Sandia Mountains (Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Placitas: how much, house, live)

[Stanrice]

Originally Posted by mortimer

There is no dry side and no wet side to the Sandias.

The vegetation is the same on each side.
What looks like a 'slight' touch of green from the city is
really 100 ft tall pine trees that one can find on eithe side.

The Sandias were formed from a geologic fault that caused
an uplift of a belt of granite. They were "ripped" from the
Earth on the West side - pivoted up on the East side.

This can be seen every time you land on an airplane coming
in from the East. The mountains look like a giant wave cresting.

Sheer rocky faces cannot support much vegetation. This can
be seen even in rainforest areas such as the cliffs where Angel
Falls plummets off the face of Auyantepui mountain. El Capitan
and Half Dome exhibit this same phenomenon.

Angel Falls - Wikipedia
Los roques Angel Falls

There is only an East side and a West side.

The Sandias create a rain shadow effect. The east side of the mountains do get more precipitation than the west side. Just look at the shape of both sides, the east side is much more sloped because it has experienced more erosion. Part of the shape may be due to the processes that formed the uplift in the first place, but erosion is a bigger factor.

[lalahartma]

Originally Posted by nmguy

I look at the Sandias every day and pretty much have concluded that they change colors, depending on the season. Here's a pic taken in the fall last year from our neighborhood in Placitas. They seem to be tri-colored: green, brown, and gray.

Picasa Web Albums - pconleynm - Placitas

Love the llama cart!

[berncohomes]

They are great photo's nmguy, great shot of the bobcats and I like your neighbours truck, does it drive?

[nmguy]

Originally Posted by berncohomes

They are great photo's nmguy, great shot of the bobcats and I like your neighbours truck, does it drive?

Nope, that truck is just for show. Ironically, the owner and the HOA are embroiled in a dispute over whether it's a pleasant sight or eyesore.

[berncohomes]

It looks like it has a lot of potential, I'm sure he would have no problem finding a buyer.

[nmguy]

The owner of the truck is a New Mexican: strong spine and lots of scruples. He'll make the HOA squirm.

[AnnieA]

Originally Posted by nmguy

I look at the Sandias every day and pretty much have concluded that they change colors, depending on the season. Here's a pic taken in the fall last year from our neighborhood in Placitas. They seem to be tri-colored: green, brown, and gray.

Picasa Web Albums - pconleynm - Placitas

I went and looked at all the pics. Thank you so much for letting me look at them. I love the desert. Have only been out there twice but, I loved it.

[Cat5e]

great pictures! I can't wait to get to NM, thanks for sharing

[mortimer]

Originally Posted by Stanrice

... the east side is much more sloped
because it has experienced more erosion. ...

The East side is less sloped. It has less of a slope. It is less steep.

It is that way because the West side was ripped out of the
earth. You can find the limestone cap rock way down the
East side, but on the west side, it only extends Westward
a small amount and then below that it is all granite.

It is all granite below the limestone on the East side also, but
due to the fact that it is underneath the ground level, you
cannot see it unless you dig.

The same limestone cap rock can be found thousands of feet
below the river, BTW.

You can visualize the formation of the Sandias by making two fists and putting
your knuckles together. Let one of your fists rise up above the other and you
can see the profile of the Sandias right there in your hands. You have the steep
rocky slopes of the West side where your fingers come off your knuckles and you
have the less sloped East side where the metacarpals extend to your knuckles
out from the carpals of your wrist. It's a great metaphor for the phenomenon
of Basin-and-Range mountain formation seen all throughout the West.

Originally Posted by Stanrice

... The Sandias create a rain shadow effect. The east side
of the mountains do get more precipitation than the west side. ...

That is not a rain shadow effect, it is an elevation effect.

The turnoff to Rt 14 in Tijeras is at an elevation of 6500 ft.
The turnoff to the road to the Crest is at an elevation of 7000 ft.

As you go higher up, you see more precipitation. The elevation
where you start seeing Ponderosa pine ( due to temps and precip )
is the same on either side where the slope faces due East/West.

Note that the North-facing slopes have much lower life zones than
the South-facing slopes due to the fact that snow and moisture
does not sublimate as much on the North side.

There is a Rain Shadow on the East side of the Coast range and the
Sierra Nevada. Moisture comes at the Sandias from all four directions
- no appreciable rain shadow there.

You might think of Albuquerque, Placitas, and areas around Rt 285 as
being in a rain shadow if you say that rain coming from ANY direction
falls on the mountain and not behind it, but since there is no
overwhelming prevailing moisture direction regarding the Sandias,
it is nothing like the obvious rain shadow like around, say,
Lake Tahoe. Picture Reno, Nevada, for instance.

The bulk of moisture falling on the Sandias comes from the South during
the Monsoon Season.

[Mike Horrell]

Mortimer; All you've said about altitude, slope, etc. is quite true, but are you sure about
there being no rain shadow? That conflicts with both what I'd always been told / read
and my own observation and experience.