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National Parks
Geological features of National parks
126
Geology
Undergraduate 1
05/05/2009

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Term
Half Dome and El Capital
Intrusive Igneous Rocks, Course Grained
Definition
Yosemite National Park
Term
Where and what is Mt. Whitney?
Definition
Largest mountain in lower 48, Sequoia National Park
Term
Where and what is Mauna Loa?
Definition
Highest volcano in the world, Hawaii volcanoes National Park
Term
Where and what is Kilauea?
Definition
One of the most active volcanoes in the world, a caldera, in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
Term
Shield volcanoes are made from what type of lava/rock?
Definition
Basalt
Term
The closest thing on earth that looks like a moon, last erupted in 1790 but is now dormant
Definition
Maui Haleakala in Maui Haleakala National park
Term
Where and what is Red Hills?
Definition
A large cinder cone (10,023ft) in Maui Haleakala National Park
Term
Where and what is Mt. Rainer?
Definition
Tallest and biggest of the cascade volcanoes, Mt. Rainer national park
Term
What percentage of Mt. Rainer is lava flows?
Definition
90%
Term
What and where is Wonderbad Trail?
Definition
Mt. Rainer National Park hiking trail that goes all around the volcano
Term
Describe the Eruption history of Mt. Rainer
Definition
About 5700 years ago was probably bigger than today, a huge eruption.
About 2500 years ago it started erupting again.
Always lots of lava and then huge explosions
Term
What is Crater Lake like in Crater Lake National park?
Definition
Deepest Lake in North America, covers 21 Square miles, a huge lake at the top of the volcano.
Wizard Island (large cinder cone in the caldera)
Bottom of the lake is still warm
Term
What and where is Wizard Island?
Definition
Crater Lake NP, large cinder cone that formed in the caldera after a big eruption took place
Term
Where is (was) Mt. Mayoma?
Definition
Crater Lake National park, was probably 11,000 ft. high
Term
lassen volcanic national park has lots of different ----- features
Definition
volcanic
Term
Where and what is Mt. Tehama
Definition
Lassen Volcanic national park, most of it disappeared in the caldera long ago, what is left is called brokeoff volcanoe
Term
Where and what is Brokeoff Volcano?
Definition
The remains of mt. Tehama after most of it broke off into the caldera of lassen volcanic national park
Term
Describe some of the features of Lassen Peak in Lassen Volcanic national park (a volcanic dome)
Definition
A volcanic dome formed called lassen peak, big slog of lava often found in crater very slowly oozing itself out of the vent
4 small shield volcanos surround it
Term
How many volcanos are there in Katmai National park? How many have erupted since 1912?
Definition
16, 6
Term
What happened in 1912 at Katmai National Park?
Definition
Massive volcanic eruption which produced 30 sq miles of pyroplastics in 24 hours, this was the largest eruption of the 20th century and is known as a novarupta
10 years later the pyroplastics are still hot and the valleys were filled up with 300 ft of pyroplastic debris.
From then on it was known as the valley of 10,000 smokes
Term
Describe the geology of Yellowstone national park (why is there so many thermal features?)
Definition
A hot spot of felsic magma
Term
What type of lava is there at Yellowstone National Park?
Definition
felsic magma
Term
what is the history of super volcanoes at yellowstone national park? (there are three of them)
Definition
2.2 mya (now idaho) 2500 cubic km
1.2 mys 280 cubic km
.6 mya 1000 cubic km
these are known as super volcanoes and we are due for another that will destroy the entire USA
Term
How do the super volcanoes at Yellowstone National park happen?
Definition
Felsic magma bows up the surface as it rises.
As the crust is rigid it will crack.
Pressure gets released, lots of gas...and then boom!
Once it has erupted the surface collapses and we are left with a caldera (aka the Yellowstone caldera)
Term
what percentage of the worlds geysers are at Yellowstone national park?
Is yellowstone the oldest National park and was it formed in 1872?
Definition
80% yes
Term
How big is the grand canyon? length, width, and depth
Definition
270 miles long, 9-18 miles wide, 1 mile deep
Term
Approx. how much rock has eroded away to form the Grand Canyon over the course of millions of years?
Definition
About 1600 million cubic meters over the course of millions of years
Term
The Grand Canyon has a very distinct V shape valley with what river flowing thru it?
Definition
The Colorado River
Term
What is Geological Formation?
Definition
Mapable body of distinctive rock types
Term
Describe the geological history of the rocks scene at the grand canyon
Definition
Dark Rock: shists (metamorphic rock)
Pine rocks: Granites (igneous int. rocks)
Granites are younger
Principle of cross-cutting relationships
Schists are from continent-continent collision
Term
What kind of sandstone is at Zion national park? This is the only type of rock within the 2000 ft canyon.
Definition
Navajo Sandstone. The only types of rock.
Term
Zion National park was a huge dessert during what era?
Definition
Jurassic Era
Term
The Virgin River is in what national park?
Definition
Zion national park
Term
Describe Bryce Canyon, what are hoodoos?
Definition
its not actually a canyon but a series of amphitheaters cut into the side of the plateau. Hoodoos are odd shaped erosional features.
Term
Bryce Canyon has more ---- then any other place in the world
Definition
Arches
Term
What rock types are the arches of Arches National Park made from?
Definition
sandstone
Term
Describe the way in which arches (arches National Park) are formed?
Definition
Rocks have fractures in them called joints, usually there are joint sets; whole series of fractures running parallel to each other
Over time the joints get wider as erosion occurs along them.
The weaker sections of the sandstone erode more quickly creating thinner areas
Before they open up all the way they are called a blink arch (potential arch)
Term
What two rivers (though one of them is more like a tributary) run through Canyonlands national park?
Definition
The colorado river and the Green River (tributary)
Term
What are the different hypothesis surrounding the upheaval dome which is located in Canyonlands National park?
Definition
The crater domed upwards because impact side of a larger meteor.
OR the rocks were pushed up by a huge plate of salt.
(salt will flow, tends to rise upwards and push up the underlying rocks
Term
Where is the Island in the Sky Mesa? The Angel Arch? The Needles? Cataract Canyon? What rock dominates this park?
Definition
These are all at Canyonlands National park. The Cataract Canyon is where the colorado and Green River meet, The Needles are a lot of sandstone spires.
Dominated sandstone
Term
what is the main rock of Canyonlands?
Definition
sandstone
Term
Where is the Morrison formation?
Definition
Capital Reef National park
Term
What does reef mean in relation to Capitol Reef national park?
Definition
Old term for barriers or opassages, some of the sandstone was eroded into rounded dome like shapes, 100 mile long stretch has been folded
Term
What is the main rock of the Capitol Reef?
Definition
sandstone
Term
The petrified wood of Petrified Forest National park has been replaced by what two things?
Definition
sandstone and congolomerate
Term
What type of rock is found in petrified national forest and what era is it from?
Definition
Triasttic shales (multicolored)
Term
The riverbeds of petrified forest national park are marked by what two rock types? (same as what the wood is replaced with)
Definition
sandstone and conglomerate
Term
Mammoth cave National Park has the longest -----cave system known in the world
Definition
cave system
Term
How did the levels of mammoth cave form?
Definition
Below a certain leel all openings are filled with water( this is called the watertable) it is not flat. Water flows from the higher ares to the lowers areas
Term
What type of rock (its a limestone) is in Mammoth cave?
Definition
Mississippian limestone
Term
The Frozen Niagra in Mammoth cave is made of what type of rock?
Definition
Frozen flowstone
Term
Where is Wind Cave National park located?
Definition
In the Black Hills of South Dakota, near mt rushmore, a much smaller scale than Mammoth cave.
Term
What type of rock is found at Wind Cave national park?
(it is also found out Mammoth cave)
Definition
Mississippian limestone
Term
What is box work? (box work is found at Wind Cave national park)
Definition
Before the cave formed there were lots of joints and overtime these were filled with calcite. The fractures filled with a mineral, this leaves "veins" after joins have eroded
Term
Steleothems (associated with caves such as Mammoth and wind) are what two things?
Definition
Stalagties and stalagmites
Term
Carlsbad Caverns has huge ----
Definition
Speleothems
Term
Carlsbad Caverns has the largest ---- of any caves (mammoth is the longest)
Definition
underground rooms
Term
What type of rock is associated with Carlsbad caverns? (from what era)
Definition
Permian Limestone
Term
Where are there lots of bats?
Definition
Carlsbad Caverns
Term
What type of rock is associated with Guadalpue Mountains National park? (also found in Carlsbad caverns)
Definition
Permian limestone
Term
The Guadalupe Mountains are known as what type of Mountain?
Definition
Fault block mountain
Term
The Guadalupe Mountains National park has what type of reef geologically? In the Permian time it extended to hundres of miles and had an extensive shallow lagoon behind reed
Definition
Barrier reef, had a shallow lagoon
Term
The guadalupe mountains national park is associated with what highest point?
Definition
Highest point in texas
Term
What type of rocks are associated with Voyageurs National park? (type, era, name) and what type of rock have they been intruded by (just name)
Definition
Metamorphic precambrian rocks that have been intruded by lots of granites
Term
Voyageuers National park has how many lakes and how many islands? Rocks of the ---- can be found here.
Definition
4 interconnected lakes with about 500 islands. Rocks of the Craton
Term
Isle Royals it the largest ---- of lake ----. The islands run parallel to the direction the ---- was moving.
Definition
Island of Lake superior. Glacier during ice age.
Term
What two types of rocks are associated with ISland Royale National Park
Definition
Basalt lava and conglomerates
Term
Where can you find a lot of abandoned copper mines?
Definition
Isle Royale national park
Term
Island Royale has a lot of moose on an island because when they got there the lake thawed and now thats where they hang out.
Definition
Study hard, yellowstone awaits you soon
Term
What type of rock is associated with Acadia National park?
Definition
uniform pink granites
Term
Cadillac Mountain is the highest point in what park? There is a hiking path at the top if it.
Definition
Acadia National park in Maine
Term
The mountains of Acadia National park are bald because
Definition
They were all covered by ice and snow (therefore desert)
Term
Shenandoah National park is long and skinny and near what area?
Definition
Baltimore/ D.C
Term
Clingmans Dome is the highest point of what national park?
Definition
Great Smoky Mountains National park
Term
Cades Cave is associated with what national park?
Definition
Great Smoky Mountains
Term
Glacier National park has
Definition
Term
Craton rocks can be found in these three places
Definition
The bottom of the grand canyon, the great lakes region, and the appalachian mountains
Term
How and when did the Appalachian Mountains develop?
Definition
The Cambrian, the craton (its part of the old plate of Europe)
Term
The East coast is --- passive with no active plate boundaries, the west coast is ---- with lots of plate boundaries. This changes over geological time
Definition
passive, active.
Term
What is the craton?
Definition
An old portion of the geological crust that has survived the merging and splitting of plates
Term
What is the craton?
Definition
An old portion of the geological crust that has survived the merging and splitting of plates
Term
The Grant Teton is what type of mountain
Definition
Fault block mountains
Term
Grand Teton is younger than the ----
Definition
Orogeny

This is an event that causes distinctive structural phenomena
Term
Jackson hole is the valley of what fault block mountain
Definition
Grand Teton
Term
When were the olympic mountains formed? are they still being formed?
Definition
The tertiary age, yes they are still being formed, on the edge of the North American plate
Term
The olympic mountains are on the edge of what plate?
Definition
North American plate
Term
What rocks are the Sierra Navada Mountains made of?
Definition
light colored grayish masses of plutonic igenous rocks. (Batholiths)
Term
How did the rocks of the Sierra Navada mountains form? (plutonic igneous rocks, batholiths)
Definition
Sierra Navada runs right into the Cascades subduction zone
Term
How did the Cascade range form in terms of plate tectonics?
Definition
converging plate boundary of the small Juan de Fuca plate being subudcted by the North American plate
Term
What three national parks are found in the cascade range?
Definition
Mt. Rainier, Crater Lake, Lassen Peak
Term
What is the origin of the Aleutian Range in terms of plate tectonics?
Definition
Oceanic converging plate boundaries, the pacific plate vs the North American plate
Term
What is the Colorado Plateau (what states, what types of rocks)
Definition
elevated flat top ortion of the crust that covers Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona, is it dominated by flat lined horizontal sedimentary rocks
Term
What are the main erosional features of the colorado plateau?
Definition
Shapes by lots of erosion meaning it is not flat everywhere, The Grand canyon, Zion and Bryce are on it, Erosional remanants such as mesa, bute, and chimney
Term
What area can you find erosional remnants such as mesa, bute, and chimney?
Definition
The Colorado Plateau
Term
The Central Lowlands are thick layers of what time of rock from what era
Definition
Thick Paleozoic layer of limestone
Term
The Central Lowlands are marked by many caves such as:
Definition
Mammoth cave, Wind cave, and Carlsbad Caverns
Term
The Appalachian Mountains are an excellent example of what type of collision
Definition
Continent-continent collision
Term
The rocks of the Appalachian Mountains are regionally ---- rocks
Definition
Regionally metamorphized rocks
Term
an Orogeny is a --------- This is associated with the Appalachian mountains because ------
Definition
Mountain building episode. The passive eastern margin became an active continental margin where the subduction zone was occurring making the Appalachian mountains build in two different 'episodes'
Term
What type of rock is associated with the Appalachian Mountains during the first mountain building episode (orogeny)?
Definition
Intermediate volcanic rocks: andesite
Term
What three places are associated with the Appalachian Mountains? This to this to this
Definition
Georgia, Maine, Canada
Term
The Blue Ridge Mountains are the core of the ------
Definition
Appalachian Mountains
Term
The Blue Ridge and Appalachian Mountains are associated with what type of rock from which era?
Definition
sedimentary rocks (not metamorphized) which are highly distorted, folded, and faulted
Term
Very large ---- and big ----- helped to make the Appalachian mountains what they are
Definition
very large thrust faults and big folds
Term
The blue ridge is NOT part of what craton but is -----
Definition
Not part of the North American Craton nor the European but something else created by a micro continent that collided with the North American plate
Term
How was the blue ridge mountain craton made?
Definition
Its not the North American Craton nor the European craton by was created by a micro continent colliding with the North American plate
Term
What did --- faults do to the Rocky Mountains?
Definition
THRUST faults brought old rocks up and put them on top of newer ones
Term
What park is in the Northern rockies?
Definition
Glacier National Park
Term
What park is in the Southern rockies?
Definition
Rocky Mountain National park
Term
What orogeny is associated with the rocky mountains?
Definition
the lavinide orogony
Term
The northern rockies are made of what type of rock from what era?
Definition
Precambrian sedimentary rock
Term
The Southern rockies are made of what type of rock from what era?
Definition
Precambrian gneisses (metamorphic rocks)
Term
What evidence do we have that supports the Nebula theory?
Definition
rocks on the moon, observed meteorites which are all approx the same age a 4.6 billion years old
Term
What happens when you compress gas (the nebula theory)
Definition
it heats up to millions of degrees celcius and the pressure and temperature makes it begin to spin into the shape of a disc, if it compresses even more nuclear fusion will occur which changes elements such as hydrogen. Little mass is converted to tremendous amounts of energy, when the mass explodes a star is created
Term
Volcanic eruptions emit --- and --- because they couldn't escape into space because of gravity
Definition
water vapor and carbon dioxide
Term
The earth is composed of 78 percent ---- and 21 % -----
Definition
Nitrogen N2, and Oxygen O2
Term
How did the hydrosphere first form?
Definition
water vapor from volcanoes turned into tiny droples which later became rain because gravity wouldn't let it escape into space. These eventually filled up the holes which became the ocean
Term
Where does the 02 come from that we see in the atmosphere?
Definition
The greenhouse effect, the atmosphere was changed by the biosphere
Term
What is special about the oldest fossils on earth or cyanobacteria fossils?
Definition
They are able to do photosynthesis, blue/green, single cells
Term
What two things is rust made from?
Definition
Iron and oxygen
Term
What are some features of the lithosphere?
Definition
crust and upper mantle, cool rigid outer shell of the earth, made of of plates in motion, crust sits on top of the lithosphere.
Term
What are the features of the asthenosphere?
Definition
Low velocity zone (seismic waves slow down as they reach it) hotter and plastic.
Term
What are some features of the mesosphere?
Definition
The remains of the mantle after the lithosphere and athenosphere, hotter and rigid.
Term
What are some present day examples of diverging plate boundaries? Where do they occur?
Definition
occur at oceanic ridge system. Ex: mid-atlantic ridge, East pacific ridge. Heat is moving in them from the astenosphere
Term
What are oceanic-oceanic plate boundaries?
Definition
subduction results in the production of magma, volcanoes grow from the floor of the ocean, builds a chain of volcanic rock structures that emerge from the ocean. Ex: Ring of fire
Term
What is oceanic-continental converging plate boundary? present day example?
Definition
a mountain range forms along the margin of the continent, Ex: Andean Mountain range
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