Quartz Mountain
| Quartz Mountain | |
|---|---|
| Baldy Peak | |
 Quartz Mountain
|
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| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 2,040 ft (620 m) |
| Coordinates | 34°54′25″N 99°19′24″W / 34.90694°N 99.32333°WCoordinates: 34°54′25″N 99°19′24″W / 34.90694°N 99.32333°W |
| Geography | |
| Location | Greer County, Oklahoma, U.S. |
| Parent range | Wichita Mountains |
| Topo map | USGS Quartz Mountain |
Quartz Mountain (also called Baldy Point) is located in Greer County in southwest Oklahoma. It is the namesake of Quartz Mountain Nature Park and its eastern flank is enclosed by the park boundaries. It is near the cities of Mangum, Oklahoma and Altus, Oklahoma. The park is open to the public year round for rock climbing, hiking, boating, camping, nature observation and photography, and environmental education and interpretation. The mountain overlooks scenic Lake Altus-Lugert.
Quartz Mountain is one of the westernmost peaks in the Wichita Mountains. In simplest terms, the Wichita Mountains are rocky promontories and rounded hills made of red and black igneous rocks, light-colored sedimentary rocks, and boulder conglomerates. The Wichita Mountains were formed in four distinct geologic episodes. 1. Magmatism induced by continental rifting just prior to and in the Cambrian Period produced the granites and rhyolites (the red rocks), gabbroic rocks, anorthosites, and diabases (the black rocks). 2. Subsidence resulted in burial by sandstones and carbonates (the light-colored rocks) during the early Paleozoic. 3. Uplift during the Pennsylvanian Ouachita Orogeny brought these rocks to the surface as mountains. 4. Weathering and erosion during the Permian Period flattened the mountains and produced a mantle of conglomerates. The mountains themselves are Permian landforms covered and preserved by river-borne sediments in the Permian and partially excavated only in recent geological times. Exposure of these fossil mountains is greatest towards the southeast; much of the western part of the Permian range remains buried under sandstones and shales.
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