Preservation Of Yosemite Valley : The Rise Of The Sierra Nevada

Yosemite National Park is a beautiful park that is just hours away from San Francisco and has some of the best hiking and scenic areas found in our National Parks. Camping at Yosemite can be a challenge though. All of the campsites within Yosemite are on a reservation system that fills up in seconds after the dates are opened. Seriously! If you know you want to camp within the park, please plan way ahead of time to secure a spot. When making a reservation make sure you are signing up for an RV or a tent space. If you are tent camping, know that you will have to park a little bit away and carry your gear in as there is no space for you to park next to your tenting spot. Yosemite camping can get

The youngest of these rocks are dated at about 220,000 years ago. Rhyodacties and quartz latites in the modern caldera area extruded from about 320,000 years ago to 260,000 years ago, and then silica-rich rhyolites at Glass Mountain northeast of the caldera erupted from about 210,000 years ago to 80,000 years ago. The scattered distribution of the initial mafic eruptions indicates that they were erupted from the mantle, while the slightly younger domes and flows were from a deep-crustal source. The youngest rhyolite eruptions erupted at the northeast rim of the caldera at Glass Mountain and were the first activity of the silicic Long Valley magma chamber (Bailey, et. al., 1989).

First, we must examine the sedimentary formations; when they were formed, how they were formed, and what materials they consist of. About ninety-three to one hundred million years ago, the Western Interior Seaway rolled through the North American continent, eventually reaching the geographical area of today’s Mesa Verde National Park (National Park Service 2005). This sea deposited a thick, hard sandstone base that is called Dakota Sandstone, although this layer is not exposed in the park

Our hike will start here, at the north rim of the Grand Canyon. We will go all the way to the bottom of the canyon. But first, a description of this area. The Grand Canyon is one on the most visited and studies sites for geologists on Earth. There are almost forty major sedimentary rock layers exposed in the Grand Canyon. Some of these rocks layers are two hundred million years old or two billion years old. Most of the sediment that makes up the rocks was deposited by oceans and seas, which now, are long gone. We know this because there are many fossils and and other records on large bodies of water in the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon is found in the Colorado Plateau. The Colorado Plateau is lifted almost two miles, or four and a fifth kilometers. It started to lift up seventy-five million years ago. This started a mountain-building period of time called the Laramide orogeny. During this period, the Rocky Mountains were created. The main types of rocks found in the Grand Canyon are limestone, siltstone, shale, and sandstone. Many of the layers are made up of limestone. Some examples of these are the Kaibab Limestone, the Redwall Limestone the Temple Butte Limestone, and the Muav

Nevada was admitted into the United States in 1864. The primary geographical landmark of this state is the Great Basin Desert national park, causing over 80 percent of Nevada's land to be owned and managed by the federal government. Nevada borders five states and is one of the states that connects to from the "Four Corners." Nevada also has the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the Rocky Mountains as its major landmarks. Most of the population resides in two regions, Washoe County and Clark County. These two counties are separated by 450 miles.

In the Nature episode we were introduced to Yosemite National park, located in the heart of California’s Sierra Nevada mountains stretching the distance of California. The Sierra Nevada is known for its harsh climates, beautiful landscape, and the incredible Yosemite valley. In this nature episode we saw how global warming is affecting the Sierra Nevada ecosystem due to the devastating drought in California. The episode starts with hang gliders setting their gliders up, and gliding above the valley this is a form of kinetic energy after they have built potential energy up running down the little cliff and gliding releasing energy. When gliding over the valley the glider can see many waterfalls and rivers carved out in the valley. One of

Have you ever wanted to see what a Lava bed Looks like, Well I do there is a park that is called Yosemite national park that has a monument of a lava bed the park has 130,000 visitors each year the lava bed is what attracts about 4 million people annually.

The Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks are two of the most famous national parks in the Sierra Nevada Range. The Sierra Nevada range is located in California along the North American Plate. This range sits to the right of the San Andreas Fault and the Pacific Plate. Some referred to these parks as “The Land of Giants” which turns out to fit them quite well. The parks get this name due to the huge mountains, endless canyons and the world’s largest trees they are home for (“Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks,” USA Today). The Sequoia National Park was founded on September 25th, 1890, making it the second oldest park in the United States, and Kings Canyon National Park was established March 4th, 1940. The two parks are adjacent to one another and stretch over approximately 865,964 acres, which a little less than 97% is woods and wilderness. These are large tourist attractions and provide a treasured experience many people value greatly in their lives. The reason it is such a treasured experience to tourists is because of the many special aspects of the park that include the Giant Forest of Sequoias as well as Mount Whitney. Mount Whitney is known for having the highest peak south of Alaska at 14,494 feet above sea level (“Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks,” National Geographic).

Yosemite area was formed by the action of tectonic movement and volcanic activity. It caused the heated magma that was below the pacific and the North American plate to be exposed (Yosemite National Park:The Kingdom of Granite and Glaciers). Further tectonic activity exposed the hidden magma exposing the valley. Yosemite Valley is cut from a granitic rock of the Sierra Nevada Batholith. Sedimentary and metamorphosed rocks, also known as roof pendants, comprise approximately 5% of the park’s landforms. Due to erosion on master joints, valleys, and later canyons are formed. The tendency of crystals in plutonic rocks to exfoliate, which acts on the granitic rock, is responsible for the formation of domes.

The rich “pancakes” of layers the Grand Canyon presents, allows relative dating to occur. Even though there are many deposits of sandstone and other similar deposits throughout the layers, the groupings of fossils assist the geologist in determining the age. Due to the work of William “Strata” Smith, the different layers or strata is determined by the fossil within the rocks, and the geologic map created. This application of dating was not the only source used.

I looked up from my book, and saw the beautiful Granite Cliffs of El Capitan. I can’t believe I’m actually here. I am so lucky that I have the opportunity to see the beauty of this mesmerizing place. Yosemite National park is the most captivating places I’ve ever been. It is in California’s Sierra Nevada Mountain Range. Yosemite was established on October 1,1890 because of the so many things that make it as outstanding as it is. Yosemite is 747,956 acres of waterfalls, trees, cliffs, mountains and more. My family and I have only been here for an hour, and I am so excited to begin all of the remarkable activities we have planned.

Yosemite Falls is a massive waterfall system, the 5th largest in the world, and the tallest waterfall in North America. It is comprised of 3 smaller falls, which are called the Upper Fall, the Middle Cascades, and the Lower Fall. Together, they are 2,425 feet tall which is nearly equivalent to two Empire State Buildings stacked on top of one another. It is estimated that about 2,400 gallons per second flow over the falls during the Spring, which would fill a 300 cubic foot swimming pool in approximately one second. The reason the The reason the waterfall is so high above the valley floor is because the glacier that eroded the valley floor down to where it lays today eroded the surrounding rock much more rapidly than the other rivers and glaciers

The eroded mountains: the mountains imn question for the Canadian shield were not really true mountains. In reality they were volcanos! But over hundreds upon hundreds of years the volcanic activity decreased and eventually became non-existent. The region has some of the most ancient volcanoes on the entire planet with some of the oldest being 1200 Million years old! These volcanoes existed in belts, where some of them reaching 12000 meters tall! One of the craziest things about the belts are the numbers of them, there were around 150 known volcano belts in this region! The reason that we don’t know the exact number is because they were all eroded and flattened into plains of

The Grand Canyon has plenty of volcanic rocks near the bottom and the top. ICR, Institute for Creative Research, has been involved in a project for years to date these volcanic rocks. this study has come a long way to show that many of the Grand Canyon strata could have formed rapidly, and that the erosion of the Canyon by the Colorado River has not been going on for millions of years.

Igneous rock has an effect on how the Grand Canyon changed over time. First, Igneous rock is “cooling magma below ground and cooling lava above ground” (26). This shows that, if igneous rock is formed on the earth's surface, it can be found in the Grand Canyon as more rock layers are exposed by erosion. Next, Intrusive igneous rock forms when “Magma pushes or intrudes into the rock below the Earth’s surface and cools”(26). Also,“Extrusive igneous rock forms when lava erupts”(26). This is important because intrusive rock is formed by cooled