Coso Range

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title: "Coso Range" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["mountain-ranges-of-the-mojave-desert", "volcanoes-of-inyo-county,-california", "igneous-petrology-of-california", "mountain-ranges-of-inyo-county,-california", "mesozoic-magmatism", "pliocene-volcanism", "pleistocene-volcanism"] description: "Mountain range in Inyo County, California, United States" topic_path: "science/earth-science" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coso_Range" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Mountain range in Inyo County, California, United States ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox mountain"]

Field	Value
name	Coso Range
country	United States
state	California
district	Inyo County
topo_map	Coso Peak
topo_maker	USGS
range_coordinates
elevation_m	2038
length_mi
width_mi
map	USA California
map_caption	location of Coso Range in California
map_size	224
::

| name = Coso Range | native_name = | other_name = | etymology = | photo = | photo_caption = | country = United States | state = California | region = | district = Inyo County | topo_map = Coso Peak | topo_maker = USGS | border = | range_coordinates = | highest = | elevation_m = 2038 | length_mi = | length_orientation = | width_mi = | width_orientation = | area_mi2 = | geology = | orogeny = | period = | map = USA California |relief=1 | map_caption = location of Coso Range in California | map_size = 224 The Coso Range of eastern California is located immediately south of Owens Lake, east of the Sierra Nevada, and west of the Argus Range. The southern part of the range lies in the restricted Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake and the northern part of the range is designated as the Coso Range Wilderness. The mountains include Coso Peak, at 8160 ft above sea level, as well as Silver Peak and Silver Mountain, both more than 7400 ft in height.

The range is underlain principally by Mesozoic granitic rocks that are partly veneered by upper Cenozoic volcanic rocks of the Coso Volcanic Field. The volcanic units (in apparent decreasing age) include (1) widespread basaltic flows, (2) dacitic flows and tuff, and (3) rhyolitic domes and flows and basaltic cones and flows. These volcanic rocks are encompassed by an oval-shaped zone of late Cenozoic ring faulting that measures about 24 mi east to west and 45 km north to south and that defines a structural basin. Most of the Coso Range and a slice of the adjacent Sierra Nevada lie within this ring structure. The youngest volcanic rocks are Pleistocene and, with associated active fumaroles, occupy a north-trending structural and topographic ridge about 18 by near the center of the basin. The ring structure and associated volcanic rocks suggest a large underlying magma chamber that has periodically erupted lava to the surface during the past few million years.

Prehistory

Numerous rock art sites (the Coso Rock Art District) are found in the range, left by the ancient Coso people. The prehistoric Coso inhabitants exported volcanic glass (Coso obsidian) and this highly valued toolstone has been found as far distant as the Channel Islands of California. Little Petroglyph Canyon and Renegade Canyon within the Range are open for guided tours through the Maturango Museum in Ridgecrest, California.

Notes

References

• California Road and Recreation Atlas. 2005, pg. 87
• C. Michael Hogan. 2008. Morro Creek, ed. by A. Burnham http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=18502
• Alan P. Garfinkel, 2007, Archaeology and Rock Art of the Eastern Sierra and Great Basin Frontier, Maturango Museum, Ridgecrest,California.

References

1. {{cite gnis
2. "Coso Range Wilderness". [[Bureau of Land Management]].
3. Garfinkel 2007

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::