Sequoia and Kings National Park has some of the most jaw dropping geological features and resources a park can have, part of the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range lies in the park. This is the longest mountain range in America. Mt. Whitney is in this range and rises to 14.491 feet above sea level. The park has eleven additional peaks that are above 14,000 feet and also lie in the park. In Kings Canyon National Park ridges expand into the west and create the goddard and monarch divides with mountains that are taller than 13,000 feet (United States National Park Service, “Overview”, 2015). The Great Western divide is what people see when they first go to Mineral King and the Great Western parallels the Sierran Crest. In between all of these mountains …show more content…
Great forces from the earth helped form the great basin and has forced these mountains to grow and climb. There were at least four periods of glacial advance that covered the mountain range in a thick coat of ice. Many glaciers formed during this period but today there’s only a few small glaciers that have remained in the park and they are known as the southernmost glaciers in North America. The glaciers carve the deep valleys and craggy peaks that are seen in the Sierra Nevada Mountain …show more content…
These types of rocks include metamorphosed volcanic rock, schist, quartzite, Phyllite, and marble. The marble rocks in the Sequoia and Kings National Parks contain different caves. This is different from Yosemite National Park because Yosemite does not have any caves (United States National Park Service, “Geology”, 2015). This marble however is metamorphosed limestone and Sequoia and Kings Canyon combined contain over 200 marble caves. These caves only form under special conditions which include the right kind of rock, fractures or spaces that are in the rock and enough water that can erode underground spaces or passages. These two parks contain the longest cave in California which is Lilburn Cave. Lilburn Cave has nearly 17 miles of surveyed passage and it is a very complex cave with blue and white-banded marble (United States National Park Service, “Overview”, 2015). Nearby mines cause the cave to also occasionally have displays of rare or colorful minerals such as green malachite and blue
The majestic ranges of western North America – the Rockies, the Sierra Nevada, the cascades, and the Coast Ranges – arose more recently.
...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.
(“Facts about mountains for kids) (“Mountains - geography games and videos for kids.” ) Mountains influence the weather and climate around them immensely. They break up wind flows, so the wind either has to go above or around the mountains. The air that is forced up becomes cooler, and condenses into rain, snow, fog, or mist. (Simon, Seymour pg. 21) The western sides of mountains are typically much wetter than the eastern side where very little rain falls at all. This is caused by the rain shadow effect. (Simon, Seymour pg. 21) Mountains also have the ability to create rain forests and deserts. They store water and then release the water in the form of rivers that help with growth of vegetation. The rivers can be used as drinking water or they can be harnessed to create electricity. (Simon, Seymour pg. 27) Some mountains are more prominent in the world’s geography than others. There is a mountain on Mars, Olympus Mons, that is the tallest mountain on any planet on this solar system. Olympus Mons is 14 miles tall. (Hartston, William) The longest mountains are the Andes and the highest mountains are the Himalayas. (“Facts about mountains for kids”) ( Morris, Neil pg. 28) The Mid-Ocean Ridge is an underwater mountain chain that stretches 47,000 miles long. Not all of these mountains were formed in the same
Both Mystery and Niagara Cave are made of limestone. Limestone is formed when areas that used to be covered with water, would have contained shelled animals and other organisms. When the animals died, their bodies along with waste matter from other organisms, floated down to the bottom of the water. Over time, it was compressed and formed limestone. Caves are usually made of limestone because it is easily carved out by water. This is the case for Mystery and Niagara
Glaciers are an integral part of the world’s climate. In fact, as Richard Armstrong of the University of Colorado says, “Glaciers are key indicators in monitoring and detecting climate change” (Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, 2003, p. 1). Not only are they an important part of monitoring current climate, they can hold many keys to the past. Glaciers are in fact, “a source of paleoclimate data…” (Meier and Dyurgerov, 1980, p. 37). This paleoclimate data can give geologists information on the conditions that were present at the time of the glaciers birth, as well as the approximate age. This has an important role in the geologic time scale of the Colorado Rocky Mountains. These Glaciers played a role in the carving of the present day Rocky Mountains in Colorado, which will be the primary focus of this paper. In addition, glacial formations will be discussed to give the reader background information and the future of the Glaciers in Colorado will close this paper.
Imagine a scenic, wild landscape with animals that roam freely, cascading waterfalls, and mountains that seem to scrape the pale blue sky. This is what one thinks when first hearing the name Yosemite National Park. Unfortunately, the reality is completely opposite. Yosemite is now under a federally regulated Class 1 area under the Clean Air Act, which is equivalent to the pollution of Los Angeles (“National Parks Service”). It is a sad comparison to the past John Muir, who first documented Yosemite Valley, to today’s reality. The condition of Yosemite National Park should be introduced to the American public in order to protect its historic beauty and significance, eliminate current pollution, and prevent future repercussions.
...the only major geologic event in the history of the Appalachians. Several glaciers have covered parts of the Northern Appalachians over the last three million years. (Appalachian tales) The mountains have been there ever since and that is how they were formed.
Zig-zag, back and forth, down, down, down, Jonathon, Dad, and I went into a mysterious new world. Now that I have gone into this hot, dry canyon surrounded by monstrous hoodoos, I have seen what it is really like to leave the small town of Seymour, and emerge into the greatness of this world. I have now seen several other National Parks on one of the most renowned places on earth for mysterious creations, the Colorado Plateau. Of all the beautiful places on it, even the Grand Canyon, I have found my favorite one. Bryce Canyon National Park. I thought it was amazing, because it was the most diverse to anything I have ever seen before. We hiked down into it and I felt like I was surrounded by skyscrapers. We trekked around a little, but we didn’t
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 .
The geological processes that formed and continue to influence Mono Lake began approximately 215 million years ago when the Farallon sea floor plate began subducting, or pushing, under the North American plate. The North American plate was pushed over the sea floor plate by the force of the African and South American plates rifting apart. The friction from the North American plate rubbing against the Farallon plate melted some of the continental rocks, which then erupted in a long volcano chain, the Sierran Arc, stretching from Alaska to Mexico inland from the coast. Over time, the unerupted magma chambers from the Sierran Arc cooled into the granitic batholith that is the Sierra Nevadas (Tierney, 26-27).
... Each of our group members contributed information they researched and I compiled the final product of the PowerPoint, which aided in the presentation that we delivered to the class. Works Cited "Mount Rainier, Tallest Mountain in Contiguous United States." Online posting of the ad. The Cardinal.
Walnut Canyon National Monument is a twenty-mile long, 400-feet deep, and one fourth-mile wide canyon, sitting about twenty minutes outside of flagstaff, AZ. Beside the sheer size of the canyon, one other distinguishing factor makes this site fascinating. There are well-preserved ancient homes belonging to the ancestors of the Hopi, or better known as the Puebloans, that lie nestled into long horizontal cracks in the canyon walls. These dwellings are made accessible to visitors by a one and half mile long, concrete hiking trail that has been paved around and even through some of the homes.
Before Lake Coeur d’Alene existed, the St. Joe River ran through the present lakebed northward and up through the Rathdrum Prairie before turning west and into the Spokane Valley. About 15,000 years ago, during the peak of the last glacial period, huge glaciers covered much of British Columbia. This ice, which was almost 4,000 feet thick, unimaginably covered all but the highest mountain peaks. The glacier slowly crept down into North Idaho, stopping just north of Coeur d’Alene (Wuerthner, 30, 32).
This trip starts from Denver, Colorado to Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. “Natural landform” is the main theme for this trip. I will explore the mystery of geothermal features in Yellowstone National Park.