|
The Sandia Mountains (Tiwa Pueblo name ''posu gai hoo-oo'', "where water slides down arroyo"〔Pearce, T. M. (1965) "Sandia" ''New Mexico place names; a geographical dictionary'' University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, NM, p. 143, (OCLC 420847 )〕) are a mountain range located in Bernalillo and Sandoval counties, immediately to the east of the city of Albuquerque in New Mexico in the southwestern United States. The range is largely within the Cibola National Forest, and part of the range is protected as the Sandia Mountain Wilderness. Its highest point is Sandia Crest, . ''Sandía'' means ''watermelon'' in Spanish,〔(wordreference.com )〕 and is popularly believed to be a reference to the reddish color of the mountains at sunset.〔"Popular belief holds that the striped appearance of the rocks or the pinkish reflections of the surfaces at sunset led to the name "watermelon mountains" in Spanish." Pearce, T. M. (1965) "Sandia" ''New Mexico place names; a geographical dictionary'' University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, NM, p. 142, (OCLC 420847 )〕 Also, when viewed from the west, the profile of the mountains is a long ridge, with a thin zone of green conifers near the top, suggesting the "rind" of the watermelon. However, as Robert Julyan notes,〔Julyan, Robert, ''The Place Names of New Mexico'', (revised edition), Albuquerque, NM: UNM Press, 1998.〕 "the most likely explanation is the one believed by the Sandia Indians: the Spaniards, when they encountered the Pueblo in 1540, called it Sandia, because they thought the squash gourds growing there were watermelons, and the name Sandia soon was transferred to the mountains east of the pueblo." He also notes that the Sandia Pueblo Indians call the mountain ''Bien Mur'', "big mountain". ==Layout and neighboring ranges== The Sandias are a small range, a part of the Basin and Range Province, but built by a different phenomenon, consisting of a single north-south ridge, which rises to two major summits: Sandia Crest and South Sandia Peak, . The range measures approximately 17 miles (26 km) north-south, and the width in the east-west direction varies from 4 to 8 miles (6 to 12 km). The west side of the range is steep and rugged, with a number of sheer rock walls and towers near Sandia Crest. The east side has a gentler slope. The Sandias are part of a single larger geologic unit, the Sandia-Manzano Mountains. The other part consists of the Manzano Mountains which lie to the south of the Sandias. The two ranges are separated by Tijeras Canyon, which leads to a historically important pass; the canyon is traversed by Interstate 40, following the route of historic U.S. Route 66. The Sandias are the highest range in the immediate vicinity, and are well-separated from the higher Sangre de Cristo Mountains. This gives Sandia Crest a relatively high topographic prominence of . Lying to the east and northeast of the Sandias are two smaller ranges, the Ortiz Mountains and the San Pedro Mountains. The Sandia Mountains are home to the world's second longest tramway, which is long. Over this distance the tram cars ascend over . The average speed of the tram car is , and the length of the ride is approximately 15 minutes. The current longest tramway as of 2010 is in Armenia. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Sandia Mountains」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|