Vegetation and Plant Growth as Affected by Chemically Altered Rocks in the Western Great Basin

Abstract

During a preliminary survey of the vegetation of the western Great Basin, numerous isolated patches of yellow pine (Pinus ponderosa and P. jeffreyi) 2 were observed in the sagebrush and pinyonjuniper zones some distance to the east of the pine forests of the Sierra Nevada. Unlike the usual postclimax extensions of forest into grassland or brush, most of these groves are on hill-sides or ridgetops. They are remarkable also for their uniformly light yellowish soil which contrasts sharply with the brownish soils of the surrounding sagebrush or pinyonjuniper matrices. Further investigations have revealed more than 125 of these pine stands scattered along the Virginia Range and the eastern foothills of the Sierra. The majority occur on hillsides facing the Truckee Meadows, a graben between the Carson Range and the Virginia Range, in southern Washoe County, Nevada. Outlying stands are present as far north as Long Valley, Lassen County, California, and as far south as Colorado Hill, Alpine County, California. The eastern limit seems to be set by groves at the old mining camp of Ramsey in the Virginia Range, about 25 miles east of Reno, Nevada, and by an extensive stand on the northwest side of Pah-Rah Mountain near Pyramid Lake. Since the stands range in elevation from about 4,300 feet to over 7,000 feet and from the slopes of the Carson Range to the east side of the Virginia Range,