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Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Park Headquarters Road, Gatlinburg, TN, USA

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Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Park Headquarters Road, Gatlinburg, TN, USA

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Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Park Headquarters Road, Gatlinburg, TN, USA

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Yellowstone National Park, United States

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Yellowstone National Park, United States

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Yellowstone National Park, United States

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Yellowstone National Park sits on top of an active volcano and one of the world's largest calderas, the Yellowstone caldera (sometimes referred to as the Yellowstone supervolcano). The Caldera measures approximately 72 x 48 kilometers. The Yellowstone region has produced three exceedingly large volcanic eruptions in the past 2.1 million years. If another large caldera-forming eruption were to occur at Yellowstone, its effects would be felt worldwide. Fortunately, the probability of a large caldera-forming eruption within the next few thousand years is exceedingly low.

Yellowstone’s principal attractions are its some 10,000 hydrothermal features, which constitute roughly half of all those known in the world. The region’s deeply fractured crust allows groundwater to seep down to where it makes contact with the magma. The superheated and mineral-rich water then returns to the surface as steam vents, fumaroles, colorful hot pools, mud cauldrons, paint pots, hot springs and terraces, hot rivers, and geysers.

Norris Geyser Basin is noted for having some of the hottest and most acidic hydrothermal features in the park, the vast majority of the waters at Norris are acidic, including acid geysers which are very rare. Here, you can find the Steamboat Geyser, which can throw water to heights of 90 meters and higher and is the world’s highest-erupting geyser. Norris shows evidence of having had thermal features for at least 115,000 years. The features in the basin change daily, with frequent disturbances from seismic activity and water fluctuations.

Old Faithful, in west-central Yellowstone, the most famous geyser in the park, erupts fairly regularly, roughly every 90 minutes with a range of reasonably predictable variability. Old Faithful is one of nearly 500 geysers in Yellowstone. Unique thermal features like the Old Faithful Geyser inspired the establishment of Yellowstone as the world’s first national park in 1872.

Mammoth Hot Springs consists of a broad terraced hillside of travertine (calcium carbonate) deposited there by dozens of hot springs. Among its notable formations are the multicolored Minerva Terrace and Angel Terrace, each which consists of dazzling white rock that in many areas is tinted by microorganisms on the rock. Terrace Mountain at Mammoth Hot Springs is the largest known carbonate-depositing spring in the world.

Yellowstone Falls, located in the north-central part of the park, descend in two majestic cascades: the Upper Falls, with a drop of 35 meters, and the Lower Falls, with a drop of 94 meters. The falls constitute the western end of the spectacular Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. There, the Yellowstone river has cut a gorge 30 km long, 370 meters deep, and up to 1,200 meters wide. The walls of the canyon, sculpted from decomposed rhyolite (volcanic rock), are brilliantly colored in hues of red, pink, yellow, buff, lavender, and white.

Most of the park consists of broad volcanic plateaus with an average elevation of about 2,400 meters. Eagle Peak, on the park’s boundary in the southeast, is the high point, reaching 3,462 meters. Eagle Peak is part of the Absaroka Range and is formed of Eocene age pyroclastic rocks. The area was covered in glaciers during the last ice age. Glacial deposits can still be found in some parts of the mountain.

Flora and Fauna flourish at Yellowstone National Park. Many of the animal and plant species take advantage of the various hydrothermal features of Yellowstone National Park from time to time.

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Yellowstone National Park sits on top of an active volcano and one of the world's largest calderas, the Yellowstone caldera (sometimes referred to as the Yellowstone supervolcano). The Caldera measures approximately 72 x 48 kilometers. The Yellowstone region has produced three exceedingly large volcanic eruptions in the past 2.1 million years.

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cecilia bockoven for geology 1101.

Almost 2 billion years ago, the Belt Sea covered part of the Northwestern US, including where Glacier NP is located. Silt and organic matter settled at the bottom of the sea, forming sedimentary rocks. Layers of quartzite, siltite, argillite, limestone, and dolomite can be found in the park, along with preserved ripple marks, mudcracks, and stromatolite fossils.

About 750 millions years ago, magma sills formed between layers of sedimentary rock. The sill cooled to form a dark band of diorite and contact metamorphosed the surrounding limestone into light colored marble. Basalts from lava pillows in the Belt Sea can also be found in the park.

Approximately 100 million years ago, the old rock from the Belt Sea was thrust over newer rock, in a plate tectonics event that took millions of years. The rock from the overthrust eroded over time to form the mountains found in Glacier NP. The tectonic movement also caused many of the cracks, warps, and bends found in the rocks in the park.

The argillite found in Glacier is both red and green. The red argillite formed as the Belt Sea retreated, exposing the iron in the rock to oxygen and turning red. The green color comes from argillite that formed underwater, so the iron bonded to silica, which forms green chlorite.

Most of the erosion in the park is from glaciation. Glaciers tear and crumble rock as they move across it. Glaciers which formed in the park during the Pleistocene ice age carved massive valleys, and newer glaciers (about 6000 years) are currently shaping the park.

information from https://www.nps.gov/glac/learn/education/geology.htm.

all images are from Glacier NP Flickr and are in the public domain. https://www.flickr.com/photos/glaciernps/albums/with/72157648859607029

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Big Bend National Park, Big Bend National Park, TX, USA

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Big Bend National Park, Big Bend National Park, TX, USA

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Big Bend National Park, Big Bend National Park, TX, USA

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The Ernst Tinaja spring is at the south end of Big Bend National Park! It is found at the end of a very popular,short hiking trail with bright striations of orange rock. It is a 13 foot rock pool, also known as a "kettle," formed by the reoccurring erosion at the base of a waterfall. Over time, the stream carried sediment that carved deep cuts into the bedrock.

The Boquillas Formation consists of several sedimentary rock layers, folded together by earthquakes and faults. The thin layers of limestone and shale also consists of many fossils as well. The formation is primarily found in West Texas!

The Apache Canyon is a unique valley in New Mexico. It is located on a rather hidden trail in the national park. There is no sign posted for the trail because it is considered to be a historically sensitive area that includes evidence of an early civilization!

Cerro Castellan, an ancient volcanic peak, is located in the southwest corner of the park. It is a cone like mountain formation caused by the rising of the desert floor, once a part of the "Carazones Peaks."

The Santa Elena Canyon is one of the most common sites of the park. Visible almost 10 miles away, a deep and narrow gorge lies along the Rio Grande River. This is one of the popular formations that makes Big Bend National Park a paradise for geologists!

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The Ernst Tinaja spring is at the south end of Big Bend National Park! It is found at the end of a very popular,short hiking trail with bright striations of orange rock. It is a 13 foot rock pool, also known as a "kettle," formed by the reoccurring erosion at the base of a waterfall.

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Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Salt Flat, TX, USA

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Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Salt Flat, TX, USA

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Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Salt Flat, TX, USA

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About the Guadalupe Mountains

250 million years ago the Delaware Basin formed during the Permian Period. A 26,000 km sea used to cover the land, it stretched from New Mexico to Texas. Over time marine organisms such as calcareous sponges, algae, and calcium carbonate precipitated from the water leaving a horseshoe-shaped Capitan Reef. Later due to tectonic events the Guadalupe Mountains were formed. 20-30 million years ago a large portion of the Capitan Reef that was once buried was uplifted exposing the reef to rain and wind allowing softer sediments to erode away. This created the reef we call the Guadalupe Mountains. The world’s most extensive and significant Middle Permian limestone are located here. Because of this, some of the most complete Permian marine fossils are also found here. This lead to this area being the best example of ancient marine fossil reef.

Prime feature?

When visiting this park you will eventually see one of its prime features. This would be the 8,751 foot peak called El Capitan. This peak is composed of fine-grained fossiliferous limestone that formed because of previous wave action and remains of algae, sponges, and other organisms that accumulated over time.

What could you find here at the Guadalupe Mountains?

Red quartz sand dunes and White gypsum sand dunes. (Dunes are being preserved for their beauty and for their plant associations and rare species found within.)

Cave resources (Many fossils located inside)

Sedimentary and structural features with ripple marks

Submarine slides

Plethora of fossils

Sources

El Capitan picture- https://www.beg.utexas.edu/texas-through-time/assets/images/ElCapitan-slide1.jpg

https://www.nps.gov/gumo/learn/nature/geologicformations.htm

https://www.nps.gov/articles/nps-geodiversity-atlas-guadalupe-mountains-national-park-texas.htm

http://www.beg.utexas.edu/texas-through-time/el-capitan.html

https://www.us-parks.com/guadalupe-mountains-national-park/geology.html

Credits:

Created with images by Vince Rankin - "Mountains in Texas " • Joshua Case - "untitled image"

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Crater Lake National Park surrounds the volcano Mt. Mazama in Oregon. The volcano is one of several along the Cascade mountain range and is still considered to be active.

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The lake or caldera featured here is the deepest in the United States and is the 7th deepest in the world. It formed from the collapse of the magma chamber under the volcano after it had emptied during an explosion over 7,000 years ago creating the caldera.

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Ejected material such as pumice and ash remain in the area around the volcano. The debris that remains can form pinnacles or spire-like structures.

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Only one of the volcanoes actually breaches the water surface and that is the one that creates Wizard Island within Crater Lake. It was the only one that could keep up with the increasing water-level caused by precipitation and snow-melt with continued eruptions.

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