Yosemite Valley Research Paper

As mentioned before, water was a major agent in the creation of these caves. Geologists say that the formation of these caves can be traced back all the way to the Cambrian period which was about six hundred million years ago. Back in the time which is present day Nevada and western Utah, the land was covered by shallow, warm, inland sea. There were msny thick layers of sediments located at the sea bottom. Some of the layers consisted of silt, others were sand, and there were others that were made up of a limy substance that came from minute shell creatures’ decomposed bodies. In one of those limy layers was to formulate into limestone to create the Lehman Caves. That limy layer was compacted by the weight of other latter sediments deposited on top of it. Since there was so much pressure, eventually that limy layer started to turn into limestone. Limestone is a cystalline or bioclastic rock that is composed of calcite. Later on as there was an increase in heat and pressure, some of the limestone formulated into some low-grade marble. Marble is a nonfoliated, metamorphic that is composed of calcite and/or dolomite. Its texture is fine to coarse. According to “The Formation of Lehman Caves”, “Later, great forces under the earth’s crust caused the layers of the rock to buckle. This mountain range (the buckle) rose gradually until its peaks were thousands of feet above the valley

The oldest rocks found in the Death Valley region were formed in the Precambrian time period no more than 1.8 billion years ago during the latter half of the Proterozoic Eon. The rocks are seen on the steep face of the Black Mountains above the current area of Badwater and were formed via deposits of mud and sand from an ancient volcanic mountain belt. Sometime between 1.8 and 1.7 billion years ago, the volcanic and sedimentary rocks were severely altered when chemical or structural changes occurred because of intense heat or pressure from the Earth's core. Because of this process, any fossilized information about the region was lost making it impossible to truly understand the origin of the region. There is some debate on whether basalt or schist was the original and dominate rock in the region before it was transformed into contorted gneiss, but again, there is no way to prove either theory.

The Central Valley of California, United States, is a notable structural depression which covers around 32,187km2 (Figure 1), and is bounded by the Cascade Range in the north, the Sierra Nevada in the east, the Tehachapi Mountains to the South, and the Coast Ranges and San Francisco Bay to the west (Planert 1995).

Powerful forces of the earth cause a landmass to slide under the water. The hot water from the floor of the ocean then melted the rock from the land, forming granite rocks (U.S. Department of the Interior). Mesozoic volcanic and sedimentary rock are scattered through Sierra Nevada Batholith, which covered most of the park during the Jurassic and Cretaceous times (Harris). Weathering and the batholithic makeup impact the exterior of the landforms within these national parks. Yosemite National Park has a very similar geological history compared to the Sequoia and King Canyon National parks, due to the fact that they all lie in the Sierra Nevada’s peak and western slopes (Harris). When it comes to lithospheric extension in the Death Valley Region, during the time of rapid growth, the plates in this region rapidly expanded. In the region of the Sequoia and King Canyon national park the plates did not expand rapidly, thus indicating that more extension occurred in the Sequoia and Kings Canyon region (Jones). Under the surface, there are many marble caves that are endemic to the area (U.S. Department of the Interior). It is clear that natural forces like these have the ability to create beautiful and interesting geology. The description of the tectonic plates would be an ocean continent subduction zone (U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey). This occurs because of the above process. A specific rock located in the national park is the Moro Rock. Moro rock is a large granite rock that is shaped like a dome. It was made by the process of exfoliation that has to do with the layers of granite expanding over time (U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey). The exfoliation process creates many of the rock features located in the park. This exfoliation process is the same one that creates many of

Another important thing to mention in this picture is the vegetation that is growing on top of the cliff since it is so close to the coastal line. This picture is only a glimpse into what surrounds these cliffs since there are many different landmarks and lithosphere actions considering it is close to the san andreas fault, the monteray bay fault and the palo calorado

This newly exposed rock already had small cracks - weathering and erosion took full advantage of these. Water would creep in and the freeze - thus expanding. This expansion would create more cracks. Wind and water eroded by carrying away particles from cracks like these, as well as from the surface of the rock and any other nooks. Not only did water wash particles away - it also softened the rock which made erosion easier.

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

There are many different types of geographic feature in California like mountains, deserts, and different water tremors. WIth these different geographic features there will come Earthquakes, Wildfires, Floods,Tsunamis,Landslides,and Coastal Changes.

Large pools of Magma formed and cooled into Granitic rock and into what we now know as the Peninsula Range batholiths. After this period, the angle of subduction between the faralon plate and the North American Plate flattened and this greatly slowed the formation of any more mountains in San Diego. At 90 million years ago, the mountains that were formed in San Diego country began to erode and much of the sediment was deposited along the shoreline, extending it to the west. At 70 million years ago, the large coastal plain created by the eroded mountains sank into the ocean and were eroded, the Cabrillo and point Loma formations were a result of this period. Erosion continues as the subduction zone flattens and plays even less of a role and geologic activity is relatively calm until the beginning of the extension phase.

Cedar Breaks started to form when the plates of the earth started to change. A plate called the Pacific plate plunged under the lighter continent. Ginormous sections of the earth’s crust headed eastward along a low angle called “thrust faults”. This time of faulting known as the sevier orogeny, formed a chain of mountains to the west of what is now Cedar Breaks National Monument.

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.

* Measurements of Geologic uplift and slip rates – in many areas of the San Andreas Fault a detailed record of strike-slip activity is provided. By studying the sediments deposited in a given area and comparing them to an established age control it is possible to determine the rates and timing of changes of tectonic deformation.

Tectonic processes highly relate to the erosion process as the processes control the erosion rates and distributions at the Earth's surface. Tectonic can either raise or lower the surface of Earth, such as creation of mountain or surrounding areas. As a result, gradients of the land surface would be changed. Erosion rates are sensitive to changes of local slope, this will change erosion rates in the uplifted area. More unweathered rock are brought towards the surface if tectonics are actively change. Therefore, erosion changes frequently.

According to geo.Mtu.edu it all begins with rock underground that breaks along a fault. A

crust get uplifted as a result of these converging forces, resulting in the formation of Fold Mountains.