Turtle Mountains (California)
| Turtle Mountains | |
|---|---|
(view due east)
Turtle mountains at left across Ward Valley & Danby Lake. (view from southeast Iron Mountains) |
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| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 960 ft (290 m) |
| Coordinates | 34°17′10″N 114°51′3″W / 34.28611°N 114.85083°WCoordinates: 34°17′10″N 114°51′3″W / 34.28611°N 114.85083°W |
| Geography | |
 Turtle Mountains
|
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| Country | United States |
| State | California |
| District | San Bernardino County |
| Topo map | USGS Mopah Peaks |
The Turtle Mountains (Amat 'Achii'ar in the Mojave language), are located in northeastern San Bernardino County, in the southeastern part of California.
The Turtle Mountains are 30 miles (48 km) southwest of Needles, California, west off of U.S. Highway 95; with Vidal Junction close on the southeast, Twentynine Palms to the east, and Blythe to the south. The Turtle Mountains are considered part of the greater Lower Colorado River Valley region.
The range is directly west of and connected with the Mopah Range. They lie in a north-south direction east of Ward Valley and the Old Woman Mountains. They are west of the Whipple Mountains and Colorado River. The Turtle Mountains reach an elevation of 4,231 feet (1,290 m) above sea level at Bolson Peak. They are a registered National Natural Landmark in recognition of their exceptional natural values.
The Turtle Mountains are one of several ranges that constitute the Maria Fold and Thrust Belt. The Maria Fold and Thrust Belt underwent generally thick-skinned (involving basement rocks) North-South trending crustal shortening in the Cretaceous, followed by generally East-West trending large-scale crustal extension in the Miocene. This North-South shortening is anomalous, as crustal shortening in the rest of the North American Cordillera is oriented generally East-West because of the generally East-West compression that was due to the subduction of the Farallon plate under western North America. Also unlike the rest of the North American Cordillera, deformation in the Maria Fold and Thrust Belt involved rocks of the North American Craton, most notably the Grand Canyon sequence of sedimentary rocks.
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