range, large area of land unsuited to cultivation but supporting native grasses and other plants suitable for livestock grazing. Principal areas in the western hemisphere are the pampas of South America and the prairies of the United States and Canada. Originally the entire ranges of the W United States and Canada were unfenced public land. Under the Homestead Act (1862), more than 50% of the Western range land in the United States passed to private ownership and was fenced with barbed wire. The national forests and other public lands of the West still contain vast unfenced ranges; grazing permits are purchased by ranch owners. Ranges are known as summer or winter ranges according to the time of year when grazing conditions are best. Range management involves regulation of grazing and other economically productive uses of range land to prevent overgrazing or other abuse of the resource.

radio range, geographically fixed radio transmitter that radiates coded signals in all directions to enable aircraft and ships to determine their bearings. An aircraft or ship can determine its line of position and drift if it knows its bearing relative to the radio transmitter and the geographic location of the transmitter. By taking successive bearings on two or more radio ranges the craft can determine its geographic position. Radio ranges are usually unattended; they emit either repeated call letters or steady signals that are periodically interrupted by station identification letters in Morse code. The aircraft or ship obtains its bearings relative to the radio range by picking up these signals with a receiver having a directional antenna, usually a loop antenna. The strength of the signal received depends on the orientation of the antenna relative to the radio range. By varying the orientation of the antenna and observing the changes in signal strength, the bearing of the vehicle can be obtained. When the antenna is driven automatically, the instrument is called an automatic direction finder (ADF). Both manual and automatic direction finders are also called radio compasses, although in aircraft the radio compass usually means an ADF. Another type of radio range called an A-N range transmits two coded signals via directional antennas so that a pilot on one of four fixed courses hears a continuous tone in his or her receiver when the craft's bearing is correct; if it veers off course either a Morse A or N is heard depending on the direction in which the error is made. A very-high-frequency (VHF) omnidirectional radio range transmits a reference signal and another signal that varies from the reference according to the bearing of the receiver. Radio ranging is being made obsolete by the Global Positioning System (GPS), which uses a network of orbiting satellites to precisely locate the position of an aircraft or ship.

intermediate range ballistic missile: see guided missile.

Yablonovy Range, mountain chain, in Transbaykalia, SE Siberian Russia. Forming part of the watershed between the Arctic and Pacific oceans, it extends c.700 mi (1,130 km) from the Mongolian border in the southwest to the Olekma River in the northeast. It is crossed by the Trans-Siberian RR at Chita. Sokhondo, c.8,230 ft (2,510 m), is the highest point.

Wind River Range, part of the Rocky Mts., W Wyo., running southeastward c.120 mi (190 km) and constituting part of the Continental Divide. Gannett Peak (13,804 ft/4,207 m) is the highest point in Wyoming. A number of historic passes cross these mountains. South Pass (alt. c.7,550 ft/2,301 m), at the southern end of the range, was the most important pass on the Oregon Trail through the Rocky Mts.

Wasatch Range, part of the Rocky Mts., extending c.250 mi (400 km) south from SE Idaho to central Utah. Mt. Timpanogos, the highest peak (12,008 ft/3,660 m), is the site of Timpanogos Cave National Monument. Many streams on the western flank of the Wasatch carry water into the fertile Salt Lake oasis, which stretches along the foothills; Utah's principal cities and most of the state's population are found there. Emigrant Canyon, a site of early Mormon activities, is a major winter resort area. Skiing has become an important industry there.

Vindhya Range, chain of hills, c.600 mi (970 km) long, rising to c.3,000 ft (910 m), Madhya Pradesh state, central India. The Vindhya Range has been the historic dividing line between N and S India, separating the Sanskrit-speaking Aryan invaders from the Dravidian peoples of the Deccan. The massive sandstone of the range, long an important building material, was used for the famous group of Buddhist stupas at Sanchi (built 3d cent. B.C.-11th cent. A.D.), the 11th-century Jain and Brahman temples at Khajuraho, and the 15th-century palaces of Gwalior.

Verkhoyansk Range, mountain chain, c.600 mi (970 km) long, E Siberian Russia, in the Sakha Republic. It forms a vast arc along the Lena and Aldan rivers and rises to c.8,150 ft (2,480 m) in the south. There are coal, silver, lead, and zinc deposits. The world's lowest temperatures for inhabited places have been recorded in this region.

Teton Range, part of the Rocky Mts., NW Wyo. and SE Idaho, just S of Yellowstone National Park. The highest peaks are within Grand Teton National Park, with Grand Teton (13,747 ft/4,190 m) the highest peak in the range. Teton Pass (8,431 ft/2,570 m) and Phillips Pass (10,700 ft/3,261 m) are just south of the park. The Teton Range includes part of Targhee National Forest, and it is also a source for the Teton River. The first recorded person to see (c.1807) the range is American fur trapper John Colter, a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Fur trappers, traders, and mountain men followed suit to frequent the range in the first half of the 19th cent.

Stanovoy Range, mountain range, c.450 mi (720 km) long, Russian Far East, extending E from the Olekma River; it rises to c.8,150 ft (2,480 m) at Golets Skalisty. It forms part of the border between the Sakha Republic and the Amur Region. The range is continued by the Dzhugdzhur Range, which swings north parallel to the Sea of Okhotsk. The system forms the watershed between the Lena and Amur river basins.

Presidential Range, group of the White Mts., N N.H., so called from the names of its peaks. Mt. Washington (6,288 ft/1,917 m) is the highest peak in New Hampshire; a meteorological station is at the summit. A year-round resort center, it was developed for tourists in the mid-1800s. Other peaks include Mt. Adams (5,798 ft/1,767 m), Mt. Jefferson (5,715 ft/1,742 m), Mt. Clay (5,532 ft/1,686 m), Mt. Monroe (5,385 ft/1,641 m), and Mt. Madison (5,363 ft/1,635 m). Mt. Clay was renamed Mt. Reagan by the New Hampshire legislature in 2003, but federal policy requires that a person be dead for five years before a commemorative renaming of a place will be considered.

Park Range, part of the Rocky Mts., central Colo. and S Wyo., extending N from the Colorado River. Mt. Lincoln (14,284 ft/4,354 m) is the highest peak.

Panamint Range, rugged fault-block mountains, SE Calif., near the Nev. line. Telescope Peak (11,045 ft/3,367 m high) is the tallest peak. The range forms the western boundary of Death Valley; to the west of the range is Panamint Valley.

Owen Stanley Range, mountain chain, c.300 mi (480 km) long, SE Papua New Guinea, on New Guinea island. It rises to Mt. Victoria (13,363 ft/4,073 m). The region, drained by several small rivers, is largely jungle.

Long Range, mountain range, extending c.300 mi (480 km) along the west coast of Newfoundland island, Canada; rises to 2,672 ft (814 m) in the Lewis Hills. It forms the Great Northern Peninsula of NW Newfoundland. Part of the Appalachian system, the range consists of parallel ridges that rise steeply from the coast and slope gently eastward. A depression, of which Grand Lake and St. George's Bay are part, divides Long Range into two sections. The densely forested range is economically important for timber. Gros Morne National Park is there.

Koolau Range, mountain chain, extending northwest-southeast, E Oahu island, Hawaii; rises to 3,105 ft (946 m) in Konahuanui. It is cut by two scenic passes, Nuuanu Pali and Waimanalo Pali, which shorten the route between E and W Oahu.

Hoosac Range, southern continuation of the Green Mts., NW Mass. and SW Vt., running from north to south. Its maximum height is c.3,000 ft (910 m). The Hoosac railroad tunnel, c.5 mi (8 km) long, built from 1852 to 1873, at the cost of nearly 200 lives, cuts beneath the range from east to west.

Great Dividing Range, crest line of the Eastern Highlands of Australia. For the most part it separates rivers draining into the Pacific Ocean from those flowing into the Indian Ocean and the Arafura Sea.

Front Range, an eastern range of the U.S. Rocky Mts., bordering the Great Plains and extending c.300 mi (480 km) S from SE Wyo. to the Arkansas River, S central Colo. It has several peaks, including Gray's Peak and Pikes Peak, that are more than 14,000 ft (4,270 m) high. The Arkansas and the South Platte rivers are the largest streams rising in the range. Most of Colorado's population is located along the range's eastern foothills. The Front Range was scouted by U.S. explorers Zebulon Pike, in 1806-7, and Stephen Long, in 1819-20. In 1858 gold was discovered at Cripple Creek, Colo., and goldseekers rushed into the S Front Range. Most of the range is in national forests; Rocky Mt. National Park is located in the north.

Drakensberg Range, South Africa and Lesotho, extending 700 mi (1,127 km) NE-SW in KwaZulu-Natal, Lesotho, Free State, Limpopo, and Mpumalanga. The Zulu name of the range is Ukhahlamba [barrier of spears]. Thabana-Ntlenyana (11,425 ft/3,482 m), in Lesotho, is the highest point in the range and in S Africa. The mountains are part of the escarpment that forms the southern edge of the central plateau of Africa. Thousands of San rock paintings, some 3,000 years old, are found in Ukhahlamba-Drakensberg Park.

Dividing Range: see Great Dividing Range.

Darling Range, Western Australia state, Australia, at the edge of the Western Plateau, extending 200 mi (322 km) parallel with the southwest coast and rising to 1,910 ft (582 m) in Mt. Cooke. Gold and tin were mined there. The suburbs of Perth are on its slopes.

Cascade Range, mountain chain, c.700 mi (1,130 km) long, extending S from British Columbia to N Calif., where it becomes the Sierra Nevada; it parallels the Coast Ranges, 100-150 mi (161-241 km) inland from the Pacific Ocean. Many of the range's highest peaks are volcanic cones, covered with snowfields and glaciers. Mt. St. Helens erupted in 1980 in one of the greatest volcanic explosions in U.S. history, and Lassen Peak, 10,457 ft (3,187 m) high, in Lassen Volcanic National Park, is still active. Mt. Rainier (14,410 ft/4,392 m), in Mount Rainier National Park, is the highest point in the Cascades; Mt. Shasta and Mt. Hood are other prominent peaks. The Columbia River flows from east to west across the range. Of the many lakes in the Cascades, Crater Lake, in Crater Lake National Park, and Lake Chelan, in Lake Chelan National Recreation Area, are the most famous. Other federal lands in this popular recreation area are North Cascades National Park, Ross Lake National Recreation Area, and Cascade-Siskiyou and Lava Beds national monuments; national forests cover an extensive area.

Receiving more than 100 in. (254 cm) of precipitation annually, much of it as snow, the Cascades are a major source of water in the NW United States. Hydroelectricity is generated on the western slope; irrigation is used in the fertile eastern side valleys. Timber is the region's chief resource, but a growing concern for ecology and the environment has developed into a major political debate surrounding the trees. The Cascade Tunnel, 8 mi (12.9 km), is one of the longest railroad tunnels in North America.

Brooks Range, mountain chain, northernmost part of the Rocky Mts., extending about 600 mi (970 km) from east to west across N Alaska. Mt. Chamberlin, 9,020 ft (2,749 m) high, near the Canadian border, is the highest peak. Rugged, barren, snow-covered, and uninhabited, Brooks Range separates the oil-rich Arctic Ocean coastal plain from the Yukon River basin. An oil pipeline was built across the range in 1977; it begins at Prudhoe Bay in the north and extends to the port of Valdez, in S Alaska.

Bitterroot Range, part of the Rocky Mts., on the Idaho-Mont. line. The main range, running northwest-southeast, includes Trapper Peak (10,175 ft/3,101 m high); Mt. Garfield (10,961 ft/3,341 m), in an east-running spur to the south, is the highest peak. Discovered in the 1804-5 expedition of Lewis and Clark, the rugged mountain range has long been one of the most impenetrable in the United States; except for its foothills, it remains almost completely unexploited.

Aleutian Range, volcanic mountain chain, c.1,600 mi (2,600 km) long, SW Alaska, extending W from Anchorage along the Alaska Peninsula, and continuing, partly submerged as the Aleutian Islands, to Attu island. Mt. Redoubt (10,200 ft/3,109 m) is the highest peak. Part of the volcanic belt that rings the Pacific Ocean, the Aleutian Range has been active in recent years, notably at Katmai (see Katmai National Park and Preserve).

Alaska Range, S central Alaska, rising to the highest mountain in North America, Mt. McKinley (20,320 ft/6,194 m). The range divides S central Alaska from the great plateau of the interior. Mt. Spurr, an 11,070-ft-high (3,376-m) volcano 80 mi (129 km) W of Anchorage erupted several times in 1992 after a dormancy of 39 years.

Instrument used to measure the distance from the instrument to a selected point or object. The optical range finder, used chiefly in cameras, consists of an arrangement of lenses and prisms set at each end of a tube. The object's range is determined by measuring the angles formed by a line of sight at each end of the tube; the smaller the angles, the greater the distance, and vice versa. Since the mid-1940s, radar has replaced optical range finders for most military targeting, and the laser range finder, developed in 1965, has largely replaced optical range finders for surveying and radar in certain military applications.

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Mountain range, central Rocky Mountains, west-central Wyoming, U.S. The range extends for 100 mi (160 km) northwest-southeast to the Sweetwater River and is part of the Continental Divide. It contains many peaks above 12,000 ft (3,658 m); the highest is Gannett Peak at 13,804 ft (4,207 m). The Oregon Trail ran through the historic South Pass (7,743 ft, or 2,360 m). Parts of Bridger and Shoshone national forests and Wind River Indian Reservation are in the range. The Wind River flows from the eastern side into the Bighorn River; the Green River rises on its western slopes.

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Range of the south-central Rocky Mountains. They extend about 250 mi (400 km) from southeastern Idaho to central Utah, U.S. The highest peak is Mount Timpanogos (12,008 ft [3,660 m]). The Timpanogos Cave National Monument is within the range.

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Segment of the Middle Rocky Mountains, northwestern Wyoming, U.S. The range extends 40 mi (64 km) across Wyoming, from the southern boundary of Yellowstone National Park to Teton Pass. Some foothills reach as far as southeastern Idaho. Many peaks exceed 12,000 ft (3,700 m); the highest point is Grand Teton (13,766 ft [4,196 m]), which was first ascended in 1872. Much of the range lies within Grand Teton National Park.

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Mountain range, eastern Russia, in Asia. It is part of the watershed between the Pacific and Arctic oceans. The mountains are generally not high, although they reach about 8,000 ft (2,400 m) in the east. They contain deposits of gold, coal, and mica.

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or Great Divide

Main watershed of eastern Australia. It consists of a series of plateaus and mountain ranges roughly paralleling the coasts of Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria that stretches for some 2,300 mi (3,700 km). Beginning in the north on the Cape York Peninsula, Queen., the range heads generally south to become the Australian Alps near the New South Wales–Victoria border. The range bends west in Victoria, ending in the Grampians, while a southern spur emerges from the Bass Strait to form the central uplands of Tasmania. First traversed by Europeans moving into the Australian Outback in 1813, the region is now important for agriculture, lumbering, and mining, and its national parks and other natural areas are major tourist attractions.

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Mountain range, western U.S. A continuation of the Sierra Nevada, it extends north from Mount Lassen in northeastern California across Oregon and Washington for 700 mi (1,100 km). Its highest elevation is Mount Rainier. Some of the summits, including Mount St. Helens, have erupted in the recent past. The Lewis and Clark Expedition passed through the range in the Columbia River Gorge. Its northern continuation in British Columbia is known as the Coast Mountains. Seealso North Cascades National Park.

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Mountain range, northern Alaska, U.S. It extends about 600 mi (1,000 km) from Kotzebue Sound to the Canadian border. Its highest peak is Mount Isto, at 9,060 ft (2,760 m). Forming the northwestern end of the Rocky Mountains, it lies within Gates of the Arctic National Park. Huge reserves of oil were discovered at Prudhoe Bay, and the range is crossed at Atigun Pass by the Trans-Alaska Pipeline.

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Segment of the northern Rocky Mountains, U.S. Extending north-south 300 mi (480 km) along the Idaho-Montana border, its peaks average about 9,000 ft (2,700 m); Idaho's Scott Peak is the highest, at 11,393 ft (3,473 m). Owing to the mountains' inaccessibility from the east, the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1805) had to travel north more than 100 mi (160 km) to find a route through the range. Bitterroot National Forest extends across the centre of the range.

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Mountain range, southern Alaska, U.S. A segment of the Pacific mountain system, it extends in an arc from the Aleutian Range on the Alaska Peninsula to the Yukon Territory boundary. Mount McKinley, near the centre of the range, in Denali National Park and Preserve, is the highest point in North America. Many nearby peaks exceed 13,000 ft (4,000 m), including Mounts Silverthrone, Hunter, Hayes, and Foraker. The range is crossed at Isabel Pass by the Trans-Alaska Pipeline.

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