The Hiking Trail of American Fork Canyon

The hiking trail begins with a pile of loose rocks, a talus slope, thanks to rocks that fall down one of the walls of the American Fork Canyon. The walls of the American Fork Canyon were widened by erosion. Many of the rocks are cracked. This is caused by the presence of vegetation. The trees and other plants that grow in the rocky area dig their roots down deep into the rocks, causing cracking. This is known as physical organic weathering. The valley of the American Fork Canyon has a V shape when viewed from a distance. This is indicative of its age, meaning it is young and was never covered over in ice, or glaciated. If this had occurred, the valley would have a U shape instead, and it would mean that the valley is older. The tunnel found in the rock has many fault lines. They were caused by the explosions and drilling that helped to build the tunnel. There are other cracks in the rock that are not faults, but instead are bedding planes. Bedding planes are separated portions of deposits that settled in the ancient sea.
There are black streaks in the rocks in the canyon wall caused by the formation of magnesium oxide. This is an example of chemical weathering, which causes the rock to deteriorate over time. This is chemical weathering because the chemical composition of the rock is changing. There are also rocks with red-brown coloring, which is caused by iron oxidation. Iron oxidation is another example of chemical weathering.
There are tilted layers of bedrock. This is caused by the moving of tectonic plates, specifically the Pacific and North American plates. Some of the rocks have wavy lines. They were created by water moving slowly over the surface, or physical weathering. There are fossils that can be found in the sedimen...

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...ls from their hands are left behind, it inhibits the natural growth of the formations, which causes problems for both those who wish to tour the caves in the future and geologists who wish to study the growth and formation of the speleothems.
The salt and pepper shakers, which are stalagmites that are found at the end of the cave tour, are an example of formations that have been affected by human touch. The tour guides used to allow the people on the tours to touch these formations, but have since stopped because of the effect the human hands have had on the stalagmites’ growth. In order to lessen the effects of human impact, the tour guides should continue to discourage people from touching the formations. This will help promote the natural growth and keep things that inhibit such growth, such as the oil from human fingers, from being introduced to the environment.