The Uinta Mountains are Laramide uplifted metasedimentary rocks deposited in an intracratonic basin in southwest Laurentia during the time of the breakup of the supercontinent Rodinia.

The east-west orientation of the Uintas is anomalous compared to most of the ranges of the Rocky Mountains; it may relate to changing stress patterns and rotation of the Colorado Plateau.

[10] However, despite reaching to over 13,500 feet (4,110 m) in elevation, the climate today is sufficiently dry that no glaciers survived even before the rapid current glacial retreat began in the middle nineteenth century.

The Green is the major tributary of the Colorado River and flows in a tight arc around the eastern side of the range.

The Bear and Weber rivers, the two largest tributaries of Great Salt Lake, are born on the west slope of the range.

The forests contain many species of trees, including lodgepole pine, subalpine fir, Engelmann spruce, Douglas-fir, and quaking aspen.

Mammalian predators include the American black bear, mountain lion, coyotes, red fox, badger, wolverine, marten, and the long-tailed weasel.

A gray wolf pack has been observed at the eastern end of the range, in Moffat County, Colorado.

Dinosaur National Monument is on the Uintas' southeast flank, on the border between Colorado and Utah.