Great Divide Basin

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Great Divide Basin (also called the Great Divide Closed Basin) is located in south central Wyoming in the United States. The basin is a natural anticline in the surface of the land, and forms a self contained endorheic watershed. Along the Continental Divide at points to the north and the south of the basin, the divide splits in two and then reconnects, (see bifurcation), with the result being an area where all precipitation either sinks into the soil or evaporates. Though not without some grasses, the occasional shrub, and even small trees in some ravines, the land is dominated by numerous sand dunes, bluffs and alkali flats due to a combination of low precipitation and a high evaporation rate. The land area of the basin is 2.5 million acres (10,000 km²) and the altitude above sea level averages over 6,000 feet (1,800 m), and is under the supervision of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, an agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior which specializes in the management of rangeland and other multiple use lands that have not been designated as either a National Park or a National Monument. (While it takes an act of Congress to create a National Park, the President of the United States can designate a National Monument without consulting Congress.)

Many birds are found in the basin, such as the Sage Grouse and pheasant. Mammals include pronghorn antelope, Mule Deer, wild or feral horses, and the occasional elk. No major towns or cities are located in the basin, which has a human population of less than 500. Wamsutter is the only incorporated settlement.

The basin is considered one of the more promising locations for the mining of uranium and many oil and natural gas wells are found in the basin with more expected to be built. There is an ongoing debate between those that wish to utilize the resources within the basin and those that wish to see the basin become either a National Monument or a designated U.S. Wilderness Area.

Interstate 80 bisects the basin east to west and U.S. Highway 287 heading north from Rawlins, Wyoming traverses the eastern regions of the area.

[edit] External links

• Wyoming Outdoor Council. Programs - Red Desert - Great Divide. Retrieved on 2006-07-08.
• U. S. Environmental Protection Agency. Great Divide Closed Basin. Retrieved on 2006-07-08.
• Harrell, Lynn, L. (1989). The Buffalo Hump Site : late prehistoric occupation in the Great Divide Basin, Wyoming. U.S. Bureau of Land Management.
• The Wilderness Society. Montana-Wyoming Tribal Leaders Council Passes Resolution Supporting Protection of Southern Wyoming’s Great Divide Basin. Retrieved on 2006-07-08.
• Arrive.net. Energy Metals Corporation Adds 5 Uranium Deposits And 39.5 Million Pounds In The Great Divide Basin, Wyoming. Retrieved on 2006-07-08.
• Gonzalez, Angel, P. (2003). Stratigraphic Framework of the Fox Hills Sandstone and Lewis Shale, Great Divide Basin, Wyoming. Retrieved on 2006-07-08.