10 Facts About Rocky Mountains

Rocky Mountains, known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America.

Rocky Mountains are the easternmost portion of the expansive North American Cordillera.

The Rocky Mountains contain the highest peaks in central North America.

Rocks in the Rocky Mountains were formed before the mountains were raised by tectonic forces.

Current Rocky Mountains arose in the Laramide orogeny from between 80 and 55 Ma.

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Rocky Mountains are an important habitat for a great deal of well-known wildlife, such as wolves, elk, moose, mule and white-tailed deer, pronghorn, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, badgers, black bears, grizzly bears, coyotes, lynxes, cougars, and wolverines.

Since the last great ice age, the Rocky Mountains were home first to indigenous peoples including the Apache, Arapaho, Bannock, Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Coeur d'Alene, Kalispel, Crow Nation, Flathead, Shoshone, Sioux, Ute, Kutenai, Sekani, Dunne-za, and others.

Minerals found in the Rocky Mountains include significant deposits of copper, gold, lead, molybdenum, silver, tungsten, and zinc.

Rocky Mountains contain several sedimentary basins that are rich in coalbed methane.

The largest coalbed methane sources in the Rocky Mountains are in the San Juan Basin in New Mexico and Colorado and the Powder River Basin in Wyoming.