Needle Rock Natural Area

Needle Rock Natural Area^[1] is located at the western edge of the West Elk Mountains of Colorado. The surrounding terrain is characterized by laccolithic mountains flanked by precipitous cliffs, extensive talus aprons, forested mesas, canyons, and spacious, well-watered intermontane basins.^[2] Needle Rock is an intrusive plug of monzonite porphyry^[3] cropping out 3.5 miles (5.6 km) east-northeast (bearing 68°) of the Town of Crawford in Delta County, Colorado, United States. With an elevation of 7,797 feet (2,377 m),^[4] the towering rock spire stands 800 feet (240 m) tall above the floor of the Smith Fork of the Gunnison River valley. The massive rock feature originated in the Oligocene geological epoch when magma intruded between existing sedimentary rocks^[5] as the crown of a buried laccolith^[3] or possibly the underlying conduit of a laccolith.^[2] Subsequent erosion has exposed the prominent rock formation seen in the natural area today.

Needle Rock[1]
Needle Rock in 2016.
Highest point
Elevation	7,797 ft (2,377 m)
Coordinates	38°43′28″N 107°33′00″W
Geography
Needle Rock Colorado
Location	Delta County, Colorado, U.S.
Parent range	West Elk Mountains
Topo map	USGS 7.5' topographic map Crawford, Colorado
Geology
Age of rock	c.a. 28 Ma
Mountain type	Igneous Intrusion
Climbing
Easiest route	rock

The Needle Rock Natural Area is managed by the Bureau of Land Management.^[6]

See also

• Geology portal
• Geography portal
• North America portal
• United States portal
• Colorado portal
• Mountains portal

• West Elk Mountains
• List of Colorado mountain ranges
• List of Colorado mountain summits
  • List of Colorado fourteeners
  • List of Colorado 4000 meter prominent summits
  • List of the most prominent summits of Colorado
• List of Colorado county high points

References

1. "Needle Rock". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
2. "Mineral Resources of the West Elk Wilderness and Vicinity, Delta and Gunnison Counties, Colorado: Open-file report 77-751, 110 pp" (PDF). Department of the Interior: United States Geological Survey. 1977.
3. Noe, D. C., and Alexander T. Klink. “OF-15-06 Geologic Map of the Crawford Quadrangle, Delta and Montrose Counties, Colorado.” Geologic, 1:24,000. Open File Report. Golden, CO: Colorado Geological Survey, 2015.
4. The elevation of Needle Rock includes an adjustment of +1.473 m (+4.83 ft) from NGVD 29 to NAVD 88.
5. "America's Volcanic Past: Colorado". Vancouver, Washington: USGS: Cascades Volcano Observatory (CVO). Archived from the original on 2006-09-23. Retrieved 2011-10-13.
6. BLM Needle Rock Natural Area Webpage

External links

Needle Rock Article - summitpost.org