Cochise College Student Papers in Geology
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Roger Weller, geology instructor
Chiricahuas
Kim McGee
Physical Geology
Fall 2005
The Chiricahua National
Park, Arizona
Also known as the Wonderland of Rocks the Chiricahua National Park is located 36
miles southwest of Willcox. Once you are in the park there is an 8-mile paved
road through scenic Bonita Canyon, climbing gradually up the crest at 6,870 feet
in elevation. There are more than 20 miles of trails and hiking, which is the
best way to view the many balancing rock configurations.
The park covers a 12,000-acre mountain ranges and valleys with the most breathing taking views ever imagined. The amazing rock formations consist of massive columns, towering rock spires, and huge boulders perched atop tiny pedestals.
The agave is among the beautiful plant wildlife as you can see here while in bloom. A variety of birds are also located here and birders often visit the park hoping to catch a glimpse of their favorites. The mountains encompass many different species of birds because of the many different habitats that are located here. From deep canyons to grasslands to the high elevation sky islands this land is full of hummingbirds to owls. Some of the varieties of hummingbirds found here are the famous Blue-throated hummingbird and the magnificent Black-chinned hummingbird. There are more than a dozen species of owls such as, The Western Screech owl, the Whiskered Screech owl, the Great Horned owl, the Flammulated owl, and the Elf owl.
The first picture is called the Head of Cochise and the next one is called the China boy. There are thousands of different pictures that you see while gazing at the beautifully stacked rock formations. Over 27 million years ago there was a huge volcanic eruption; it was 1000 times larger than Mt. St. Helens eruption, which happened in 1980.
More than
2000 feet of highly siliceous ash and pumice mixture were tossed about which
fused into a rock called rhyolitic tuff and eventually eroded, as you can see in
these photos.
Spires- vertical and horizontal joints and fractures formed as the volcanic ash cooled and shrank due to erosion from water and ice. Wind spiral columns are the result of this relentless erosion making for the strange and sometimes scary rock formations above you high in the sky.
On
April 18, 1924 the park became The Chiricahua National Monument by proclamation
by then president Calvin Coolidge. He concluded that “certain natural
formations known as the Pinnacles are of scientific interest. The public
interests will be promoted by reserving as much land as may be necessary for the
proper protection thereof, as a National Monument”.
Other species of
birds found here are the Hepatic Tanager, the Red-faced Warbler, and the Elegant
Trogon. The Mexican trees such as the Chihuahua Pine and the Apache Pine are
very common wildlife here. Botanists agree that this Monument contains greater
plant life than any area of equal size.
The Name of the Monument and the mountain range is in honor of the Indian
tribe called the Chiricahua Apaches and in Apache language Chiricahua means
“Great Mountain”.
Works Cited
http://www.americansouthwest.net/arizona/chiricahua/national_monument.html
http://gorp.away.com/gorp/resource/us_nm/az_chiri.htm
http://www.us-parks.com/chiricahua
http://www.amwest-ravel.com/awt_chiricahua.html
http://www.americansouthwest.net/arizona/chiricahua/national_monument.html
