier sighting, Rufner named the peak "Mt. Chavenet," in honor of a professor of astronomy at Washington University in St. Louis. Contributing to the host of names by which the peak was known, early miners in the area referred to it as "the Leaning Tower" or "Capitol Mountain."

Geology (Uncompahgre Peak)

Name History (Uncompahgre Peak)

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