earth science

Sawtooth Mountain

Sawtooth Mountain is a earth science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Sawtooth Mountain rather than just read about it. In short: Sawtooth Mountain is a shield volcano, and part of the polygenetic Indian Heaven Volcanic Field in Washington, United States. It is located midway between Mount St.

Key takeaways

Sawtooth Mountain belongs to earth science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Sawtooth Mountain to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Sawtooth Mountain from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Sawtooth Mountain is a shield volcano, and part of the polygenetic Indian Heaven Volcanic Field in Washington, United States. It is located midway between Mount St. Helens and Mount Adams, and dates from the Pleistocene and Holocene. Sawtooth Mountain is the third highest point at 5,354 feet (1,632 m)in this region. The mountain forms a series of welded volcanic rock spires, an eroded remnant of an ancient shield volcano. Sawtooth Mountain is the third highest point in the Indian Heaven Wilderness Area. While Sawtooth Mountain is not the highest, its craggy appearance makes it one of the most namesake peaks in the Indian Heaven Volcanic Field.

Geographical setting Sawtooth Mountain is the third highest peak the Indian Heaven Wilderness in Washington. On clear days hikers can see views of four nearby volcanoes: Mount Adams, Mount Hood, Mount St. Helens, and Mount Rainier from the Sawtooth Mountain Trail, which skirts the subalpine upper west side of Sawtooth Mountain. The shield volcano is noted as a series of eroded, volcanic spires. While the mountain is free of snow and ice, snow tends to linger on the summit well into July.

Geology Sawtooth Mountain is one of the many shield volcanoes topped by cinder cones and spatter cones that make up the Indian Heaven Volcanic Field. About 60 eruptive centers lie on the 19-mile (30 km) long, N10°E-trending, Indian Heaven fissure zone. The 230 square miles (600 km2) field has a volume of about 20 cubic miles (100 km3) and forms the western part of a 770-square-mile (2,000 km2) Quaternary basalt field in the southern Washington Cascades, including the King Mountain fissure zone along which Mount Adams was built.

Climbing and recreation Fishing and hiking destinations in the volcanic field around Sawtooth Mountain include the Indian Heaven Wilderness, which is popular for the high mountain meadows among its volcanic peaks. The Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail passes north/south through the volcanic field and the Indian Heaven Wilderness, which is known for its many lakes and views of four nearby volcanoes: Mount Adams, Mount Hood, Mount St. Helens, and Mount Rainier. It also hugs the densely forested east side of Sawtooth Mountain, and in conjunction with the Sawtooth Mountain Trail, can be hiked in a loop beginning at the Sawtooth Trailhead. Wood Lake is to the west of the peak, and a spur trail (Wood Lake Trail) leaves the Pacific Crest Trail for the lake. Major trails at Sawtooth Mountain are the Sawtooth Trail, which climbs up and skirts the upper west side of Sawtooth Mountain; and Wood Lake Trail, which descends west from the Pacific Crest Trail to the deep blue Wood Lake. The Pacific Crest Trail skirts the densely forested lower west side of the peak. The Sawtooth Berry Fields is located north of Sawtooth Mountain, around Surprise Lakes and the Sawtooth Trailhead for the Pacific Crest Trail.

See also Cascade Volcanoes List of volcanoes in the United States of America Indian Heaven Wilderness Indian Heaven

References

External links Gifford Pinchot National Forest - Indian Heaven Wilderness USGS - Indian Heaven Volcanic Field SummitPost: Sawtooth Mountain Indian Heaven Wilderness Overview/Background Printable Indian Heaven Wilderness Trail Vicinity Map (PDF 85 K, Adobe Acrobat)

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Sawtooth Mountain

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Sawtooth Mountain claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Sawtooth Mountain before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Sawtooth Mountain ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Sawtooth Mountain

In research: Sawtooth Mountain appears in earth science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Sawtooth Mountain in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Sawtooth Mountain is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Cascade Range, Cascade Volcanoes, Cinder cones of the United States, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Sawtooth Mountain outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Sawtooth Mountain in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Sawtooth Mountain means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Sawtooth Mountain out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Sawtooth Mountain in simple terms?

Sawtooth Mountain is a shield volcano, and part of the polygenetic Indian Heaven Volcanic Field in Washington, United States. It is located midway between Mount St.

Why does Sawtooth Mountain matter?

Because it connects several earth science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Sawtooth Mountain?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Sawtooth Mountain.