Sparta Mountains
The Sparta Mountains are a range of the New York-New Jersey Highlands region of the Appalachian Mountains. The summit, reaching a height of 1,230 feet, lies within Sussex County, New Jersey.Geography
The Sparta Mountains are bordered by the Sparta Valley to the north-west, drained by the Wallkill River.Geology
The Sparta Mountains are part of the Reading Prong of the New England Upland subprovince of the New England province of the Appalachian Highlands. The rocks that form the Sparta Mountains are from the same belt as those that make up other mountains near-by. This belt, i.e. the Reading Prong, consists of ancient crystalline metamorphic rocks. The New England province as a whole, along with the Blue Ridge province further south, are often together referred to as the Crystalline Appalachians. The Crystalline Appalachians extend as far north as the Green Mountains of Vermont and as far south as the Blue Ridge Mountains, although a portion of the belt remains below the Earth's surface through part of Pennsylvania. The Crystalline Appalachians are distinct from the parallel Sedimentary Appalachians which run from Georgia to New York. The Kittatinny Mountains are representative of these sedimentary formations.
