15 



Alps, Deserts, 

 and Canyons 



The South Montane Block with the 

 Colorado and Wyoming Basins and 

 the Sacramento-Guadalupe Ranges 



The main body of this province is divided into three great 

 upland and mountain blocks, which may be called the Colorado. 

 Utah, and Arizona. These ring a large upland plateau, shaped 

 like a complex fern leaf, which comprises the drainage basin of 

 the Colorado River and drains into the Grand Canyon. These 

 lands, along with the Wyoming Basin, and the Guadalupe- 

 Sacramento mountains to the southeast, form a unit in the 

 middle of what is commonly called the West — an ill-defined 

 area that presents on physical maps a bewildering mass of 

 mountain ranges, plateaus, valleys, and other structures. How- 



Ahove: A typical lizard oj the Utah deserts — a Collared 

 Spiny Swift. Right: Bryce Canyon, probably the most ex- 

 otically fashioned canyon in the Southwest, is carved into 

 the south of the Utah mountain block. 



r>-^- 



