Thor Temple

{{Short description|Landform in the Grand Canyon, Arizona}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}

{{Infobox mountain

| name = Thor Temple

| photo = Thor Temple GC.jpg

| photo_caption = North aspect, from North Rim

| label = Thor Temple

| label_position = bottom

| elevation_ft = 6741

| elevation_ref = {{cite web |url = https://listsofjohn.com/peak/72446 |title = Thor Temple – 6,741' AZ |website = Lists of John |access-date = 2021-01-15 }}

| prominence_ft = 769

| prominence_ref =

| isolation_mi = 2.12

| isolation_ref =

| parent_peak = Wotans Throne (7,740 ft)

| country = United States

| state = Arizona

| region = Coconino

| region_type = County

| part_type = Protected area | part = Grand Canyon National Park

| range = Kaibab Plateau
Colorado Plateau

| map = Arizona#USA

| map_size = 230

| map_caption = Location in Arizona

| coordinates = {{coord|36.1304645|N|111.9808601|W|type:mountain_region:US-AZ_scale:100000|format=dms|display=inline,title}}

| coordinates_ref = {{cite gnis |id=12409 |name=Thor Temple |accessdate=2021-01-15}}

| topo = USGS Walhalla Plateau

| rock = limestone, shale, sandstone

| first_ascent = Alan Doty, May 1977Harvey Butchart, Grand Canyon Treks 12,000 Miles Through the Grand Canyon, 1998, Spotted Dog Press, {{ISBN|978-0964753020}}, p. 140.

| easiest_route = {{YDS|4}} climbing

}}

Thor Temple is a {{convert|6,741|ft|adj=on}}-elevation summit located in the Grand Canyon, in Coconino County of northern Arizona, United States. It is situated {{convert|2.5|mi}} west-northwest of Cape Royal on the canyon's North Rim, {{convert|3.5|mi}} east of Brahma Temple, and {{convert|2|mi}} north-northwest of Wotans Throne. It rises {{convert|4,300|ft}} above the Colorado River in {{convert|5|mi}}. According to the Köppen climate classification system, Thor Temple is located in a cold semi-arid climate zone.{{cite journal | author = Peel, M. C. |author2=Finlayson, B. L. |author3=McMahon, T. A. | year = 2007 | title = Updated world map of the Köppen−Geiger climate classification | journal = Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. | volume = 11 | issn = 1027-5606}}

Thor Temple is named for Thor, the hammer-wielding god associated with lightning, thunder, and storms in Germanic mythology, and son of Wotan.N.H. Darton, Story of the Grand Canyon of Arizona, 1917, page 81. This name was applied by geologist François E. Matthes, in keeping with Clarence Dutton's practice of naming geographical features in the Grand Canyon after mythological deities.Stephen J. Pyne, Voyager: Seeking Newer Worlds in the Third Great Age of Discovery, 2010, Penguin Group.Randy Moore and Kara Felicia Witt, The Grand Canyon: An Encyclopedia of Geography, History, and Culture, 2018, ABC-CLIO Publisher, p. 151. A variant name for this landform is "Thors Hammer." This geographical feature's name was officially adopted in 1906 by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names.