|
|
|
Home > Colorado
|
Colorado
The State of Colorado is described as the geo-ellipsoidal rectangle that extends from 102°03'W to 109°03'W longitude and 37°N to 41°N latitude or 25°W to 32°W starting from the Washington Meridian. Utah, Wyoming, and Colorado are the solitary three U.S. states that have merely lines of longitude and latitude for boundaries and that contain no natural borders. Conversely, in putting the margin markers the surveyors made quite a few small mistakes creating a noticeable kink on the edge among Utah and Colorado. The surveyors' markers previously decided upon by the interested parties develop into the legal boundaries. The mistakes put crooks into what is supposed to have been a straight line.
The top of Mount Elbert at 14,440 feet or 4,401m height in Lake County is the state's uppermost point and the highest tip in the whole Rocky Mountains. Colorado has more than 50 mountain tops that go beyond 4,000 meters or 13,123 ft high. Colorado is the single U.S. state that lies completely over 1,000 meters or 3,281 ft altitude. The spot where the Arikaree River flows away from Yuma County, Colorado, and flows into Cheyenne County, Kansas, is the lowest spot in the State of Colorado at 3,315 feet or about 1,010 m altitude. This crossing spot holds the merit of being the highest low spot of any U.S. state.
Just about half of the state is flat in stark distinction to Colorado's rough Rocky Mountains. To the East of the Southern Rocky Mountains are the Colorado Eastern Plains of the High Plains, the part of the Great Plains inside Colorado at heights ranging from 3315 to 6562 feet or 1010 to 2000 m. The states of Nebraska and Kansas border Colorado to the east. The plains are thinly settled with the majority of the inhabitants along the Arkansas Rivers and the South Platte. Precipitation is scanty, averaging from 18 to 12 inches or 300 to 450 mm per annum. There is several irrigated farming, but a great deal of the land is used for dry land ranching or farming. Winter wheat is a usual crop and good number small towns in the area boast both a grain elevator and a water tower.
The Continental Divide expands across the ridge of the Rocky Mountains. Toward the west of the Continental Divide is the Western Slope. Water from west of the Continental Divide drawn off west into the Sea of Cortez by means of the Colorado River.
Within the heart of the Rocky Mountains are quite a few high broad basins or large parks. Within the north, resting on the east side of the Continental Divide is North Park. North Park is drawn by the North Platte River, which drains north into Wyoming. The South Platte River is the headwaters of South Park. To the south rests the San Luis Valley, the headwaters of the Rio Grande, this drain into New Mexico. Transversely the Sangre de Cristo Range toward the east of the San Luis Valley rests the Wet Mountain Valley. These basins, chiefly the San Luis Valley, lie next to the Rio Grande Rift, a chief geological configuration, and its branches.
|
|