Shivwits Plateau

The Shivwits Plateau is a large plateau in northwest Arizona, and in the northwest of the Grand Canyon region. Just like the Kaibab Plateau in the east Grand Canyon forces the course of the Colorado River encircling it, the Shivwits Plateau is the major course changer of the Colorado in west Grand Canyon. The Colorado River goes due-south on the east perimeter of the plateau, goes west, then northwest to its outfall at Lake Mead. The southwest of the plateau borders the Colorado, but a lower elevation section is directly riverside; it is lower elevation hills and small canyons, called Sanup Plateau, and bordering the section of the Colorado called the Lower Granite Gorge. (The Lower Granite Gorge starts on the east side at the start of its due-south excursion around Shivwits Plateau.)

Shivwits Plateau
Shivwits Plateau, southeast terminus
Shivwits Plateau
Shivwits Plateau region of Arizona
Length50 mi (80 km) NW to SE
Width23 mi (37 km) E-W (at southeast terminus)
Geography
CountryUnited States
StateArizona
RegionGrand Canyon-Parashant National Monument
Grand Canyon
DistrictMohave County, Arizona
CommunitiesLittlefield, Arizona and Peach Springs, Arizona
Borders onHurricane Cliffs-E
Colorado River and Aubrey Cliffs-E to SE
Peach Springs, Arizona-S
(Sanup Plateau)-(southwest border)
Colorado River and (southwest)-
Hualapai Indian Reservation-SW
Grand Wash Cliffs-W and NW
Grand Wash Cliffs Wilderness-WNW
Virgin Mountains-NNW
Black Rock Mountain & Paiute Wilderness
Coordinates36°25′00″N 113°30′04″W [1]
RiverColorado River

The Shivwits Plateau is named for the Shivwits section of the Paiute Indian tribes. The plateau is also one of the major areas of the Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument that is bordered by the Lake Mead National Recreation Area (west), the Hualapai Indian Reservation (southeast), and Grand Canyon National Park (east).

Geography

The southwest, south, and southeast around the plateau is composed of the Hualapai Indian Reservation along the course of the Colorado River, the section named the Lower Granite Gorge. The north section is enclosed within Grand Canyon National Park and the Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument.

The Hurricane Cliffs are on the east and the Grand Wash Cliffs are at the west.

View from space: The excursion of the Colorado River around the Shivwits Plateau. (about 50-mi from Lake Mead)

See also

References
  1. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Shivwits Plateau
  • Arizona Atlas & Gazetteer, DeLorme, Fourth Ed. 2001 pp. 21, 29-30 ISBN 0-89933-325-7
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