Battleship Rock

Location in Utah

Show map of Utah

Battleship Rock

Battleship Rock (the United States)

Show map of the United States

LocationValley of the Gods
San Juan County, Utah, U.S.Parent rangeColorado PlateauTopo mapUSGS Cigarette Spring CaveGeologyAge of rockPermianMountain typeButteType of rockSandstoneClimbingEasiest routeclass 5.2 climbing^[1]

Battleship Rock is a 5,422-foot-elevation (1,653-meter) summit in San Juan County, Utah, United States.

Description

Battleship Rock is situated 15.5 miles (24.9 km) west of Bluff, Utah, in the Valley of the Gods, on land administered by the Bureau of Land Management.^[3] Precipitation runoff from this iconic landform's slopes drains to the San Juan River via Lime Creek. Access to the butte is via the 17-mile Valley of the Gods Road which passes near this butte. Topographic relief is significant as the summit rises nearly 600 feet (183 meters) above the valley floor in 0.25 mile (0.4 km). This landform's toponym has been officially adopted by the United States Board on Geographic Names.^[2]

Geology

Battleship Rock is composed of two principal strata of the Cutler Formation. The bottom layer is slope-forming Halgaito Formation and the upper stratum is cliff-forming Cedar Mesa Sandstone.^[4] Cedar Mesa Sandstone is the remains of coastal sand dunes deposited about 270 to 300 million years ago, during the Wolfcampian (early Permian).^[5] The buttes of Valley of the Gods are the result of the Halgaito Formation being more easily eroded than the overlaying sandstone. The valley floor is Honaker Trail Formation.^[6]

Climate

Spring and fall are the most favorable seasons to visit Battleship Rock. According to the Köppen climate classification system, it is located in a cold semi-arid climate zone with cold winters and hot summers.^[7] Summers highs rarely exceed 100 °F (38 °C). Summer nights are comfortably cool, and temperatures drop quickly after sunset. Winters are cold, but daytime highs are usually above freezing. Winter temperatures below 0 °F (−18 °C) are uncommon, though possible. This desert climate receives less than 10 inches (250 millimeters) of annual rainfall, and snowfall is generally light during the winter.

Gallery

North aspect
Battleship Rock to right
Northwest aspect
West aspect
Northwest aspect

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "Battleship Rock - 5,422' UT". listsofjohn.com. Retrieved 2024-08-31.
^ ^a ^b "Battleship Rock". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved 2024-08-31.
^ Valley of the Gods, Bureau of Land Management, Retrieved 2024-08-31.
^ Robert Brett O'Sullivan, Geology of the Cedar Mesa-Boundary Butte Area, San Juan County, Utah, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1965, p. 34.
^ Baars, D.L. (1962). "Permian System of Colorado Plateau". AAPG Bulletin. 46 (2): 149–218. doi:10.1306/BC74376F-16BE-11D7-8645000102C1865D.
^ Dan S. Chaney, The Carboniferous-Permian Transition, New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, 2013, p. 64.
^ Peel, M. C.; Finlayson, B. L. & McMahon, T. A. (2007). "Updated world map of the Köppen−Geiger climate classification". Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. 11 (5): 1633–1644. Bibcode:2007HESS...11.1633P. doi:10.5194/hess-11-1633-2007. ISSN 1027-5606. S2CID 9654551.