Great Divide Basin
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The Great Divide Basin is a 3,860 square mile (10,000 km²) endorheic drainage basin in south central Wyoming, located between the Atlantic and Pacific drainage basins. North and south of it, the water divide is defined by the Continental Divide. The water divide bifurcates to the eastern and western perimeters of the Great Divide Basin. The Basin is formed by a geologic anticline.
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 average altitude is over 6,000 feet (1,800 m). The basin is a part of the larger Red Desert region which is under the supervision of the United States' Bureau of Land Management, an agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior which manages rangeland and other multiple-use lands that have not been designated as national parks or a national monuments.
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 drilled. 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] See also
[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.
- Great Divide Basin is at coordinates Coordinates:
