Overview of Novasolan Mountains
Novasola is well-known for its rugged and prominent mountains which dominate, and create, many of the island’s major regions and ecosystems. The island is in many places famously steep, and even the state’s nickname, the Fastwater State, refers to the island’s fast flowing rivers which fall steeply past waterfalls and rapids down Novasola’s slopes.
The island hosts three mountain systems: an eastern, western, and interior chain. For a simple overview on Novasolan geography and climate, see this post here.
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| Course elevation map of Novasola by thousand-foot topographic lines. Image provided by Museum of Novasola. |
From east to west the three major mountain ranges are known as the Morning Mountains, the Paramounts, and the Angelics, but they also have names given to them by indigenous groups, many of which influenced their English names. Na-Dene language tribes are limited to the eastern parts of the island, and thus only have names given to the Morning range and parts of the Paramounts. Most of these groups refer to the eastern mountains as shaa ts’ootaat, literally meaning “Morning Mountains”. Among Aleut language groups, which cover most of the island, the mountains are given variations on the same names, which name the ranges after times of the day, i.e. Morning, Midday, and Evening, and this naming scheme bled into English. The Morning Mountains serve as the eastern border of Aleut language cultures, and as a result Prairie tribes often use some version of the name ulmakug qilaq, roughly translating to “They Hide the Morning”, as the mountains stand between them and the sunrise. The Paramounts, in central Novasola, are referred to as namadan axtaq, meaning “Midday” but some language experts suggest it actually means “Southern” or “Southern Noon”. Finally, the Angelics in the west get their name from the indigenous word angalikinga, meaning “Evening” or “Sunset”.
The Morning Mountains were originally formed by hotspot volcanic activity in the pacific ocean that created a chain of islands on the Farallon tectonic plate during the late Jurassic period, sometime between 160-145 million years ago. The Angelics were also formed as a chain of pacific islands. Eventually the newly forming Pacific plate began pushing the Farallon plate eastwards and as a result the Farallon plate broke into smaller plates, including the Alaska plate, which included the islands that would eventually become the Morning Mountains, and the Novasola plate, which included what would become the Angelic Mountains. As the two plates were pushed east into the North American plate, the island chains moved with them. When the Alaska plate collided with the North American plate it began to subduct under the North American plate, but at a slower rate than the Novasola plate was pushing it. As a result, the Novasola and Alaska plates collided and formed the Paramounts. The uplift associated with this collision and the Paramount formation raised both the Morning and Angelic islands, connecting all three and creating what is now Novasola. The Pacific plate continue to push the Alaska and Novasola plates together, as well as pushing them both northwards. As a result, the Paramounts are actually still in the process of forming, and the island of Novasola is slowly moving northward until it eventually collides with Alaska.
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| Diagram of Novasolan mountain ranges outlined and separated by color. Image provided by the Museum of Novasola. |
Each of the three major mountain belts are themselves made up of distinct segments and smaller mountain ranges with their own names and histories.
Morning Mountains
Like
indigenous tribes, westerners who settled Novasola also named these mountains
for their eastern location, as they are the first places on Novasola to see the
sunrise.
Originally formed as volcanic islands in the pacific, they rose in elevation when two tectonic plates collided. They are the driest mountain belt on Novasola, and thus have unique ecosystems, more heavily dominated by deciduous plants, shrubland, and dry conifers like pines and junipers, as well as alpine ecosystems and tundra. They reach about 11,100 feet at their tallest.
- Kosatka Island – Rarely included in discussions about the Morning Mountains, Kosatka Island was formed by the same ancient volcanic activity as the rest of the belt. The word Kosatka means “killer whale / orca” in Croatian, and the island served as a popular whaling location and the easternmost exend of Russian colonization.
- Six Sisters – Northwestern most range within the Morning Mountains, they are on average the tallest section of the chain, known for steep and sharply pointed rocky slopes, rising from the edge of the prairie. The name comes from a translation of a Kuliquit word (tleidooshoonaydlaak) used by tribes to describe a specific rock formation, which then was used more widely to describe the entire range.
- Stone Hills – East of the Six Sisters, characterized by steep and rounded, rocky peaks. Indigenous names include Tek’akw’e, roughly meaning “Stone Owls” after a Kuliquit story, which states the hills were once a colony of Sloan’s Owls which were petrified when they were too distracted by an argument to flee the sunrise.
- Cook Mountains – Central range, home to the Morning Mountain system’s tallest peak, Mt. Cook, named in honor of English explorer James Cook. Prairie tribal groups call Mt. Cook Kuladay. They are separated from the Red Mountains to the south by Foyada Pass. These are the only mountains in the Mornings that are permanently snow-capped.
- Red Mountains – Southern most mountains in the belt, and the shortest on average. Named so because of the many maples and oaks which cover the lower elevations that turn red in the fall.
The Paramounts
They owe
their name, perhaps uncreatively, to their prominence and location on the
island.
The Paramounts are the tallest of the three belts, maxing at 15,855 feet, and the youngest. When the Novasolan and Alaskan plates collided, uplift caused the Paramounts to form, as well as the rest of the island. Many of the peaks in this system are permanently snow-capped, and this chain is the only place on the island, outside some isolated northern bays, where glaciers exist, and many peaks host alpine tundra. They separate Novasola into distinct eastern and western regions and create the rain-shadow which allows for the rainforests and grasslands on either side. This line from north to south which divides Novasola into two major climatic systems and watersheds is called the Novasolan Mountain Divide, and often this term, or just "divide", is used when discussing east/west direction and Novasolan geography in general.
- Uludaqs – Also spelled Uludacks. Name comes from an indigenous word meaning “painted red”. Western native tribes named the mountains for the way the west-facing snow-capped slopes turn reddish at sunset. The largest and most remote single range on Novasola, and the tallest on average, home to many of the tallest peaks, including the tallest mountain on the island, Mount Atlas, called Adginiq or Adinick by native groups. The northern Uludaqs dominate the skyline around the Great Shadow Lake basin and provide the very shadow for which the lake is named. A small group of mountains that branches to the northeast, called the Steller Range, is sometimes considered separate.
- Arrowhead Mountains – Separated from the Uludaqs to the north by the White Gap and from the Towers to the south by Agdaka Pass. The range is known for its prominent position overlooking both the Twin River Valley to the west and the city of Artemis to the east. The origins of the name is debated between the theory that they were so named for their sharply pointed peaks and the theory that many arrowheads were found in the mountains by explorers and prospectors.
- Tower Mountains – The Towers are the southern most mountains within the Paramounts, bordered by Agdaka Pass to the north and the coast and Francis Strait to the south and east. Where the mountains meet the coast they form large coastal cliffs, called the Weeping Wall. The Towers, though the shortest of the Paramounts, are the steepest on the island and create the Tower Peninsula which separates Fairweather and Charlotte Sound. Their prominent positions facing Cape George and Artemis make them well-known and familiar landmarks, but they see more precipitation, storms, and rough weather than any other mountain range on Novasola, which combines with their location near heavily populated areas and abrupt slopes to make them infamously dangerous.
- Francis Islands – The two islands, West and East Francis, are not usually included in categories with the Paramounts, but they were in fact formed by the same geologic processes.
Though many
people assume the name comes from Christian culture and honors the mountains’ majesty
or such, the name is actually an Anglicization of an indigenous word, angalikinga,
which was the name given by native tribes meaning “evening” referring to their
western position, as they are the last peaks to see the sun before twilight.
The Angelics are the shortest of the three major mountain chains, peaking at 8,700 feet, and the oldest. It is believed they were formed by volcanic activity and first existed as individual islands, which rose, like the Morning Mountains, when the Novasolan and Alaskan plates collided. The Angelics face roughly west and southwest, and thus act as a buffer for the island, absorbing much of the prevailing winds and associated weather. They are thus the wettest mountains, seeing more precipitation than anywhere else on the island, which creates vast temperate rainforests, including island redwood forests, and high altitude wetlands.
- Tumanny Mountains – The name comes from the Russian for “foggy / misty”, named by Russian colonists and fishermen for their constant cloud cover and frequent mist and rain. They are the westernmost mountains on the island, and home to the tallest peak in the Angelics, Lookout Mountain.
- Georgian Mountains – Named by Sir Morgan Fairweather during his first expedition into Novasola for King George III, namesake also for Cape George. These mountains are shorter, dominated by evergreen forests and wetlands. Their location near Cape George and less rugged terrain make them some of the most visited and used mountains on the island.