Investigating the spatial distribution of summit flats in the Uinta Mountains of northeastern Utah, USA

Isolated, laterally extensive, gently sloping surfaces known as summit flats are present at high elevations in many Laramide ranges, and are particularly well developed in the Uinta Mountains of northeastern Utah. To investigate the spatial distribution of these surfaces, and to consider possible controls on this pattern, a map of summit flats in the Uintas was developed from digital elevation data. Summit flats were identified as unglaciated areas of the landscape above an elevation of 3400 m, having a slope of less than 0.3 m m^− 1, and an area greater than 5 × 10^− 2 km². As defined, summit flats comprise 43% of the unglaciated land area above 3400 m in the Uintas, with the largest individual flat covering nearly 34 km². To quantitatively evaluate the distribution of summit flats in the Uintas, the area of summit flats was normalized to the total unglaciated area above 3400 m in 10-km-wide swaths oriented normal to the range axis. Values of percent summit flats obtained by this method decrease dramatically westward, from a high of more than 60% at the eastern end of the Uintas, to 0% at the western end. Given that individual summit flats can be diminished through lateral erosion by surrounding valley glaciers, and that the summit flats themselves were apparently never glaciated, this result suggests that glacial erosion has been more effective in the western Uintas over the course of the Quaternary. Focused glacial erosion at the upwind end of the range is consistent with the hypothesis that the proximity of Lake Bonneville enhanced precipitation over the western Uintas during the Last Glacial Maximum Munroe, J.S., and, Mickelson, D.M., 2002. Last Glacial Maximum equilibrium-line altitudes and paleoclimate, northern Uinta Mountains, Utah, U.S.A. Journal of Glaciology, 48, 257–266].