The Landscape Of A Karst Landscape

Located just outside of Moab, Utah, the Arches National Park was underwater 300 million years ago. After the seas dried up, they left thousands of feet of salt. Soon, the layers of salt were covered in sand and other sediments. All of the sediments pressed together and formed sedimentary rock. The red rocks were deposited over millions of years to be the way they are now. During those years, erosion has shaped them into what they look like now. Soon, the water flowed through and didn’t give the top rock any support and collapsed. Caused by erosion, the water flowed through narrow cracks and made canyons.

The west coast of North America has been tectonically and volcanically active for billions of years. The Sierra Nevada Mountains in eastern California were born of volcanoes, and magma has been erupting in the Long Valley to the east of the mountains for over three million years (Bailey, et. al., 1989). However, the climactic eruption of the region occurred relatively recently in the region's geologic history. About 760,000 years ago, a huge explosion of magma warped the Eastern Sierra into the landscape that exists today. The eruption depleted a massive magma chamber below the earth's surface so that the ceiling of the chamber imploded, forming what is now known as

Yosemite Falls is a hanging waterfall created by glacial erosion. As the glacier moved, it carved a U-shaped valley through the mountain and to the Yosemite Valley.(Nature’s Theatre) The Yosemite Creek feeds the waterfall. It starts from the rim of the fall with the creek, then the water drops 1,400ft to the middle gorge. The middle section drop of 600 ft. is hidden from view. The lower part of the waterfall has a drop of 300 ft where the water flows into the Merced River. Yosemite Fall is ephemeral, or seasonal, meaning that it doesn’t run all the time. In the winter, the waterfall has a low flow due to the cold temperatures and frozen water. As the water falls down the waterfall, the water vaporizes and supercools. Ice forms on the cliff, and a ice cone at it’s base. When the sun shines on the fall, it melts the frozen ice and huge slabs break off and fall to the ground below. In the spring, the snow pack melts Yosemite Falls is at it’s peak flow. During the summer, from about late July- August, the waterfall is completely dried up. Yosemite Falls is known as the fifth highest waterfall in the world, and as Yosemite’s premier waterfall. It is the first waterfall you see as you turn into the Yosemite Valley. concluding sentence(Yosemite Nature Notes-Episoode

Geomorphology – Is the area of Geology that studies the form of the land, processes, and forms (Earth and other planets). The landscape of a Tundra or of a Dessert, or Glaciers now to disappear. This discipline takes a good look at Tsunamis, floods, volcanic eruptions, anything that can make the landscape change or disappear.

The karst terrain which creates the geomorphic conditions for sinkholes is a broad topic in the field of geology, and encompasses the study of groundwater, drainage, chemical processes, and many other considerations. Essentially, karst regions are located where the rock below the earth can be dissolved by the acidic groundwater which percolates through it (The Science of Sinkholes). These areas are underlain by soluble rocks such as gypsum, limestone, and dolomite which typically react with carbonic acid (H2CO3) from groundwater to dissolve the rock. Presence of limestone is

Erosion continues to alter the geology of Yosemite Valley, causing many alterations in the landscape. Erosion causes frost wedging, which is an occurrence of when water freezes and expands in the crack of rocks, which wedge them and break them apart. Also, earthquakes are relatively common in the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range and tend to also play an important role in the changing landscape of Yosemite Valley. The most considerable form of erosion that is acting on Yosemite right now is rock falls. While most of them are pretty insignificant, large rockfalls prove to be catastrophic and help to sculpt Yosemite

Similar to a cave, a sinkhole begins by acidic water dissolving carbonate bedrock creating an underground void. If the void grows close enough to the surface, the structural integrity of the surface material will eventually give way and a sinkhole is formed. These depressions can range in size from a few square yards to over hundreds of acres. The depth of sinkholes can vary from shallow to hundreds of feet. Although there are nearly 16,000 verified sinkholes in the state, the MGS caution there are a great number which have not been reported or documented. Some sinkholes in Missouri are known to be a depth greater than 100 feet though no exact records concerning depths are maintained. Located in western Boone County, the largest known sinkhole in Missouri covers approximately 700 acres. If a sinkhole does occur, it is recommended that a registered geologist or professional engineer be consulted to assist in the stabilization of the sinkhole. Filling a sinkhole, referred to as remediation, generally consists of removing all soil materials down to the bedrock surface and filling it with size-graded material. Larger rocks should be used first with each successive layer consisting of gradually smaller grained material. Geotextile fabric covered by top soil will allow water

In regards to the geologic components of Yosemite National Park, it essentially has two main parts. The first part is the deposition and deformation of the metamorphic rocks and the emplacement of the granitic rocks during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic periods. The second part is the uplift, erosion, and glaciation that took place with the rocks during the Cenozoic period. Yosemite National Park is relatively helpful in regards to observing the display of its geologic changes. When the Cretaceous period was ending which was roughly 65 million years ago, the granitic core of the range started to become

Soluble carbonate rocks under the surface and the collapse of old mines are common causes for sinkholes. Much of Alabama’s land is underlain by limestone, which is vulnerable to dissolution and leads to the formation of caves or sinkholes. The largest sinkhole recorded in the state developed near Calera in 1972 and was 325 feet long, 300 feet wide, and 120 feet deep. Northeast Alabama also suffers from earthquakes due to the state’s proximity to the Southern Appalachian Seismic Zone that runs along the Appalachian Mountains. The largest earthquake recorded occurred October 1916 at a 5.1 magnitude and spanned multiple states. The second largest earthquake in Alabama occurred October 24, 1997 at a 4.9 magnitude. In addition to sinkholes and earthquakes, the state suffers landslides due to rock strength. Most of the state is categorized as argillaceous rocks such as shales, clayey soil, and poorly compacted fills. A few areas are classified as weakly cemented rocks and soils such as sandy soils and poorly cemented sandstone. Though there are clusters of strongly cemented rocks, much of the state is included in the weaker categories. This means that they are more susceptible to landslides when earthquakes occur. (Geological Survey of

The Buffalo River area is a karst environment with attendant sinkhole and cave formation. Limestone, composed primarily of CaCO3 and dolomite composed primarily of CaMg(CO3)2, are the two soluble rock types in the area that host the karst features. Water in contact with air picks up carbon dioxide some of which transforms to carbonic acid, and this acid then dissolves the carbonate minerals, carrying the ions out in solution (e.g. Trudgill 1985). Limestone and dolomite layers vary in impurities and grain size so that different layers are more or less prone to dissolution, with dolomite generally being less soluble than limestone. To erode these rock formations with very low intergrain porosity and permeability, there has to be exposed surface area and so faults and joints within the rock greatly increase the rate in which the rock will dissolve, and partly control the location of

The Howe Sound to Whistler region has further been shaped by both fluvial and mass wastage processes. There are many river systems in this area that have been created to shed the water from this U-shaped valley. These river systems are in various stages of age ranging from youth to maturity. There are also man made drainage systems to allow water to flow from areas where rivers haven't formed down to the water's edge. With Howe Sound being a U shaped valley, this area is prone to rockslides and landslides.

Relationships of rocks and their qualities are apparent ubiquitously and are comparable between Clear Creek a nearby Valley Wall. Comparability between Clear Creek and a nearby Illinois River location also display an ever-present relationship of their discharge. Through USGS, the discharge of streams and springs correlate two water types; karst development.

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 topography of the area is composed of rivers, washes, mesas, forests, and various other components. The washes that are in the Park include the Digger Wash, Wildhorse

Rock that is formed from small parts of rock or stone that have been compacted by pressure.