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History of national parks essay
Grand canyon research paper
Grand canyon research paper
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This article published on Geology. com describes the recent evidence that dates the formation of the
Grand Canyon to 70 million years ago. This theory, that the uplift from under the ocean formed a river that would later become known as the Colorado river, is a totally new theory compared to the previous one that the formation of the canyon to 6 million years ago. The theory that the Grand Canyon is only 6 million years old is supported by depositional sand in the Muddy Creek Formation. The problem with this theory is that in reality, the age of the Muddy Creek is the age of the river, not the canyon. Geologists have just assumed that the canyon is also this old. It is possible that older rivers formed the canyon and they are now gone due to
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John
Powell's expedition and survey of the canyon in 1869 helped him to become the head of the USGS and then the head of the Smithsonian's Bureau of Enthology. His early studies on water drainage formed the basis for some of the water laws and canals that exist today. When the canyon was made a Nation Park in 1919, it infuriated many ranchers and miners because they could no longer use it to ranch or mine in.
Ralph Cameron built the Bright Angel Trail and charged one dollar per person to use it. After a major lawsuit, the Forest Service was forced to build the South Kaibab Trail to pass his property. N the 60's, the park was the central gathering point for the Sierra Club, who was looking to slow the progress of the
Bridge Canyon dam. This act helped pave the way for many more environmentalist rebellions throughout the 60's and 70's. The canyon is also an argument point in the everlasting battle between creationists and evolutionists. Creationists say that the canyon was formed during the Great Flood of the Old
Testament. All in all, the canyon has political, societal, and scientific importance. The southwest would not be the same without it.
How Geologists Study the Grand
The shelf-edge includes carbonate-to-clastic facies transition and tectonic uplift and erosion of the carbonates followed by deposition of the clastics. The Saint Peter Sandstone is a well-sorted, almost pure quartz arenite deposited during a major mid-Ordovician low stand. Clastics spread across an exposed carbonate platform by transportation. This is shown by the well-rounded, frosted texture of the quartz grains.
Sedimentary rock from the older Silurian Period is further from the river banks (Geological map of Victoria, 1973). Mudstone, inter-bedded shale and greywacke depositions indicate the Maribyrnong River may have previously taken a different shape, and younger sediments have replaced the older sediments in more recent geological periods.
The one feature common to the Hoover Dam, The Mississippi river and the three gorges dam is that they all tried to control nature’s swings, specifically in the form of flooding. Before the Hoover dam was built, the Colorado river “used to flood spectacularly…but after 1900 the Colorado provoked a vehement response” (Pg 177). The response was simple, but large. The U.S. built several large dams, including the Hoover dam, on the Colorado to decrease its flooding and increase power and irrigation. Unfortunately, just as human control of the Colorado’s flooding increased, its organisms and habitats were detrimentally influenced, and the water became more and more salinated.
The Geological history of the Houston area includes surface water present in several types of lakes, rivers, and a wide-ranging system of bayous as well as, manmade canals that all share the rainwater runoff management system. In of Harris County 25%-30% of the land is within a 100 year flood plain. Elevation range of Harris 0'-310', so presently land surface and uppermost sediments in the Houston area are geologically very young strata and research isolates that its ages are measured in tens of thousands, not millions, of years. Distinctly this knowledge concludes it is faulted by a natural process, before significant fluid extraction ha...
The negative aspects of Glen Canyon Dam greatly exceed the positive aspects. The dam’s hydroelectric power supply is only three percent of the total power used by the six states that are served by the facility. There is a surplus of power on the Colorado Plateau and with more and more power-plants being created in the western hemisphere, Glen Canyon Dam’s power is not needed (Living Rivers: What about the hydroelectric loss). Although the ‘lake’ contains twenty seven million acre feet of water, one and a half million acre feet of water are lost yearly due to evaporation and seepage into the sandstone banks surrounding the ‘lake’ (Living Rivers: What about the water supply?). The loss of that much “water represents millions, even billions of dollars” (Farmer 183). If the government were to employ more water efficient irrigation practices, as much as five million acre feet of water per year could be saved.
The Mystery of Chaco Canyon introduces viewers to a very complex structure that was built by Ancient Pueblo Indians. Although there is no language to explain the structure’s meaning and purpose, researchers were able to read their architecture as a language. Four themes that were extracted from the structure were, the native’s immense understanding of astronomy, the use for the structure, the level of spirituality that the structure represents, and migration from Chaco Canyon.
In the 1800’s into the early 1900’s a man named John Muir began to explore the western American lands. He traveled down South and up North. But, when he reached Yosemite Valley, his life changed. As said in John Muir’s Wild America, written by Tom Melham, “Following the forest-lined mountain trails, Muir climbed higher into the Sierra Nevada: suddenly, a deep valley enclosed by colossal steeps and mighty water falls yawned before him. Spell bound, he entered Yosemite Valley” (79). Muir’s travels and adventures, highlighted in Melham’s book, explain this man’s love of the wilderness. Yosemite Valley was like a wide, open home to Muir, who, lived alone and discovered new landings and important later landmarks that create the aura of Yosemite National Park. Yosemite Valley was given to the state of California in 1864, part of the continuous idea of Manifest Destiny, later, in 1890; Yosemite became one of the first National Parks (“World Book”). Uniquely, the longer Muir stayed the more that he...
The author seems to want to clear guilt of the proposal from the club members. The author's point of view seems to be of someone who is involved in the Sierra Club organization itself, whether the author is or isn't a member they have something to do with the organization. The author is in a protective mode, "The Board (of the Sierra Club) pulled this idea out of thin air" (www.glencanyon.net/club) trying to state the fact that not all members are in favor of the plan to drain the lake.
Charles Lyell Charles Lyell was a British lawyer and one of the smartest geologists known at his time. He was known as the author of the Principles of Geology, which helped popularize the theories and concepts of uniformitarianism. The Principles of Geology was the first book written by Lyell and explained the changes in the earth’s surface. He used the research and information in the book as his proof to determine that the earth was over 6,000 years old. The central argument in his book was “the present is the key to the past”, this meant that to find out what happened in the past you had to look at what was happening now.
The canyon is a part of what is now the Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, an area of land first acquired through the Louisiana Purchase. In this painting, the observer may notice many features which stand out. In the background, the image depicts a large, rocky ravine, occupied by a river and rows of trees. The river leads to a large orb of light, presumably stemming from a fire. In the foreground, two men are seen standing on a cliff above the ravine, presumably in awe at the wondrous land they have just discovered in the distance. Behind the men is an untraveled area of
The Precambrian Shield Rocks found in the Brickworks was formed in an ancient sea more than 1.4 billion years ago. Over many years, the heat and pressure from plate tectonics slowly pushed the land into a mountain chain. During the Ordovician period (around 470- 448 million years ago), the mountain chains This layer of shale and limestone is called the Georgian Bay
The geology, its history, and the presence of past civilizations contribute to much of the significance of Mesa Verde National Park. The interconnectedness of these aspects should also be noted. If not for the weathering processes and changes in sea level this formation would not exist. Without it, the ancient people would not have been able to reside within Mesa Verde. This National Park now serves as a tool to help conserve the remains of these past civilizations as well as to help educate today’s society on the significance behind this astonishing geologic
Irrigation has changed Arizona a lot economically wise and land use, irrigation is an important factor to Yuma. It brought people here for jobs and that lead to Yuma making more houses which brought up the economy and had more land to plant agricultural crops like vegetables and fruits, irrigation basically improved Arizona.
In the Northwest corner of Arizona lies the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon has been around for millions of years, and in 1906 President Theodore Roosevelt got to view the magnificent gorge for the first time. After this he felt awestruck, and said “It is beyond description”. Later the Grand Canyon preserve was founded by President Roosevelt in 1906, so future generations could have the same enjoyment he has with it. Just a few years later the canyon became a national monument. Then President Woodrow Wilson would agree to sign a statement for the protection of the Grand Canyon, which made Roosevelt's dream come true.
The water wars began proper in 1898 when Frederick Eaton was elected as the mayor of Los Angeles. One of Eaton’s first business matters was to appoint his friend William Mulholland as the superintendent of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. The two held a grand vision that Los Angeles could become one of the nation’s great cities if given the proper time and care to expand. The one factor that seriously limited growth was a lack of a water supply that could support such a massive undertaking. The solution was simple- to build an aqueduct, which would become the world’s largest water system at the time, from the Owens Valley 223 miles away. The val...