Upper Mesa Falls

Upper Mesa Falls

Upper Mesa Falls in June, 2008
Location Fremont County, Idaho
Coordinates 44°11′16″N 111°19′48″W / 44.18778°N 111.33000°W / 44.18778; -111.33000
Type Block
Elevation 5,600 feet (1,707 m)
Total height 114 feet (35 m)[1]
Watercourse Henrys Fork (Snake River)

Upper Mesa Falls is a waterfall on the Henrys Fork in the Caribou-Targhee National Forest. Upstream from Lower Mesa Falls, it is roughly 16 miles (26 km) away from Ashton, Idaho.[2]

Upper Mesa Falls is roughly 114 feet (35 m) high and 200 feet (61 m) wide.[3]

Formation

Mesa Falls Tuff, which is the rock over which Upper Mesa Falls cascades, was formed 1.3 million years ago. A cycle of rhyolitic volcanism from the Henrys Fork caldera deposited a thick layer of rock and ash across the area.[4] This layer compressed and hardened over time.

Between 200,000 and 600,000 years ago, the river eroded a wide canyon which was subsequently partly filled with basalt lava flows. The Henrys Fork of the Snake River then carved the channel through the basalt; which is the inner canyon seen today.

See also

Video of the Upper Mesa Falls

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Upper Mesa Falls.
  1. ↑ "Upper Mesa Falls, Idaho". Public Lands Information Center. 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-13.
  2. ↑ "Upper Mesa Falls". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved January 15, 2015.
  3. ↑ "Mesa Falls Near Ashton Idaho".
  4. ↑ Shallat, Todd A; Bentley, E B (1994). Snake: the plain and its people. Boise, ID: Boise State University. p. 53. ISBN 978-0-932129-12-3. OCLC 31689273.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, September 09, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.