Grand Teton NP

• What two mountain building events in the American West were mentioned during this lecture?

1. Mountain building event 1: The Laramide Orogeny (70-40 Ma)

o Subduction zone along western North America caused this even
o The Sierra Nevada batholith in California was produced by this same subduction zone, but subduction in the area has
ceased
o One idea for the cause of the Laramide Orogeny: shallow subduction
▪ Compressional tectonics resulting in folds or thrust faults
2. Mountain building even 2: Basin and Range extension (40 Ma to present)
o Affected large part of area uplifted in the Laramide Orogeny
▪ Extensional tectonics resulting in normal faults
• What is one idea that attempts to explain the origin of the Laramide Orogeny in the Rocky Mountain region?

- shallow subduction ▪ Compressional tectonics resulting in folds or thrust faults

• What happened during the period of Basin and Range extension, which started 40 million years ago?

- o Affected large part of area uplifted in the Laramide Orogeny ▪ Extensional tectonics resulting in normal faults

• The Tetons:

1. how old are the rocks

- 2.8 billon
2. how old are the mountains?
- 9million

• What type of fault is the Teton Fault?

- Normal fault

• How has motion on the Teton Fault affected the valley floor east of the mountains (e.g., in Jackson Hole)?

- The mountains uplift one earthquake at a time along the 40-mile long Teton fault, a north-south trending crack in the earth's crust.
As the region stretches in an east-west direction, this stress builds to a breaking point when it generates an earthquake, lifting the
mountain block skyward while dropping the valley floor.

• What interesting discovery was made at the bottom of Jenny Lake? How can you explain this discovery?

- ?

• Has the Teton Fault produced any earthquakes in historical time?

- no

• What are some common metamorphic rocks found in the Tetons, and how did they form?

- Schist: originally shale, it’s a sparkly mica, foliated rock

- Marble: originally limestone, usually not foliated, fizzes in acid
- Gneiss: often not possible to tell what rock it was originally before metamorphosis, foliated with compositional banding (light and
dark)
- Amphibolite: originally basalt/gabbro, black, usually foliated

• How old are the oldest rocks in the Tetons?

- ~2.8 billion years old (Gneiss)

~2.5 billion years old (Granite)

• What interesting feature is seen on the east face of Mt. Moran?

- Several active glaciers exist on the mountain with Skillet Glacier plainly visible on the monolithic east face. Like the Middle Teton in
the same range, Mount Moran's face is marked by a distinctive basalt intrusion known as the Black Dike.

• What are some glacial landforms that are present in the Tetons?

- Glaciated valleys
-U-shaped due to glacial erosion
Glacial lakes
-Glacial lakes dammed by moraines
 *Come out of valleys and provide space for lakes to form
-Glacial lakes in high cirques
*Bowl-shaped depressions where the glaciers got started and hollowed out low spots
Moraines

• How do river terraces form?

- Stream flows through V-shaped stream valley, cutting down into its channel
-Erosion>Deposition

More sediment is delivered by the stream that can be transported away. A floodplain develops.
-Deposition (Sediment) > Erosion
-Slow down the water by changing the gradient or tectonically

Environmental changes cause less deposition and more erosion. Incision of floodplain creates river terraces
-Erosion > Deposition
-River terraces or stream terraces are floodplains that are left higher and dry

Great Smoky Mountains NP

• What national park receives more visitors than any other?

- Great Smoky Mountains National Park

-10 million visitors every year

• What makes the Smokies smoky?

- The result of all those trees on the mountains

The trees give off organic compounds (volatile organic compounds) and these compounds create this smog/haze you see in the
mountains

• Rock types and their relative ages:

- What are the oldest rocks exposed in the park, how old are they, and where can you find them?
Precambrian Gneiss
-Oldest rock in the park (1 billion years' old)
Found on the North Carolina side
- Ocoee Supergroup:
1. what rock types are present
- Metamorphic rocks ,Slate,Schist,Quartzite
2. what are their ages?
- 750ma
3. Why is quartzite so tough and resistant to erosion? What landforms is it associated with?
- Resist to erosion
Originally sandstone and is held together by cement that can be calcite, quartz, or hematite
Not too hard to break when it is sandstone. You would be able to break the weakest part of the rock, which in this is the cement
material
Recrystallization at 500 degrees Celsius they recrystallize together
-You'd have to use a sledge hammer and break the quartzite

Ridges of quartzite
-Quartzite often forms resistant ridges. In areas where the beds are steeply tilted, these ridges can be knife-sharp
-They won't erode as fast as the other rocks on either side
* Tectonic activity has rotated these layers holding up the knife-sharp ridge

o What are the youngest rocks in the park and how old are they?

- Paleozoic sedimentary rocks

-Less than 570 Ma
-Younger than Precambrian rocks
-Only a couple spots in the park that these are found

• What is the general structure of the Great Smoky Mountains? How are the rock layers oriented today?

- Folds and faults

Geologic cross-section
-Were flat and not now due to compression tectonic events have tilted them
 -Thrust/Reverse Faults

Youngest to oldest rocks with oldest rocks being on the top

• What kind of faults are found in the Smokies (the Great Smoky Fault is an example)? What geologic processes were responsible for the
development of these faults?

- Northwest to Southeast Geologic Cross-section

-Were flat and not now due to compression tectonic events that tilted them
-Thrust Fault/Reverse Fault

Great Smoky Fault

-Precambrian Metasedimentary Rocks
*Ocoee Supergroup
*Paleozoic Limestone
-These rocks were faulted into place and not placed here

• What explains the flat topography at Cades Cove? What type of geologic structure is found here?

- The western part of the park

Lots of old structures and old cabins built by first settlers
Settlers came here due to it being a flat bottom valley that was surrounded by mountains on all sides
It was a place of better soil for agriculture and a place for settlements to grow up
DIfferent rocks are exposed under the valley that is around the rest of the mountains
A structural "window" through the Great Smoky Fault

Pinnacles NP

• What is the oldest rock type in Pinnacles NP?

- Sant Lucia Granite (80 Ma)

-Forms deep underground from magma
-Forms deep underground and forms very slowly

• What kinds of rocks make up most of the notable features of the park? How and when were they formed? How are they oriented today?

- Pinnacle Rocks
-23.5 million years' old (Miocene)
-Volcanic-rhyolite to andesite in composition
-Deposited as lava flows, ash flow (tuffs) deposits, and volcanoclastic debris flows (volcanic breccias)
Volcanic sequence includes 7 mappable layers tilted down to the west (Tilted layers)

• What type of fault is the Pinnacles Fault? How did it help preserve the volcanic rocks on display in this park?

- Normal fault
-The fault sitting on top of the fault plate moves down
Separates the Santa Lucia Granite from the Pinnacle Rocks
Rocks formed deep underground and moved to the surface
Rocks on the surface moved down

• What kinds of rocks are found along the northern, eastern, and southern edge of the are containing the volcanic rocks?

- Miocene sediments (~6-12 Ma)- North

-Coarse grain sediment like sandstone
-Cobbles of granite that came from the Sant Lucia Granite and Cobbles of Volcanic Rocks that came from the Pinnacles
Neenach Volcano- South side
-Rusty red-brown color
-Rhyolites and andesite's in composition
Pinnacle Volcano Rocks- North West
 -23.5 million year's old
-Volcanic -- rhyolite to andesite in composition
-Deposited as lava flows, ash flows (tuffs) and volcanoclastic debris flows (Volcanic breccias)

• How is diatomite formed?

- Represent marine deposits that are made up of, largely the skeletons of diatoms
-Single-celled organisms
-Animal plankton
-Silica skeletons
-Deposited in a sediment rich in silica
-White colored layers in them
-Used to date the rock/sediments here

• What is the San Andreas Fault?

- Northeast side of the Park

Transform Plate Boundary
Continental crust on the East side
-Continental crust derived from Southern California due to displacement is everything to the West of the fault
Hasn't moved continually over time

• What two tectonic plates does it separate?

- North America Plate (Moves to the Southeast)

Pacific Plate (Moves to the Northwest)

• Have the rocks moved equally along the entire length of this fault?

- The rocks haven't moved equally along the entire length of the fault due to:
-Locked Segments
-Creeping segments

• How does the San Andreas Fault relate to the faults in Pinnacles NP?

- The Pinnacles, Chalone Creek Fault, and Bear Creek Fault are ancient segments of the San Andreas Fault at one time in the past. It's
not purely and up and down motion but also a shearing side to side motion like the rest of the San Andreas System

• What other volcanic field in California is related to the Pinnacles? How is it related to Pinnacles?

- Neenach Volcanos (Eastern half of the Pinnacles-Neenach Volcanic Field)

-314 km between the Pinnacles and Neenach Volcanics
-They use to be together before the San Andreas Fault split them sending the Western half of the Pinnacles section to the Northwest
leaving the Neenach Volcanic section in Southern California

• Where did the Santa Lucia Granite originate from?

- If you remove the 314-kilometer displacement between the red blobs and you move Western California to the South where it would
have been when that volcano field was active
The Sant Lucia Granite (part of Salinian Block) is derived from the Sierra Nevada Batholith in Southern California
-Collapsed and spread out to the west

• What caused the volcanism at the Pinnacles?

- The development of the San Andreas Fault system that produced some thermal events melting portions of North America to make
the volcanic rocks in the first place, to make the magmas.Almost 40 million years ago before the Volcanoes were made and there
 was a subduction zone on the West side of North America.Created thermal events due to the San Andreas FaultWestern North
America gets wider started almost 30 million years agoDue to hot area expanding due to melting and producing magmaCreating the
San Andreas FaultOff of the subduction zone we have Ocean Crust creating new ocean floorTwo plates moving away from each
other and are separated by a mid-ocean system (mid-ocean ridge) creating new ocean floorFarallon Plate doesn't exist anymore
(east side)Mid Ocean Ridge gets subducted under the Farallon Plate and splits it into two plates creating the Juan de Fuca plate then
changing into the San Andreas Fault

• How did the caves at Pinncles NP form?

- Joints (vertical cracks) -Due to erosion -Towering narrow columns of rocks -Shape of the Pinnacles is due to this process *Towering
and narrowing columns of rocks -Bottom of the narrow cracks you have narrow gullies and the tops of these pinnacles broke loose
and through into the bottoms of some of these cracks creating Talus caves Talus caves -Two cave systems are accessible at Pinnacles
for eploration, the Balconies Caves (500 feet long), and Bear Gulch Caves (1,700 feet long). Both are long enough to require
flashlights Big boulders have fallen into the cracks and you walk underneath the boulders

Cape Hatteras NP

• What are the three parts of a barrier island chain?

- Salt March lagoon

Dunes (Highest elevation)
Beach

• How (and why) are capes and shoals related along the Outer Banks?

- These capes originated seem to be associated with rivers

-Rivers are now estuaries
-River water is gorging into the ocean at these places
-Water moving out would be carrying sediment
-Cape Fear is associated with a broad arch with bedrock under the sediment
*This is where the seawater would be the shallowest due to land being up in higher elevation
*Could be a factor for some capes but not all capes due to Cape Hatteras and Cape Lookout not having an arch

These shoals originated by the discharge of sediment

-Presence of shoals make it dangerous for ships
*Water is very shallow
*Right off shore of capes

• Why was the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse moved in 1999?

- When first built, the lighthouse was 6,500 feet away from the ocean when it was first built
-Coastal erosion has resulted in the sea approaching closer and closer to the lighthouse
The ocean has since moved into the lighthouseIn the 1970's it was 120 feet from the ocean shore and people were getting
concerned with a long-term protection for this lighthouse.Process started in 1980 until 1995 with what to do with the lighthouse
In 1999 the lighthouse was moved about 2,900 feet along this road to help preserve it better making it 6,500 feet from the ocean
-Excavate the foundation and moved along railroad rails

Everglades NP

• What are pythons doing in the Everglades?

- Burmese Pythons are dominating the Everglades and wiping out a lot of the other native species They are not indigenous to this
area, they are invasive species They were noted in the swamps as early as the 1980's There was a big hurricane called Hurricane
Andrew, and all the pythons escaped and some people dumped their pythons into the Everglades once they got too big. Breeding
here for several decades now, causing problems for the native animals -Raccoons and possums down 99% -White-tailed deer down
94$

• Where does the water in the Everglades come from?

- All the water originates from the Kissimmee River Valley, which flows through to Lake Okeechobee and spreads out in a type of
sheet flow (shallow water) flowing to the South The Kissimmee-Okeechobee-Everglades watershed system -Shallow flows of water
flowing to the South Lake Okeechobee -Lake overflowed and the water went down to the South coming from the North

• How were historical flows in the Kissimmee-Okeechobee-Everglades system different from modern flows?
- Historical Flow regime -Historical wetland -Flow during pre-drainage times to the South Current flow regime -People have changed
the flow of the canals -Half of the water that use to make it to the Everglades now makes it to the Everglades -Much smaller
discharge of water goes to the South -Storm-water is now diverted for flood control purposes to the East

• What is the Shark River Slough, and what is its importance to the Everglades?

- Type of Slough
Much bigger than the Taylor Slough
Basically, almost the widest river in the world
-Lots of water flows to the South through the Shark River Slough
-Chock full of sawgrass

• Geologic history- be able to identify and describe the main geologic units, particularly the ones at or near the surface

- Paleogeography of Florida
-8 million years ago (Miocene)
*Affected by glacial sheets
-3 million years ago (Pliocene)
*Affected by glacial sheets

Bedrock Units
-Miami Limestone (Pleistocene)
-Fort Thompson Formation (Pleistocene)
-Tamiami Formation (Miocene)
-Hawthorn Grop (Miocene)

Bedrock is exposed closer to the surface area is the Miami Limestone and Tamiami Formation
-Best rocks to see in the park

• What is peat and how does it form? What type of geologic resource might it become in the distant geologic future?

- Compacted organic material that gets buried and doesn't oxide and so it is preserved
-Doesn't rot away

Buried in a low oxygen swampy environment

-Compacts in this dense black material

Coal comes from it and is then buried and more sediments bury on top of that. The weight of that sediment compacts and can
successfully make coal.
-9 feet needed to make 1 foot of coal
• What’s the deal with the large piles of shells that are occasionally found in the Everglades?

- Shell mounds -Man-made deposit -A product of the Calusa Culture -100 mounds stretch from Tampa Bay to the Ten Thousand
Islands in Everglades -Used them as tools and as food -Sometimes engineered them to make substrates and their villages actually
were cited on top of the mounds *Mounds range from small middens (Refuse heaps) to large islands up to 150 acres in size
Chokoloskee Island in the Northwest corner of the part is the largest one in the Southeastern United States and the highest point in
the park (20 feet above sea level)

• Wetlands ecosystems: be able to relate the four that were discussed in the lecture with (1) height above sealevel, (2) associated
geologic materials (particularly changes in surface materials), and (3) important differences in plants and trees.

- Florida Bay Marine

Mangroves
Mosac of freshwater slough, sawgrass, tree islands
Tree hammocks, upland forests

• Which ecosystem is a modern analog of central Kentucky 450 million years ago?

- Florida Bay Marine

• What are estuaries? Where are these present in the Everglades?

- The tidal mouth of a large river, where the tide meets the stream
Florida Bay Marine (Lowest elevation)
-Wilderness waterway (Estuary)
*Best chance for estuaries
*Freshwater mixes with salt water
• How were the Ten Thousand Islands constructed? Related to that, what is the only tree that can survive in seawater?

- Mangroves only tree to live in saltwater

Mangroves created the Ten Thousand Islands making it the largest continuous mangrove system in the world.

• What’s the connection between cypress groves and sinkholes?

- Cypress stnds in sinkholes and solution pits

• What role do the freshwater sloughs play in the Everglades (particularly for sustaining wading bird populations), and how do climate
cycles relate to this?

- The heart of the Everglades Deeper channels where water flows from North to South into the Everglades Most of the area is grass
that stands in soggy water, called Sawgrass The drought brought the wading bird populations to this area due to the water not being
deep and it being easier for the birds to get fish.

• What role do the pine forests play in the ecology of the Everglades (particularly for endangered larger mammals)?

- Highest elevation Pinelands Region -Different terrain; not in the water, well-drained -Supports these stands of slash pines *Rare
species live here -Lots of Pine Forests have been lost due to development so they are not all connected so it's harder to keep the
animals not threatened due to a change in their environment

• What happened in 1928 (and thereafter) to change the Everglades ecosystem?

- Damage from the 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane -2nd most deadly hurricane in U.S. History -2,000 people died -Herbert Hoover Dike,
Lake Okeechobee *Created due to the damage caused by the Okeechobee Hurricane *Wanted to prevent flooding from the South: It
affected the sheet flow that came off of the lake and was controlled by canals and other waterways away from the lake. *Served to
regulate water delivery to urban areas like Miami while pumping water into the lake to store it. The river now connects to the lake
bringing the water to the East and the West -Lake flooded up to 20 feet in some places

• How has road construction impacted the Everglades?

- Roads in South Florida had a great change. The Tamiami Trail, US Highway 41 is the main access in the Everglades from the North. -
The highway heads straight-across the Shark River Slough, and that's where all the water comes from in this system -The road has
acted like a dam and is holding back flows into the park -Following along the road is a canal -Caused a decrease in flow of water

• In addition to loss of sheet flow inputs to the park, what other problems have affected the Everglades since major engineering of this
area started in the mid to early 1900’s?

- Soil loss mostly due to the construction of roads

Total land subsidence

Habitat destruction, decreasing wildlife population (Due to the result of told land subsidence)

Aquifer depletion and saltwater intrusion

Agriculture

Roads

Canals

• What is being done as part of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan to (partially) restore the Everglades ecosystem?

- The goal is to direct the water from the Lake to the Everglades 30-year plan costing $7.8 billion Passed into law in 2000 Progress has
been hampered by politics and funding problems -Part of it is due to timing issues due to Economy having a tank in 2001 -Political
 pressure involving changes in land use Removing barriers to flow -Backfillling canals and rerouting the water into more natural
channels -Bridges Aquifer depletion and saltwater intrusion -Less water making it into the aquifer

Glacier NP

• When and where was the Belt Supergroup deposited? What tectonic event was responsible for its deposition?

- Western Montana, Idaho, and Southern Canada Precambrian in age (1.6-1.2 billion years) -Sedimentary rocks, only weakly
metamorphosed *Not metamorphosed more due to the age of the rocks *They hold a lot of the structures and even fossils due to
being lightly metamorphosed Deposited in a rift basin as the ancestral Pacific Ocean was first being opened -Rocks were deposited in
a rift basin before Washington, Montana, Idaho was even there Folded and faulted during the tectonic events that formed the
northern Rocky Mountains; they have been pushed >100 km eastward along a series of thrust faults Multicolored rocks -include
ripple marks -mudcracks -stromatolite fossils

• What happened to the western United States during the formation of the Rocky Mountains?

- Moved >100 km eastward

• What types of fossils are found in the Belt Supergroup? How did these fossils form, and what were their significance in Earth history?

- Stromatolite fossils Formation of stromatolites -Mounds made by cyanobacteria (blue/green algae) *Lived close to the top of the
water because they need sunlight -Repeated trapping of sediments builds up the mounds *Trapped within the algae *RIght at sea
level at the tidal range of the ocean -Stromatolites are believed to have been extremely important for the production of oxygen (as a
product of photosynthesis) in the early Earth's atmosphere *In the early earth, it is not believed there was not any free oxygen seen
to produce oxygen as part of photosynthesis process and the excess oxygen would go into the atmosphere

• How and when did the Purcell Sill form? What type of rock (igneous, metamorphic, or sedimentary) does it contain? What did it do to
the surrounding Belt Supergroup rocks?

- Igneous rock Black stripe -Fine-grained dark gray to black igneous rock type called diabase which is similar to basalt Sill -A tabular
intrusion that parallels layering in adjacent rocks making space for new magma -1.2 billion years old by radioactive dating Upper
contact of Purcell Sill -Diorite *An igneous rock, was injected as molten magma into the sedimentary rocks of the Helena (Siyeh)
formation Found along the Highline Trail

• What is the overall structure of the bedrock layers in Glacier NP?

- Geologic cross-section through the park -From the West to the east -The bedrock was put horizontally at first and over time it has
been warped a little into a fold (Syncline fold) *Down warps the rocks in the middle and warps them up on the sides *Oldest rocks
are exposed on the East and the West side of the park *Youngest rocks are exposed in the middle

• How did Chief Mountain form? What geologic structure (fault) is it associated with?

- An isolated outlier of the Lewis Overthrust (Thrust fault)

• How have the glaciers in Glacier NP changed over the last century or so?

- Today: 25 glaciers that are larger than 25 acres; Fewer glaciers today than there used to be 1850: 150 glaciers (Lots of melting of the
glaciers) There will be a day that there will be no more glaciers in Glacier National Park

• What kinds of landforms originate as a result of glacier erosion?

- V-shaped valley,U-shaped valley,Cirque,Arête,Horn Peak,Hanging valley,Truncated spur,Trunk valley,Tributary valley,

• Why are the lakes in Glacier NP a different color in the summer than they are in the spring?

- Consequences of glacial erosion

Turquoise color from fine-grained "rock/glacial flour" (pulverized glacial sediment) carried down by streams
-Sediments being carried into the water and change the color of the water

Kenai Fjords and Glacier Bay NP’s

• How does plate tectonics influence the geology of Alaska and these two national parks in particular? What types of plate boundaries are
present in southern Alaska?
- Alaskan tectonics are dominated by the Pacific-North American plates. The megathrust boundary between the plates results in both
the 4,000-km-long Aleutian Trench and in the arc of active volcanoes that lie subparallel to the trench. This animation discusses the
range of tectonic activity from megathrust earthquakes to accretion of geologic terranes.

- Alaskan tectonics are dominated by Pacific-North American plate interaction.

• What is the Yukatat terrane? What is it made of, which direction is it moving, and how is Yukatat terrane affecting the 4 geology of
southern Alaska?

- a terrane in the process of accreting to the North American continent along the south central coast of Alaska. It has been displaced
about 600 km northward since the Cenozoic along the Queen Charlotte-Fairweather fault system.
- Mesozoic and Paleogene rocks, which are next to the Oligocene rocks of the Pacific plate. The Yakutat block is thought to consist of a
basement of oceanic crust overlain by continental crust extending to the east
- ?

• What type of fault is the Queen Charlotte Fault?

- Active transform fault

• Where is Lituya Bay, what happened there (twice), and why did it happen? How did researchers figure out that it happened the first
time?

- Alaska
- Megatunami
- The strike-slip earthquake took place on the Fairweather Fault and triggered a rockslide of 40 million cubic yards (30 million cubic
meters and about 90 million tons) into the narrow inlet of Lituya Bay, Alaska.
- Seismological

• Where do the glaciers in Kenai Fjords NP originate?

- Hardingicefeild

• What has happened to Exit Glacier over the last 200 years?

- one of 38 glaciers that flow out from the Harding Icefield. During the early nineteenth century, the glacier almost reached the
Resurrection River, approximately 1.25 miles (2 km) below its present location. In the last 200 years, the glacier retreated exposing
the valley

• What are tidewater glaciers?

- If a glacier is fed by enough snow to flow out of the mountains and down to the sea

• What is the tidewater glacial cycle? How long is it, and what is thought to control it (global climate or something else?)

- 300yrs
- Global climate

• What caused the retreat of Muir Glacier over the last 200 years? (know how various factors may have influenced this)

- retreat when their ice melts or ablates more quickly than snowfall can accumulate and form new glacial ice. Higher temperatures
and less snowfall have been causing many glaciers around the world to retreat recently

• Compared to the rest of the United States, how Alaskan climate changed over the last several decades? What are the projections for the
future?

- Recent years it has been warmer than normal, 1st warmest in 97-year record ⁃ o Alaska is getting hotter faster
than the rest of the country ⁃ o Temperatures projected to arise an average 2 degrees F to an average 4 degrees F by 2050

• What is happening to Alaskan glaciers, and how does this compare to other glaciated parts of the world?

- loss of glacier mass ⁃ Alaska has lost more ice than other parts of the world

• How far back does the signal of human-induced warming go into the geologic record

- 650,000
Yosemite NP

• What is the overall structure of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, and how does it relate to the Owen’s Fault?

What type of fault is the Owens Fault?

- Normal fault (extension) formed due to tectonic events

• What is the Sierra Nevada batholith,

- Magma underground is cooled slowly and through erosion/uplift, the crystallized rock appears above ground.

what is it made of

- intrusive igneous rock that covers more than 100mi

how old is it,

100mill

where (what plate tectonic setting) did it form?

- Under ground

• Since batholiths are formed deep underground, how do they get to the Earth’s surface?

- Magma underground is cooled slowly and through erosion/uplift, the crystallized rock appears above ground.

• How can you distinguish intrusive from extrusive igneous rocks?

- intrusive igneous rocks

A. An igneous rock that is cooled down under the earths surface at a slow rate and and has larger crystals than an extrusive rock
- extrusive igneous rocks
A. An Igneous rock that is cooled fast above the Earth's surface and has tiny crystals
• How are intrusive igneous rocks classified?

- An igneous rock that is cooled down under the earths surface at a slow rate and and has larger crystals than an extrusive rock
• What are the common minerals in granite?

- {Bio pp(s) quartz}

quartz, plagioclase feldspar, potassium feldspar, and biotote mica

• What spectacular textural features are present in the Cathedral Peak Granodiorite?

- megacrysts

• What is the Tuolumne Intrusive Suite? How, when, and over what period of time was it constructed?

- platonic complex in Yosemite ; 10 million years

• What principles of relative dating can be used to date intrusive rocks?

- Relative dateing

• How do dikes form?

- crack in rock filled with magma then cooled, often vertical and younger than the rock around it.

• How do (mafic) enclaves form?

- fragments of rocks rounded, different type of magma is squirted into existing magma, {blob like}
• What geologic processes were involved in carving Yosemite Valley?

- river erosion; Alpine glaciers from the Ice Age carved Yosemite

• What was John Muir’s contribution towards the understanding of the geologic history of Yosemite Valley?

- glacier polish on the rocks and striations

• What are some glacial landforms that are found in Yosemite NP? How does each form?

- terminal/ end moraine

- deposited from melting glaciers in Yosemite during period of slow glacial retreat

• How have exfoliation and vertical joints in bedrock affected the development of granite landforms in Yosemite?

- The Earth's internal stresses interact with the topographic surface to affect many phenomena. Exfoliation joints, or sheeting joints,
are widespread manifestations of this interaction. These opening-mode fractures form subparallel to the Earth's surface, bounding
roughly concentric slabs of rock that resemble the layers of an onion. They occur worldwide in all major bedrock types, attain in-
plane dimensions of hundreds of meters, exert a strong influence on groundwater flow, and help produce spectacular scenery, as in
Yosemite National Park. The mechanism that causes them has been enigmatic

• Where have rock falls occurred in Yosemite Valley? Are they seasonally controlled?

- Curry Valley and 2010 El Captain

- yes

Great Sand Dunes NP

• What processes turn rock into sediment?

- Weathering, erosion, transport, and deposition

• How do the grain size, grain shape, sorting, and composition of sediment relate to the distance it has been transported?

- rounding occurs, removal of unstable material, decreases grain size

• What is the geographic setting of GSDNP? How was it different 12,000 years ago? Where did the sediment originally come from?

- ?
- ?
- Sand deposited by mountain streams and lakes on the San Luis Valley floor is carried in the form of small dunes by southwest winds
toward a low curve in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains

• What are the various parts of the sand system at GSDNP? Which part contains the bulk of the sand present in the system?

- weather erosion transport depostition

- transport

• How are dunes and ripples formed, and how are they oriented with respect to the prevailing wind direction? What two processes allow them
to migrate in the direction the wind is blowing?

- 1. salting and rolling grains on slip surface

2. Unstable accumulation builds up
3. Accumulation falls to base of dunes advancing it forward
- irecttion
- saltion,prevalinfg winds

• What are the various types of sand dunes and how does each form? Which three types are found most often at GSDNP? (Also, be able to
identify each type from diagrams or photos)

o Star dunes: form in places where wind blows from varied directions (4 or 5 directions) over the course of a year. Tallest
dune is the “star dune” at 750 ft. tall
o Parabolic dunes: form in vegetated areas subjected to occasional strong winds (leading to erosion and movement of
sand). Vegetation holds the arms of the dune in place as the middle part or nose migrates forward. Common in the sand
sheet southwest of the main dunefield
Barchan dunes: not that common in the park, form in areas of little vegetation and limited supply of sand. Arms point downwind (opposite
direction as parabolic dunes). steep slope is always downwind and gradual slope is always upwind

• How is sand recycled at GSDNP by Medano Creek?

o Medano creek: braided stream (found in areas of lots of sediment supply, builds up sandbars, channels in between the
bars)
▪ Stream erodes dunes, stream transports sand downstream to west, stream disappears into the sandy ground;
sand is deposited, wind picks up sand and blows it onto dunes which migrate eastward, repeat cycle.
o Escaped dunes: sand making it out of Medano creek
Bryce Canyon NP
• What are the three main types of sedimentary rocks?

- Clastic (detrital): mostly rock fragments and mineral grains originally produced by physical weathering
- Chemical: mostly minerals precipitated from dissolved ions originally produced by chemical weathering
- Biochemical: materials derived from organic matter

• How are clastic sedimentary rocks classified? What are the names of the various types? • How is limestone formed?

- Clastic sedimentary rocks are rocks composed predominantly of broken pieces or clasts of older weathered and eroded rocks. Clastic
sediments or sedimentary rocks are classified based on grain size, clast and cementing material ( matrix) composition, and texture.
• Mudstone/shale
o Made of mud, soft, erodes quickly, if it rains it may turn back to mud
• Siltstone
o Made of silt, fine and coarse grained, stands up to erosion better than mudstone, how to tell the difference between a
siltstone and a mudstone if you can’t see the grains: take a bite off the rock and taste it and feel it with your teeth, if it’s
gritty its siltstone and if its more smooth it’s mudstone
• Sandstone
o Made of sand, quartz, if it’s well cemented it will be very resistant to erosion, good rock to climb on
• Conglomerate
o Made of gravel/boulders, can be quite coarse grained, boulders could be as big as a house
• Chemical and Biochemical sedimentary rocks: Limestone
o Precipitation of calcium carbonate directly from lake or seawater, or by marine organisms to make shells

• When was the Colorado Plateau uplifted, and how is the Colorado Plateau geology different from surrounding areas to the west and south?

- 20 mill
- The formation

• Where are Bryce, Zion, and Grand Canyon located within the geologic cross-section of the “Grand Staircase” across the Colorado Plateau?
Which park has the youngest rocks? oldest rocks? How thick is the stack of bedrock strata within the region?

- Bryce
- Bryce youngest
- Grand cayon oldest

• What is a formation?

- is a body of rock having a consistent set of physical characteristics ( lithology) that distinguish it from adjacent bodies of rock, and
which occupies a particular position in the layers of rock exposed in a geographical region (the stratigraphic column ). It is the
fundamental unit of lithostratigraphy, the study of strata or rock layers.

• What is the geographic and topographic setting of Bryce Canyon? Is Bryce Canyon a canyon?

- broad amphitheater cut into a high plateau

- no

• What ages and types of rocks are exposed in Bryce Canyon NP? In what geologic environments were they deposited?

o Sandstones, siltstones, shales, limestones, 40-60 million years old, lakes

• What is responsible for the various colors of sedimentary rocks in Bryce Canyon NP?

o red, pink, and brown colors come from Iron oxide in cement
o yellow comes from iron hydroxide in cement
o purple comes from manganese oxide in cement
o white/grey from limestone
• How do hoodoos form?

cracks in the layers (joints), erosion forms gullies, that turn into fins, fins erode and break off as hoodoos

Zion NP

• What is the geographic and topographic setting of Zion NP?

- Mountain
- Plateue
 - River
-

• What geologic features and processes contributed to the formation of Zion Canyon and the Narrows?

- Weather
- River
- Wind
- erosion

• How do the ages of strata in Zion compare to Bryce and Grand Canyon NP’s?

- it is the middle child compared the youngest (Bryce) and Oldest(GC)

• Kayenta Fm.

o What is the rock type?

- red sandstone and siltstones

o What was the depositional environment

- sediments in and near river

• Navajo Sandstone

o Cross-bedding in the Navajo Sandstone: how did it form and what does it tell you about depositional environment? Be able to tell which way
the wind was blowing from the orientation of cross-bedding.

- the direction of the cross beds tell the direction of the wind; formed by sand dunes

o Where was Utah located in the Early Jurassic Period and what does this have to do with the Sahara Desert today?

- Part of super continent near the Sahara Desert

o Why is the Navajo Sandstone white at the top, but red at the bottom?

- Limestone on the top prevent erosion the lower hematite cement is red.

• What two geologic processes have affected Zion NP in more recent geologic time?

- Landslide
- erosin

o How much erosion has occurred in Zion since its bedrock strata were deposited?

- 1.3k

o How have landslides changed Zion within the last 5000 years? § What is the evidence for a large landslide at Sand Bench 4800 years ago?

- Repeated landslides have dammed Virgin River, creating lakes and flatbottomed valleys. Later breaching of these dams and down-
cutting by the river typically leaves a steepened mass of slide material next to the river, which is prone to later slide activity
- Sentinel landslide

Grand Canyon NP

The oldest rocks in the canyon

- John Wesley Powell was the first scientist to…

expedition of the Green and Colorado rivers

- The “ugly black rocks” at the bottom of the canyon are the Vishnu Schist. They are ~ 1.7 billion years old. Garnets within this
metamorphic formation can tell scientists information about when and ahow deep in the eath crust . The result of this
analysis suggest that these rocks were 6milesbelow the surface when they were formed.

- The oldest rock in the Grand Canyon is the Elves Chasm Gneiss, dated at 1.84 billion years old.
Sedimentary strata

- What is the evidence that marine seas once occupied the area where the Grand Canyon is today?
Depositing of minerals

- Shallow, inland seas began to flood the area 1/2 billion years ago, and not just once, but at least 8times between 500-80 million
years ago.

- The main rock types in these deposits include sandstone,

shale, and llimestone

The age of the Grand Canyon

- What “geological disturbance” raised the elevation of the rocks from sealevel to where they are today almost a mile above sea
level?

- Tectonic paltes

- What is the name of this uplift event?

Laramide ororgeny

- Until a few decades ago, the carving of the Grand Canyon was thought to have coincided with the uplift of the Colorado Plateau
during the above event about 50 million years ago. What discovery helped to disprove this hypothesis?
- Alligment of the pebels

- What is significant about the gravel deposits at Muddy Creek near where the Colorado River exits the Grand Canyon today?
The calorado did not carved the grand cayon

According to the evidence at Muddy Creek, how old is the present Grand Canyon?

- 5.5mill

The “spillover theory” for the carving of the Canyon

What is the “spillover theory” for the origin of the GC?

- Call rado River poured into a basin When it poured into that basin it had to form a lake,
And that lake was huge all that lake had to do is rise and then spill across the plateau. It poured down,Cutting rapidly and overtime, You would
have ended up with the beginnings of the Grand Canyon.

What is the possible location of the lake that some scientists believe spilled over to form the GC?
- bidahochi

What is the significance of green clay deposits in this part of Arizona?

- Deep laker water

- What is the name given to this large lake? How large and deep was it?
Lake bidahoci , 3k cude miles

How old are these lake deposits and what is the significance of that finding?

- 6 mill and confims his theory

How rapidly was the Grand Canyon cut?

How are absolute dates obtained for sands deposited by the Colorado River?

- Analzy the sand opical crap

- The erosion rate for the GC as determined by this technique is ~1,000ft/million years, or ~1inches/million years
 - What is the significance of this result?

It proves that the enire 5.3 k deep GC Could have been cut in a little more than 5 million years.

Geologic processes that carved and widened the Canyon

What topographic feature helped increase the erosive power of the Colorado River once it began flowing across the Colorado
Plateau?
- Water, rapids
How was the broad width of the Grand Canyon thought to have formed?
- 18miles

Basaltic volcanism within the Grand Canyon

When were magmas erupted within the GC?

- 2 mill
What did some of these lavas do to the Colorado River? How many times did this happen?
- Lava dams
- 8
How long ago were volcanoes last active in the Grand Canyon are?
- 100k

• Who was the first geologist to explore the Grand Canyon’s Inner Gorge by boat?

- Wesley Powell

• In your instructor’s opinion, what is the best way to experience Grand Canyon? What are the risks for hiking in the canyon?

- Glass bidge,hikeing
- It gets really hot and at night it gets very really cold
• What is the geographic and topographic setting of Grand Canyon?

- The CO River and Kaibab Plateau

• What is the significance of <1 million-year old basalt lava flows in the western part of Grand Canyon?

- Volcanic activi

• What have recent studies of the age of Grand Canyon concluded compared to prevailing theories of its origin?

- Canyon experts had generally thought that the chasm formed around 5‒6 million years ago. But over the past few years, several
studies have marshalled a range of geologic evidence to suggest that the canyon could be tens of millions of years old. Karlstrom and
his team find that parts of the canyon could be tens of millions of years old, but that the canyon as a whole is much younger.

• How do the ages of bedrock formations in Grand Canyon compare to other parks in the Colorado Plateau?

- older

• Does the Grand Canyon preserve an unbroken, continuous record of geologic events since the formation of its oldest rock?

- yes

• Grand Canyon rock formations…

o know their general order o know the main rock types exposed in each o know their general appearance (e.g., major colors, steep cliffs vs.
gradual slopes, etc.)

o know their depositional environments (how they formed)

o other important features as appropriate

o Triassic: 250 ma.

o Permian
o Pennsylvanian
o Mississippian
o Devonian
o Cambrian
o Precambrian: 1.8 billion years/ 1800 ma.
o Hermit Shale (bottom, river floodplain deposit, on land)
o Coconino Sandstone (coastal dunes)
o Toroweap Formation (coastal dunes/shallow sea)
o Kaibab Limestone (top, shallow sea/mostly marine, youngest Grand Canyon rock formation)
o Interpretation: marine transgression (gradual rise in sea level)
- Middle part of Paleozoic section (from bottom to top)
o Temple butte and Muay limestones, red wall limestone, Supai group (siltstones, sandstones, shales), Hermit Shale,
Coconino sandstone, Toroweap formation
o Buddha temple: capped by resistant sandstones of the Coconino and Toroweap Formation
o Oxidized iron is the reason rocks are red (ex: Supai group and Hermit Shale)
o Supai group redbeds along the south Kaibab Trail (sandstones, siltstones, shales. River channels and floodplains but no
marine fossils)
o Redwall Limestone: Mississippian in age (350-337 Ma.), shallow sea environment evidence comes from Nautiloid fossils in
Redwall limestone
• What environmental change is recorded by the Permian strata in the upper parts of the Grand Canyon?

- Erosion
- Interepretation

• Why are canyons and gullies sometimes found to follow the traces of faults? Does the Grand Canyon follow a large fault?

- river flows along surface depression which is caused by tectonic forces. Many faults e.g. Brahmaputra fault, Kaladan fault follows the
course of rivers and named accordingly. Can we say in general that a river will follow a fault?
- yes

• What is an unconformity? What are the three types of unconformities and how are they different?

- an unconformity in which younger layered rocks rest upon the eroded surface of intrusive igneous or metamorphic rocks
- Disconformity - an unconformity that juxtaposes horizontally-layered rocks of vastly different age
 - Nonconformities. A nonconformity (Figure 2) is the contact that separates a younger sedimentary rock unit from an igneous
intrusive rock or metamorphic rock unit. A nonconformity suggests that a period of long‐term uplift, weathering, and erosion
occurred to expose the older, deeper rock at the surface before it was finally buried by the younger rocks above it. A nonconformity
is the old erosional surface on the underlying rock.
- Angular unconformities. An angular unconformity (Figure ) is the contact that separates a younger, gently dipping rock unit from
older underlying rocks that are tilted or deformed layered rock. The contact is more obvious than a disconformity because the rock
units are not parallel and at first appear cross‐cutting. Angular unconformities generally represent a longer time hiatus than do
disconformities because the underlying rock had usually been metamorphosed, uplifted, and eroded before the upper rock unit was
deposited. • How are shales deposited in the ocean (marine) different in appearance from shales deposited on land (terrestrial)?

• What geologic processes formed the Great Unconformity? What major change in the history of life on Earth is marked by this boundary?

- Paleogene boundary
- Occurring worldwide, the Great Unconformity juxtaposes old rocks, formed billions of years ago deep within the Earth's crust, with
relatively young Cambrian sedimentary rock formed from deposits left by shallow ancient seas that covered the continents just a
half billion years ago.

• How did the Cardenas sill form?

Layerd rock inresion with a weak layer

• What rock types are found in the deepest parts of the Inner Gorge in the Grand Canyon? How old are they, and how did they form?

o Dikes of Zoroaster Granite, 1.7 billion year ago/1700 Ma

o Vishu Schist, 100 million years older than the granite is, metamorphosed shale (increased pressure and temperature from
being buried deep in the crust) results in new minerals grown back in the rock (muscovite mica, garnet, etc.) and new
textures (coarse-grains, alignments of platy minerals like micas)
Badlands NP

• What are the Badlands world famous for?

- Fossils
• What is the relationship between the Badlands and the Black Hills in South Dakota?

- Drainage from the Black hills has increased erosion rates in the Badlands

• Badlands rock formations o know their general order

o know the main rock types exposed in each o know their general appearance (e.g., major colors, steep cliffs vs. gradual slopes, etc.)

o Sharps formation (tertiary terrestrial deposits 65-28 Ma): 28-30 million years old, deposits/environment similar to Brule
Fm., except fewer paleosols, erodes to form sharp sided pinnacles, faults.
o Rockyford Ash (tertiary terrestrial deposits 65-28 Ma): thick layer of volcanic ash 30 million years old, from large eruption
somewhere to the west, lighter gray to white in color with rubbly appearance.
o Dinosaurs go extinct in the transition of this period
o Brule Formation (tertiary terrestrial deposits 65-28 Ma): 30 to 34 million years old, shales, siltstones, sandstones
deposited in river floodplains in open savannah, bands of sandstones interspersed among the layers were deposited in
channels and mark the course of ancient rivers/channels that flowed from the black Hills, contains volcanic ash derived
from sources to the west (probably UT + NV), erodes to form steep-sided slopes, red layers are fossil soils (paleosols),
highly fossiliferous (oreodonts, tortoises, equids).
o Chardon Formation (Cretaceous marine deposits 75-65 Ma): 34 to 37 million years old, soft shales that erode to form low,
rounded hills, deposited by rivers in lush subtropical forest environment evidence comes from tropical creature’s fossils
including alligators and brontotheres.
o Yellow mounds (Cretaceous marine deposits 75-65 Ma)
o Pierre Shale (Cretaceous marine deposits 75-65 Ma): shallow marine, deposited in a shallow marine environment, grey
color to it, high sea level (western interior seaway), vertebrate fossils, marine reptiles
o know their depositional environments (how they formed) o other important features are appropriate (e.g., major fossil types)

• What is the evidence for and against the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event being recorded in the Badlands deposits?

- Mertorite impact

• How do sod tables form?

- Erosion of ancient preis

• What are the current erosion rates in the Badlands?

5-9 mm
• What produced the period of current situation that led to the Badlands being eroded? About how long will it take for the rest of the Badlands
to be eroded away?

- Pirated
- 1.5mill

Mammoth Cave NP

• Know some of the history of cave exploration at MCNP

• Home to the most extensive known cave system in the world

• Contains over 400 miles of passageways within 5 main levels, the deepest of which is 379 ft underground
• Stephen Bishop
o African American slave and early cave guide + explorer during 1840s-50s
o Died in 1857 and accompanied thousands of visitors on cave tours
o Mapped a lot of the cave that is on current cave tours
• Floyd Collins trapped in Sand Cave 1925
o Discovered crystal cave
o Died in sand cave
• The longest cave: The Flint Ridge/Mammoth connection 1972
o The long obsession of connecting the Flint Ridge and Mammoth Cave systems 1940s-1972
o “it was like going through a huge bowl of spaghetti-except that we went through the tubes in the strands”
• Woman in the videos estranged husband, Will Crowther, also a caver, wrote the world’s first interactive adventure computer game
in 1973. Originally called Adventure, and latr The Colossal Cave Adventure.
• What is the topography like in the Pennyroyal Plateau (sinkhole plain)? Why does it look that way?

- Caves
- Production of acid rain in the atmosphere: water + carbon dioxide = carbonic acid
o All rainwater is acid rain
o Carbonic acid = hydrogen ion (very reactive) + bicarbonate ion
o Dissolution of limestone: calcite + hydrogen ion = calcium ion + water + CO2
o Anytime you have exposed limestone that is dissolving on the surface it’s called Karst. Karst valley formed from
coalescing sinkholes
- Echo River Spring: water that goes through mammoth cave comes to the surface here
- River Styx Spring
o Normally the spring carries water out of the cave as it should…but flooding in the Green River valley occasionally causes a
condition of stable reverse flow (water goes back underground, really important for the critters that live underground)
• What rock caps the Mammoth Cave Plateau (Chester Upland)?

- sandstone

• How and when did the rock formations in the area form? How and when did Mammoth Cave itself form?

300 mill

• What is the relationship between Mammoth Cave and the Green River?

o Upper levels of the cave mark former levels of the Green River. With time, the river has eroded down into its bed, thus
lowering the water level in the cave and forming the lower levels
• What is the reason for the multiple levels in Mammoth Cave?

- Most of the upper levels of Mammoth Cave are dry now, but were produced by water erosion
• How does the pH scale work? How is acid rain produced in the atmosphere? What is the pH of normal rainwater?

- The pH scale can tell if a liquid is more acid or more base,

- cid rain results when sulfur dioxide (SO 2) and nitrogen oxides (NO X) are emitted into the atmosphere and transported by wind
and air currents. The SO 2 and NO X react with water, oxygen and other chemicals to form sulfuric and nitric acids. These then mix
with water and other materials before falling to the ground.
- 5.7

• What is karst and how does it form? What are some features associated with karst topography?

- landscape underlain by limestone which has been eroded by dissolution, producing ridges, towers, fissures, sinkholes and other
characteristic landforms.
- Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by
underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves.
- Snk holes, caves caverns
• What is saltpeter and why was it mined in Mammoth Cave?

- Gunpowder
- sodium and potassium nitrates leaches from bat poop

• What material composes the formations in Mammoth Cave?

- limestone, also called calcium carbonate, dissolves in water seeping through the ground

• What are stalactites, stalagmites, columns, and draperies?

- stalagmites - a mound or tapering column rising from the floor of a cave, formed of calcium salts deposited by dripping water and
often uniting with a stalactite.
- Stalactites- a tapering structure hanging like an icicle from the roof of a cave, formed of calcium salts deposited by dripping
water.Compare with stalagmite.
- Cloums form stag
- Drapires - Deposited from calcite-rich solutions flowing along an overhung surface
Surface tensions allows these solutions to cling to a wall or sloping ceiling as they stream slowly downward.

Guadalupe Mountains/Carlsbad Caverns NP

• What was the geographic setting during the Permian Period when the rocks in these parks were being deposited in the Delaware Basin?

- Ancient reif
- 250ma

• What is a good modern analog for the Delaware Basin?

modern analog for the Delaware Basin?

The Bahama Banks
-Shallow areas (Shelf)
*Probably depositing limestone
-Deeper basins
• What rock type was formed when the Delaware Basin eventually dried up?

- gypsum

• What depositional environment was located along the margins of the Delware Basin that was to produce the limestones found in these two
parks?

he ancient Capitan Reef

• What types of organisms helped to make the limestone rock in the Capitan Reef?

- Moain life

• What controls the location of cave passages within Carlsbad Caverns?

A three-lobed sea defined where reefs grew. The Delaware Basin gave shape to it.
-Exposed at the surface
-Buried beneath the surface
Towards the land, you have a shallow lagoon
Forereef (Deeper body of water closer to the Delaware Basin)

• Know the various typs of cave formations: stalactites, stalagmites, draperies, cave popcorn.

n the Permian Age, the Delaware Basin would have been underwater
-Reef
*Coral and other organisms that make this limestone (Sponges)
-Sharks
-Fish
-Fossil reef system that is 250 Ma

Similar to modern reefs today

-Bradtke pods
-Coiled mollusk
-Ammonites

Introduction
•What are the three types of rocks

- Meta , sedementry igneous

how are they related to each other and various geologic processes on the rock cycle?

- The rock cycle explains how the three rock types are related to each other, and how processes change from one type to another
over time. This cyclical aspect makes rock change a geologic cycle and, on planets containing life, a biogeochemical cycle .

Science and the scientific method

• What is science?

- the intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behaviour of the physical and natural
world through observation and experiment.

• What isn't science?

- not depend on personal philosophy, political ideology, religion, subjective experience, or philosophical views. Anything which does
vary by religion or politics or philosophy or subjective experience is not science, and should not be labeled as "science."

• What are the limits and assumptions of science?

- knowing science, feeling science and doing science are limitless because physical world and spiritual world are limitless.

• What is uniformitarianism?

- natural processes operating in the past are the same as those that can be observed operating in the present

• What is not uniformitarianism?

- not necessarily mean that rates of natural processes have always been constant

• What are some components of the"scientific method"?

- Observation, Question, Hypothesis (or hypotheses),Test ,Theory and Fact .

• What are some of the problems with the simplified "scientific method"?

- Human reasoning is not always purely inductive

- Scientists are human beings, not machines. They have…
1. pre-existing biases and prejudices
2. misconceptions and limited ranges of experience
3. a knack for making mistakes
4. subjective reasons for preferring or rejecting certain theories

Hawaii Volcanoes NP

• What things can be found in magma?

- Dissolved gasses (H20, CO2, S02, CL2…), exsolved gas bubbles, mineral/suspended crystals, suspended rock fragments (xenoliths)

• What is the basic rock type that makes up Hawaii? What is it made of?

- Basalt mostly made of volcanic glass and very small crystals that are too small to see, 50% silica, vesicles

• Where do some xenoliths in Hawaiian basalts originate?

- Suspended rock fragments

• Describe the dynamics of mantle plumes. How are they related to hotspots?

- A mantle plume is an upwelling of abnormally hot rock within the Earth's mantle. As the heads of mantle plumes can partly melt
when they reach shallow depths, they are thought to be the cause of volcanic centers known as hotspots and probably also to
have caused flood basalts.

• Describe trends along chains of oceanic islands (such as the Hawaiian Islands) which are formed above mantle hotspots.

- The Hawaiian Islands were formed by such a hot spot occurring in the middle of the Pacific Plate. While the hot spot itself is fixed,
the plate is moving. So, as the plate moved over the hot spot, the string of islands that make up the Hawaiian Island chain were
formed
• What assumption must you make if you are going to use the ages of oceanic islands along a hotspot track to determine rates of plate motion?

- Although most hot spots occur far from plate boundaries, they offer a way to measure plate movement. This is because a hot
spot generally stays in one place while the tectonic plate above it keeps moving. At a hot spot, the heat from the plume partly melts
some of the rock in the tectonic plate above it.

• What are the five shield volcanoes in the Hawaii Islands? Which are active and which are dormant? On what side of the island is the oldest
shield volcano located? youngest shield volcano?

- Mauna Kea: extinct, highest mountain in the Pacifico

- Hualalai: active, last erupted in 1801
- Mauna Loa: active, one of earth’s largest volcanoes, last erupted in 1984
- Kilauea: actively erupting since 1983, youngest shield volcano located on the southernpart of Hawaii

• What are shield volcanoes and why are they shaped the way they are?

- A shield volcanopossesses broad dome and shield-like shape due to the steady flow by flow oflavaon the surfaceof the volcano. The
low impact eruptions cause thelavato easily flow and spread out in thinlayers.

• Mauna Loa o noteworthy general facts

- “long mountain”, world’s largest volcano (volume=20,000 cubic miles),

- Active, has erupted more than 35 times since the island was first visited in early1800s
- Elevation above sea level = 13679
- Rise 8km/5miles above ocean floor, making it taller than mt Everest
- “curtain of fire” and spatter ramparts during 1984 eruption along NE rift zone

• How are pahoehoe and aa flows different? Why?

- Thepahoehoeflow has a comparatively smoothor "ropy" surface. The surface of theaaflow consists of free chunks of very angular
pieces oflava. This difference in form reflects flow dynamics. ...Pahoehoeforms when lava flows moreslowly

• Kilauea

1. rift zones
- Kilauea has frequent summit and flank lava flow eruptions that are occurring along two elongated rift zones to the south-west and
to the east, which extend to the sea on both sides of the volcano
2. Kilauea caldera
- Kilauea volcano is near-constantly erupting from vents either on its summit (caldera) or on the rift zones. At present, Kilauea
volcano is still having one of the most long-lived eruptions known on earth, which started in 1983 on the eastern rift zone and has
mainly been concentrated at the Pu'u 'O'o vent
3. Halemaumau crater
- Halemaʻumaʻu is a pit crater within the much larger Kilauea Caldera in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
4. Kilaeua Iki lava lake
- 2000 ft fountains filled with lava in 1959, now all rock, it took 29 years for the lava to cool and crystalize
5. What processes affect lava flows from Kilauea as they flow away from the vent towards the ocean?
- Lava moves away from the vent toward the ocean in a network of tubes and descends Pulama pali in several separate tubes
6. How do lava tubes form, and what is a good example of one near Kilauea?
- Lava tubes are within lava beds and are hydrothermal areas. Ex: Cinder Cone
7. What processes occur as the coast when the lava reaches the ocean?
- When lava meets the sea, new land is formed
8. What were some changes to Kilauea that occurred during the Summer of 2018?
- On May 3rd, 2018, the Kilauea volcano on Hawaii's Big Island erupted from new fissures and sent lava flowing over streets and
neighborhoods
• Where are the world’s largest landslides located? What caused them? How long ago did the most recent megalandslide occur in Hawaii, and
what is the geologic evidence for how large the tsunami wave that resulted from this event? Are portions of HVNP at risk or currently being
affected by landslides or slumps today?

- Alika 2 occurred 120,000, last major submarine landslide off of Hawaii

Yellowstone NP

• Where is the one location in the United States where you can get away with murder? Why does this loophole exist?

- Zone of Death. Wyoming park that crosses over into Idaho

• What was the history of exploration within the Yellowstone region prior to its being made a national park?

- Supported by railroad companies and aided by other expedition members.Yellowstone was created to bring in tourists
• What problems affected the early administration of YNP? How were these problems overcome?

- Original idea was to run the park cost-free, poaching, vandalism

• What surface geophysical measurements correlate with the Yellowstone hotspot?

- South west

• What features can be found along the Yellowstone hotspot track (Snake River Plain in Idaho)?

- Snake River Plain in Idaho

• What is the topographic setting of YNP?

- Located along the continental divide within the Middle Rocky Mountains, Yellowstone is on a high plateau averaging 8,000 feet in
elevation.

• How is rhyolite different from basalt?

- Rhyolite have high silica content

• How is the formation of rhyolitic obsidian different from that of rhyolitic tuff?

- Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Obsidian is a naturally occurring volcanic
glass formed as an extrusive igneous rock. It is produced when felsic lava extruded from a volcano cools rapidly with minimum
crystal growth

• How large is the underlying magmatic system below Yellowstone? Where (how far down) is a large rhyolitic magma chamber located?

- The active magma chamber beneath Yellowstone is located over100 miles below the surface and is fed with magma from a hotspot
in the Earth’s uppermost mantle. The north American plate moves about an inch per year over the hotspot

• Describe the stages in the formation of a volcanic caldera.

- The last major volcanic eruption at Yellowstone occurred 64,000 years ago and resulted in the formation of a caldera miles wide

• How many calderas are present in Yellowstone? When were they formed? What rock units correlate with each one?

3,10000, igenous

• What causes magma to erupt explosively (how is volcanic ash formed)?

- Explosive eruptions occur when gases dissolved in molten rock (magma) expand and escape violently into the air, and also when
water is heated by magma and abruptly flashes into steam. The force of the escaping gas violently shatters solid rocks

• How widely can you find ash deposits from the last two ash-forming eruptions in Yellowstone?

- 15-20 miles wide

• How do the caldera-forming eruptions at Yellowstone compare to other well-known volcanic eruptions?

- ash

• Is Yellowstone due for an eruption anytime soon? Is this even predictable? Does Yellowstone erupt regularly over time or not?

- No, there around 750,000 years between eruptions

• What type of volcanic activity has occurred in Yellowstone after its most recent caldera was formed? What rock types have formed?

- Since the most recent giant caldera-forming eruption, 640,000 years ago, approximately 80 relatively nonexplosive eruptions have
occurred. Of these eruptions, at least 27 were rhyolite lava flows in the caldera, 13 were rhyolite lava flows outside the caldera and
40 were basalt vents outside the caldera

• How are hydrothermal features distributed in YNP? What geologic features control this distribution?

- The water in Yellowstone’s features begins as rising on the surface of the Earth which percolates downward, heating up to as much
as 700 degrees Fahrenheit

• What are the various types of hydrothermal features at YNP?

- Hot springs, mud pots, fumaroles

• How do geysers work?

- hot springs that intermittently throw up a jet of hot water, stream, etc. The earth’s crust has cracks and vents. Water occupies these
and gets heated due to geothermal energy. Due to heating, water turns into steam and pressure increases.

• What controls the color of a hot spring?

- tempature

• What was the groundbreaking discovery made at a Yellowstone hot spring that forms the basis of modern genetic sequencing technology?

- Thermus aquaticus 1966: Park researcher Dr. Thomas Brock discovers Thermus aquaticus in a Yellowstone hot spring. An
enzyme discovered in the microorganism is eventually used to rapidly replicate DNA

• Is active ground deformation taking place at YNP? Where is it concentrated, and why is it happening?

- Yellowstone hotspot is moving in the southwest direction

• What are the three types of faults? Which type are most of the faults in Yellowstone?

- Normal fault (move opposite ways, result from extensional forces, most faults in Yellowstone)
- Thrust/ reverse fault (move towards each other, result from compressional forces, not many in Yellowstone)
- Strike-slip fault (sliding one block passed the other, result from shear forces
• What happened during the 1959 Hebgen Lake Earthquake?

- The earthquake measured 7.2 on the Moment magnitude scale, caused a huge landslide, resulted in over 28 fatalities. The slide
blocked the flow of the Madison River, resulting in the creation of Quake Lake

• Which geologic hazards occur at Yellowstone? How frequently do they occur (relative to each other)?

- Small hydrothermal explosions (most frequent, least destructive, several to many per century)
- Strong earthquakes (more frequent, less destructive, one to several per century)
- Lava flows (less frequent, more destructive, happens around 100 times per million years)
- Caldera-forming eruptions (least frequent, most destructive, happens once every 1-2 million years)
• How is Yellowstone NP similar to Hawaii Volcanoes NP?How is it different?

- The difference between Hawaii and Yellowstone is that there are on separate plates and the plates move in different directions. For
example, Yellowstone is the North American Plate (which moves westwards ways) and Hawai'i is on the pacific plate (which moves
upwards). Yellowstone sits atop a continental hot spot.

Crater Lake NP

• Where is the deepest lake in the US?

- Crater Lake Oregon

• What is the plate tectonic setting of the Cascade volcanic chain? Where do Mount St. Helens and Crater Lake rank in terms of activity
compared to other Cascades volcanoes?

- Extended from northern California (Lassen Peak) all the way to British Canada. No eruptions in the last 4,000 years. Mount St. Helens
is the most active in the Cascade chain

• What are the three types of plate tectonic boundaries (or margins)?

- Divergent boundary (mid-ocean ridge) plates move away from each other
- Transform plate boundary plates moves horizontally past each other
- Convergent plate boundary plates move toward each other
• How far down are the magmas generated that are responsible for the Cascade volcanic chain?What ultimately causes the magmatic activity
within the Cascadia subduction zone?

- 120 km. ocean water and marine sediments gets taken down the subduction zone, ocean water enters mantle overlying subducting
plate. Water in the mantle lowers melting point of mantle rock making it basaltic magma

• What magma compositions (or igneous rock types) are produced at subduction zones? at hotspots below oceanic crust? at hotspots below
continental crust?

- Basalt: Hawaii (hotspot under ocean floor) and Yellowstone (hotspot under continental crust), low Silica content
- Andesite: Crater Lake (subduction zone under continental crust), medium Silica content, looks more like a crystal, grey color,
contains amphibole (silicate mineral containing water, dark grey pieces)
- Dacite: medium Silica content, Crater Lake
 - Rhyolite: Yellowstone, high Silica content
• What was Crater Lake like prior to 7,700 years ago?

- Mount Mazama erupted

• What is the internal structure of stratovolcanoes?

- Interbedded lava flows and pyroclastic deposits

• What are some examples of lava flows and pyroclastic features at Crater Lake?

- Ash, cinders, volcanic bombs

• What are dikes? How do they form?

- Dikes form from magma going into a crack hardening

• What happened during the climatic eruption of Mt. Mazama 7,700 years ago? What types of volcanic materials were produced during the
eruption?

- Ash pumace

• What is the evidence that the magma chamber that partially erupted from Mt. Mazama was chemically stratified or layered?

- ash

• What volcanic processes and materials characterize the post-caldera stage of Crater Lake’s geologic history?

- Filling lake shortly after caldera, new volcanism (domes) underway 80 years after caldera formation, cessation of volcanism 4,900
yeas ago, landslides from the crater walls carry material into the lake

• What is on the bottom of Crater Lake?

- Hydrothermal vents that heat up pockets

Mt. Rainier NP

• How active has Mt. Rainier been during the last few thousand years?

- Moderate activity and has erupted in the last 200 years making it active

• How have glacial erosion and volcanic collapse affected Mt. Rainier?

- Used to be the biggest mountain at 16,000 ft and now around 14,000 because of collapse of NE side around 5,600 years ago,
material removed by glacial erosion and by partial collapse (avalanche)

• When did the NE side of Mt. Rainier collapse? What has been added to Mt. Rainier since that time?

- 5,600 years ago, summit cone on top of dome (crater, active hot area)

• How many glaciers does Mt. Rainier have, and how have these affected the mountain?

- 26 glaciers, more snow accumulates at mid-elevations on the mountain

• How do alpine (mountain) glaciers work?

- Snow falling at high elevations, zone of accumulation (more snow added than melting causing glaciers to grow), flow trajectory to
equilibrium line to zone ablation (net loss of snow, glacier melting), sublimation (some snow gets evaporated into water vapor),
meltwater pool, calving, iceberg, meltwater stream, meltwater tunnel

• What controls whether a glacial advances or retreats?

- Advance: accumulation greater than ablation, goes in the direction of more snow, to a lower equilibrium line, leads to less ablation,
to meltwater/ lower elevations.
- Retreat: accumulation is less than ablation, less snow coming un, leads to a higher equilibrium line, leads to more ablation, then
retreat

• Are glaciers on Mt. Rainier advancing or retreating? What has happened to the ice caves on the mountain?
- Mt Rainier is retreating and there are no longer ice caves in the Paradise Glacier
• What types of volcanic hazards have occurred on (and around) Mt. Rainier in the past?
 - Electron mudflow, Osceola

• What areas surrounding the mountain are most at risk? What are the implications for surrounding communities?

- Surrounding communities are at risk of avalanches

Lassen Volcanic NP

• What is the importance of Brokeoff Mountain to the geologic history of LVNP?

- An erosional remnant of the Mount Tehama stratovolcano. Started growing 600,000 years ago, 350,000 years ago, it collapsed
forming a 2-mile-wide caldera.

• How old is Lassen Peak?

- Lassen Peak started growing 27,000 years ago on the flanks of this older volcano

• How does Lassen Peak compare to other volcanic domes in the world?

- It’s the largest volcanic dome in the world, thousands of feet tall

• What occurred during the 1914-1915 eruptions of Lassen Peak? What volcanic hazards were produced? Why were there no casualties?

- Steam blast eruptions and crater formation. In Summer 2015 small lava dome forms, which is later disrupted by more steam
explosions; lava flows and mudflows occur

• What happened to the “Devastated Area” during the 1915 eruption?

- The area was further devastated by a high-speed flow of hot volcanic ash and gas (called a “pyroclastic flow”), and the incorporation
of snow into this flow generated new mudflows. Ash from the eruption rose high into the air and wind blew it eastward.Loomis Hot
Rock is located at Lassen Peak

• What does Loomis Hot Rock reveal as to magma chamber processes during the construction of Lassen Peak?

- fine grained dark blobs probably indicate that magmas of different composition were mingled together in the magma chamber

• Besides Lassen Peak, what other volcanic features are found within the park?

Four shield volcanos such as Prospect Peak and Cinder Cone

Vocab

• Xenolith suspended rock fragments

• Basalt the dominant (most common) volcanic rock type on Hawaii
• Olivine present in basalt, olive green, dominants earths mantel, most common
• Proxyene found in basalt, common, almost black in color because of iron
• Feldspar found in basalt, white grain, most abundant mineral in earth’s crust
• Vesicles fossil gas bubbles
• Principle of inclusions inclusions (or pieces) are older than the material that surrounds them
• Hotspot localized source of high heat energy that sustains volcanism
• Atolls partially submerged islands with active coral reefs on top
• Shield volcano a broad domed volcano with gently sloping sides, characteristic of the eruption of fluid, basaltic lava
• Curtain of fire display of lava fountaining
• Caldera a large volcanic crater usually formed by a major eruption
• Tuff a light rock formed by volcanic ash
• Rhyolite (volcanic ash) high in silica content
• Fumaroles steam venting pits, smells like sulfur coming in directly from the magma usually, sulfur fumes form sulfur mineralization
• Resurgent domes when more magma enters magma chamber and inflates it, it pushes up the ground above it making a hill-like
feature. Protrusions cause by crystalized magma
• Mud pot acidic hot spring forms as a pool of bubbling mud
• Ring of Fire area in the Pacific Ocean where earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur
• Dacite medium silica content rock found in Crater Lake