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Mount Elbert
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==Geology== {{wide image|2007-06-10-elbert-summit01s.jpg|624px|Panoramic view of Mount Elbert in June|center.}} Mount Elbert is part of the [[Sawatch Range]], an uplift of the [[Laramide Orogeny]] which separated from the [[Mosquito Range]] to the east around 28 million years ago.{{Sfn|Hopkins|Hopkins|2000|p=107}} The tops of this range were heavily glaciated, leaving behind characteristic summit features and other such clues. For example, the base of Elbert on the eastern side exhibits expanses of [[igneous]] and [[metamorphic]] rocks exposed when the glaciers receded, leaving a [[lateral moraine]]. Further up the eastern side there is a large [[cirque]] with a small [[tarn (lake)|tarn]].{{Sfn|Hopkins|Hopkins|2000|p=110}} There are also lakes to both the north and south, [[Turquoise Lake|Turquoise]] and [[Twin Lakes (Colorado)|Twin Lakes]] respectively; the Twin Lakes are a result of the natural dam of [[end moraine]]s,{{Sfn|Hopkins|Hopkins|2000|p=110}} and Turquoise Lake was created by the manmade [[Sugar Loaf Dam]]. Mount Elbert is composed largely of [[quartzite]].{{Sfn|Kelsey|2001|p=956}} However, the summit ridge consists of [[metamorphic]] [[basement rock]], which is [[Pre-Cambrian]] in origin and about 1.7 billion years old.{{Sfn|Hopkins|Hopkins|2000|p=110}} There are various igneous intrusions including [[pegmatite]], as well as bands of [[gneiss]] and [[schist]].{{Sfn|Hopkins|Hopkins|2000|p=110}} Unlike mountains of similar altitude elsewhere, Elbert lacks both a permanent snowpack and a prominent north-facing cirque, which can be attributed to its position among other mountains of similar height, causing it to receive relatively small quantities of precipitation.{{Sfn|Kelsey|2001|p=956}}
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