White Tank Mountains

The White Tank Mountains is the name of a mountain range located in central Arizona. The mountains are on the western periphery of the Phoenix metropolitan area, primarily flanked by the suburban cities of Buckeye to the south and west and Surprise to the north and east. The mountain range is home to the White Tank Mountain Regional Park and is a regional recreation hub.

The range, often referred to as simply the White Tanks, is a moderate sized mountain range whose peaks rise to an elevation of around 4,000 feet. The range consists of a series of numerous ridges and canyons and as such lacks a single, prominent peak. The highest point in the range, at an altitude of 4,083 feet, has no official name but is sometimes referred to as Beacon Benchmark in reference to the transmission antennae and beacons on the peak.

The mountain range was formed through tectonic activities as part of a detachment fault sometime in the mid Tertiary period, about 30 million years ago. As a fairly young (in geologic terms) mountain range it has not been subject to the forces of erosion for long and retains an extremely rugged topography composed of rocky fault ridges and deep canyons.

During seasonal heavy rainfall, accumulated water tends to rush rapidly through the steep canyons, over time scouring out a number of depressions or "tanks" in the white granite near the base of the mountains. These white "tanks" are the source of the mountains' name.

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