Personal Narrative: The Rocky Mountains

So you now know how sedimentary rocks are formed and how the Colorado River majorly eroded all the rock creating canyons. But here comes the million dollar question: where did all the rocks come from? The answer to that question is The Continental Drift. The Earth's continents are not fixed in place, but rather float on a sea of molten rock, meaning that they move around quite a bit. Over 250 million years, that “quite a bit” can turn into land masses moving thousands of miles. Moreover, the Earth is made up of 20 Tectonic plates. Seven of these plates are very large and consist of entire continents or sea floors. The plate that the Grand Canyon is located on is called “The North American Plate”. At one time, this plate was considerably further south and consequently had a very different climate than

For example, The appalachian Mountains were formed by a massive continental collision over 300 million years ago. According to page 88 in my science notebook, the rocks in the Chattooga River is evidence of the continental collision. Mountains are formed when two continental plates collide, and form the mountains. The Appalachian mountains, were formed during Pangea. The North American Plate and the African Plate collided. When this happened the Appalachian Mountains were formed. These mountains then grew bigger, but as soon as it started growing, it also eroded. Erosion and

Humans are animals. Even as developed, personalized, and intelligent as we are, we share a deep connection with every living thing. However, many of the problems in the world result from the human belief that technology is more powerful and can replace the serene, perfect essence of nature. I believe that a connection with nature can heal wounds and help humans find balance in their lives.

Running water moves sediment in the processes of erosion and deposition, causing different types of landforms. As you can tell in the picture above, Michigan’s topography plays a huge role on where the faster and slower flowing rivers are located and the transportation of the materials in the water depends on the speed of the rivers. Erosion is the breaking down of those materials by the agent, water. The water can erode the channel laterally and vertically, in the end, making the channel wider and deeper. There are different types of erosion: hydraulic action, corrasion, corrosion, cavitation, and attrition. Hydraulic action (above on the right) takes place at rapids and waterfalls because the force of the water removes rock particles from the bed and banks of the river. A great example of this in Michigan is Canyon Falls on the Sturgeon River. At the waterfall, the water is rushing at a high velocity, especially in the spring, causing rock particles to move downstream, creating a wider and deeper river. Eventually the rivers velocity begins to decrease and particles start to deposit. This could also occur because lack of precipitation or an increase in evaporation. The deposition of materials at different locations of the river that they began changes the shape of the river, and effects Michigan as a whole in the end. The particles can travel all the way to the mouth of the river, in this case, Lake Superior, causing

Plate tectonics are very dangerous when they collide,slide,and move apart. They can create mountains like the Appalachian Mountains that used to tower over everything then erosion took place. The Appalachian Mountains were formed by convergent boundaries, convergent boundaries are collide

Convection currents may bring magma to the surface at diverging boundaries. Sedimentary rocks from the ocean floor gets pushed down to the mantle at convergent boundaries. The crust soon melts and rises to the surface creating igneous rock. Typically mountain ranges are metamorphic rock, maybe our mountains are.

A period of volcanism resulted in igneous intrusions within the Raton Basin-Sierra Grande Uplift Province that was sourced from the upper mantle about 26. 6 billion years ago and is associated with parallel dikes and sills (Higley, 2007). Igneous rocks are common within the Raton Basin and include Tertiary dikes and sills that range in age from 6.7 to 29 5 million years ago (Flores and Bader, 1999). One of the main differences between dikes and sills is that dikes are longer lived magma conduits and sills are features that form when magma is in neutral buoyancy with the surrounding rock (Rooper et al., 2006). These volcanic events are associated with hydrothermal alteration of coal within the basin (Higley, 2007).

The year was 1999 when we moved to Colorado from New Mexico. I was just a year old. My father recalls searching restlessly day and night to help support me and my mother. Coming to a new state was difficult; moving from basement to basement was their only option. Fortunately, a little after our arrival, my father found a job working construction and we were able to get a small apartment.Although small, it was still fulfilling in every way. Money was scarce at the time, as well as food. As he talks, he mentions a weekend night when he and I were spending some time together in the living room. I was a year old, and I was hungry. I decided to go to the kitchen and find some milk. When I made it to the kitchen, I opened the fridge. My father says,

For example. Waterfalls and potholes are commonly found in the upper course, and are exceedingly rare in the lower course. Meanders and Oxbow lakes are commonly found in the middle course, it is caused by erosion and deposition, these factors causes the river to have a bend during its course. Levees and flood plains are also frequently found in the lower course, there is a larger water volume, therefore floodplains are created to adapt to it’s new features, while features such as meanders will not be affective, as it has a higher chance of flood, and erosion would also change the feature very

Many millions of years ago the Sierra Nevada was filled with ocean water until sediments began collecting and formed mountain ranges. Over a large period of time, the mountains began to wear out and became immersed in the ocean once again. Many different particles and materials began to make layers and created the first mountain system. After the Jurassic era, “…new strata were folded and crumpled and invaded by molten granite from below” (Beatty, 1943). A large

Colorado, known for the Rocky Mountains, is a gorgeous place to be. The rectangular state rich with wildlife, covers 104,185 square miles. In the black timber, it is dark and silent, not a sound to be heard. The thick pine trees block out most of the sunlight, only to see about seventy-five yards. The terrain is brutal, almost straight up and down, but the elk love it because it is a challenge for hunters to see them. As I walk my favorite ridgeline in the black timber, I watch for the slightest movement and listen for the smallest crack. Watching thirteen-lined ground squirrels run around and chase each other can be humorous when they fall down from trees. My adrenaline pumps and heart races at a million miles per hour as I wait patiently

The most enjoyable,place that I have ever been to is Eagle Colorado. The reason I went to colorado was to visit my cousin Lou Ann,her husband Jason,and their kids Isaac and Ezzy. My cousin Lou Ann and her son Isaac were in town and asked my cousin and I would like to stay with them and we said yes because we were bored in clayton..It was a pretty long car ride but it was worth it after we got to Colorado.It was the most enjoyable place because of the beautiful weather,mountains,and kind people. I loved the weather during the summer because it did not rain or snow and it wasn’t too cold or hot.Eagle Colorado is a 6 hour drive from Clayton.It is also 135 miles west of Denver In 2010 the population was 6,508 people. The population of eagle has not changed much since 2010.

Just this past summer, under the hot, and sticky sun, we pushed our car to the limit, on our 1,000 mile journey to the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, although in actuality we might have pushed our fears to the absolute limit. Flipping through the Colorado vacation brochure proved to have posed some interesting vacation destinations, such as "Big Bear Lake" and Trail Ridge Road. With the intent to get high in the sky, our family headed out the next morning to Trail Ridge Road, which is a road that takes you up to a staggering height of 12,000 feet. Although optimistic, we imagined of the vast fields of green, the glacier-topped mountains, and the valleys that undertake the them. As we climbed up to the peak, it seemed apparent that there

The Grand Canyon’s display of layered rocks is magnificent and immense. The Canyon has many types of rocks including metamorphic, igneous and sedimentary. 2 billion years ago, igneous and metamorphic rocks formed in the inner gorge of the Grand Canyon. On top of these rocks sedimentary rock layers were created. Over time these layers of rocks transformed with erosion, tectonic actions, intrusions, and uncomformities.

Mountains can also form when convergent plates smash into each other. Furthermore, stream erosion made a path for the river that runs through the Rocky Mountains. I can infer that water collected on the ground and then slowly trickled down a slope, carrying rock and sediments away with it. Overtime, more and more rain/water collected in the stream which made it grow wider. Now, a long, wide, and deep river has formed. Finally, I can see where abrasion could have made the bottom of the mountains smooth and curved. I think that pieces of rock could have fallen off some of the mountains in the Rocky Mountain Range (maybe due to ice wedging). When they fall, they rub on the base of the mountains. This chips part of the rock off and smooths it