The dominant kind of rock in Yosemite National Park is granite. Most of the landscapes in the Yosemite area are cut from the granitic rock of the batholith, which is crystallized magma miles underground.At those kind of depths, magma is well insulated and cools very slowly, making the latter formed granite strong. Granite is often has a “black and white” appearance. The lighter-colored minerals in granite are quartz, potassium feldspar, and plagioclase feldspar, whereas the darker-colored minerals are biotite and hornblende. here are also minor amounts of other minerals, like titanite and zircon. granite has coarse grain size, angular grain shape and poorly sorted.
Yosemite National Park Is located in where two plates meets. oceanic plate
...e morphed it into the quartzite that is seen surrounding the butte (4). Rocks that undergo this process are called metamorphic rock, which is the same as the rock seen years ago by dinosaurs and other extinct creatures. The quartzite rocks were formerly seafloor sediment that was forced upwards, and then surrounded by lava basalt flows. Once erupted through fissures and floods through out most of the area, lava flow eventually created enough basalt to form a thickness of about 1.8 kilometers (1). All of this basalt flow eventually led to the covering of most mountains, leaving the buttes uncovered. The igneous lava flows and loess is reasons that the Palouse consists of such sprawling hills, and rich soil for farming (2). In result of the lava flows, the Precambrian rock Quartzite was formed. And lastly covered by the glacial loess, which were carried by the wind.
Harris, Ann G., Esther Tuttle, and Sherwood D. Tuttle. "Katmai National Park and Preserve." Geology of National Parks. 4th ed. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt Pub., 1990. 441-48. Print.
There exists the Dome of Yosemite by Albert Bierstadt, with dramatic rock outcroppings, the sun burst...
Stone Mountain is an igneous intrusion often referred to as a geological pluton. The granite pluton is part of the Piedmont Plateau region of the Appalachian Mountains and was formed along the same geological fault line that created the Blue Ridge Mountains but is not part of the Blue Ridge chain. Northern and Eastern Georgia have relatively frequent seismic activity with ten quakes recorded in 2013. These quakes occurred at an average depth of 9.6 km which make them less obvious and cause less property damage. This same seismic activity created Stone Mountain 300 million years ago during the last stages of the Alleghenian Orogeny when massive tectonic plate shifting allowed a large mass of magma from beneath the earth’s crust to well up . Flow structure markings on the mountain show the stone was formed underground after several eruption pulses failed to break through and then cooled to form, ultimately creating granite mass that rises 825 feet above ground, extends 9 miles underground and has a circumference of 5 miles at its base, making it the largest exposed dome in the world . Rising 1683 feet above sea level the summit of the dome is bare stone with rock pools and an unobstructed view that extends to Kennesaw Mountain, Amicacola Falls and Mt. Yonah state parks, including a breathtaking view of the Atlanta Skyline.
" National Parks Service. U.S. Department of the Interior, 26 Feb. 2014. Web. 14 Mar. 2014. “Yosemite National Park.”
The area surrounding the Cuyahoga River is notorious for being extremely polluted and industrialized. An exception to this is Cuyahoga Valley National Park. This area has a rich history and has been used as a source of livelihood, industrialization, and recreation for centuries. This rural oasis takes up nearly thirty two square miles in northeastern Ohio and is the only National Park in the state. It became recognized as an official National Park in 2000 and before was known as the Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area. Cuyahoga Valley National Park preserves a rural landscape along the Cuyahoga River and serves as a contrast to the otherwise metropolitan setting.
Yosemite and its history, young to old the story of an area of land that is doomed to be mined, forcibly stripped naked of its natural resources. In 1864 Yosemite land grant was signed into act by president Abraham Lincoln, the first area of land set aside for preservation and protection. Yosemite being a very important historical plot of land, some time ago president Theodore Roosevelt visited the park managing to disappear from the secret service with John Muir. Through the years the contrast of ideas between the industrialists and the preservationists have clashed, Yosemite’s history both interesting and mysterious but more importantly inevitable .
Located in the popular Yosemite National Park, Yosemite Falls is the tallest waterfall in California. Every year, mother nature’s breathtaking beauty attracts millions of people from around the world. People hike for three long and fatiguing hours in anticipation of witnessing forceful water rushing down the steep mountain from 2,425 feet above. Last summer, my family and I backpacked through the Yosemite Falls Trail and I came to learn what a truly exhausting experience it is.
The most abundant rock types would be: sandstones, shales, siltstones and mudstones. Although the Mesa might look flat, it is a cuesta that slopes to the south. Dakota Sandstone is the primary rock bed that lays under the park. This particular rock forms the escarpment of Mesa Verde. (Harris et al. 96). Mancos Shale is another layer of rock on top of the Sandstone. Sandstone rimrock is the top and youngest layer of the park. The textbook states, “Because the mancos has a high clay content, it expands when wet and causes slumping and sliding so that the road has to be repaired frequently”. (Harris et al. 96) The mancos consist of fine-grained sandstones, shales and mudstones. The main group of rock units would be the late cretaceous Mesaverde Group. This group of sedimentary layers consists of the Point Lookout Sandstone, the Cliff House Sandstone and Menefee. These formations consist mainly of sandstones, shales, silts and muds. Loess covers the top of Mesa Verde National Park which makes the area very
“Concretions, which are compact masses of mineral that form within a pre-existing rock. These nodules are often spherical, elongate, and are harder than the rocks that contain them. They develop around an irregularity within the rock that serves as a nucleus, often a piece of shell, a pebble, or just a harder spot in the rock. As water runs through the rock, it deposits minerals at these irregular spots. Most of the concretions are in the Cliff House Sandstone” (Service, National Park). “Other features are on many of the cliff faces, called desert varnish. Desert varnish forms when manganese, a mineral found either within the rock or in windblown dust, is fixed to the cliff face by bacteria. The bacterial action occurs on the portions of rock wet from runoff water, causing a streaking effect” (Service, National Park). Another distinctive feature called turtle back weathering, develops in the Cliff House Sandstone that is exposed and unprotected on mesa tops. Originally, there was about 1500 feet of rock atop the Cliff House Sandstone. As this overlying rock eroded away, it released a tremendous amount of pressure on the sandstone. The pressure release caused cracks to form in the rocks. Water then weathered these cracks through freezing and thawing or by dissolving some of the
Basalt is a commonly occurring igneous rock. More specifically however, Basalt falls under the category of Mafic Rocks. Mafic rocks have a poor Silica content, approximately 50% (Charles, Diane, Lisa, 2010) and contain high concentrations of metal oxides. Basalt is a fine grained rock containing predominantly ferromagnesian minerals, followed by plagioclase feldspar. The colour of Basalt ranges from dark grey to black and is relatively featureless. See Fig 1.
Yellowstone Park is the world’s first national park and the 8th largest national park in the United States. The park is primarily located in Wyoming and parts of Idaho and Nevada (56 Interesting Facts About . . . Var Addthis_config = ) It is a tourist attraction due it’s 5,000 to 15,000 years old geysers, over 45 waterfalls, canyons, rivers, hot springs, and its massive concentration of natural wildlife. Two of the most popular park attractions are the Old Faithful geyser and the Grand Prismatic springs. ("Fun Facts." - 32 Interesting Facts Yellowstone National Park.)
Grand Teton National Park is a United States National Park in northwestern Wyoming. It is approximately eight hundred and fifteen miles, or a thirteen hour and ten minute drive, from Boise City, Oklahoma. Grand Teton offers a multitude of attractions, some of which are located in a quaint town only five minutes from the national park. With its ski slopes and hot springs in the winter, and its scenic hiking trails through the pristine and natural beauty of the mountains, there is something for every member of the family year round. The landscape is magnificently beautiful with deep meadows filled with the vivid colors of the wild flowers, and tall crisp mountain ranges that reflect off the surface of the calm lakes. Golden eagles fly high in the blue sky, and buffalo roam in the tall green grass. Along with its beauty and serenity, Grand Teton National Park has a story worth fighting for.
The Rock Cycle The Rock Cycle is a group of changes. Igneous rock can change into
One of the most striking features in Glacier National Park is the color banding. This feature can be seen in nearly every mountain within the park as they are composed of different layers of rocks and colors. The rock strata are mainly composed of sedimentary rocks limestones, shales, sandstones, and lightly metamorphosed rocks (Dyson,1957). These rocks all belong to a single large unit known as the Belt series. The rocks are very unusual in that they were deposited in late in the Precambrian between 1600 and 800 million years ago and are relatively undeformed and only lightly metamorphosed (Alt, 1983). The rocks can be spotted throughout the large area of western Montana, northern Idaho, and southern British Columbia. The formation of the Belt Supergroup started during the Proterozoic era as a long narrow section of North America extending from the Arctic Ocean southward which slowly sank to form a large sea-filled trough also known as a geosyncline (Dyson, 1957). Streams from nearby lands carried muds and sands into the sea almost completely filling it. These muds were eventually compressed into shales, some limestones, and sands into sandstones. Many of the rocks in this series have very distinct features that give a clue about their origin, features suc...