Earth and Environment Atlas

How The Planet Works
Sign In
Text size
100%
Theme
Geological Formation

Rocky Mountain Trench

Structural and Tectonic Formations

The Rocky Mountain Trench is a long valley on the western side of the Rocky Mountains in North America, sometimes called the Valley of a Thousand Peaks, running about 1,600 kilometers from Flathead Lake in Montana to the Liard River near the British Columbia-Yukon border. It separates the Rocky Mountains to the east from the Columbia and Cassiar Mountains to the west, with a floor 3 to 16 kilometers wide sitting 600 to 900 meters above sea level. The trench is primarily a product of geologic faulting rather than glacial carving alone: its northern section follows the Tintina strike-slip fault while its southern portion formed through normal faulting during the Cenozoic, the two aligning along a pre-existing basement ramp with more than 10 kilometers of vertical offset. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Connections

Caused By

Erosion, Processes

Wikidata P31 formation-type mapped to formative process Erosion via reviewed judgment map (earth atlas); source citation is this entity's own cited Wikidata item.

Source Wikidata: Rocky Mountain Trench

In Discipline

Wikidata P31 formation-type mapped to discipline Geomorphology via reviewed judgment map (earth atlas); source citation is this entity's own cited Wikidata item.

Source Wikidata: Rocky Mountain Trench
In the Other Atlases

Found In

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Source Wikidata: Rocky Mountain Trench

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Source Wikidata: Rocky Mountain Trench
Sources
Rocky Mountain Trench (Wikipedia)
Lead section
Quote, Lead section
The Rocky Mountain Trench, also known as the Valley of a Thousand Peaks or simply the Trench, is a large valley on the western side of the northern part of North America's Rocky Mountains.
View the Source
Wikidata: Rocky Mountain Trench
Wikidata Q1481093, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)View the Source
Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.