National Parks formed by Glaciers

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National Parks formed by Glaciers

• Glacier National Park
• Yosemite National Park

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Something about Glacial Mechanics?

• Zone of accumulation vs zone of ablation
• Pre and post-alpine glaciated landscape

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Glacier National Park
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Vital Statistics

• Northwest Montana
• 1,000,000 acres
• 1580 square miles

Indian Reservation
National Forests
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History

• Native American inhabitants past 10,000 years
• Pre-1800 Kutenai (Flathead) tribes
• Post-1800 Blackfeet
• 1780s Fur trappers
• 1806 Lewis and Clark expedition
• 1910 NP (third try)
• 1932 combined with adjacent Canadian Waterton

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Geologic Features

• Glacial Erosion
• Glacial Deposition
• Mass Movement
• Faulting

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Geologic Features

• Continental Divide
• Sedimentary features
• Fossils
• Igneous Activity

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Geologic History

• Pre-Cambrian
• Paleozoic Mostly Erosion
• Mesozoic Cretaceous marine rocks

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Geologic History

• Cenozoic
• earliest Eocene (Tertiary) Larimide Orogeny
  Uplift
• Pleistocene 1.6 mya glaciation
• 10,000 years glaciers retreat and disappear
• 4000 years ago present glaciers develop

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Yosemite National Park
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(No Transcript)
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Vital Statistics

• Central California
• 760,000 acres
• 1190 square miles

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History

• Ahwahneechee Tribe
• Mid 1800s Uzumati tribe lead by Chief Tenaya
• 1846 Trading post
• 1864 US gave area as park to California
• 1890 Yosemite NP
• 1914 Stephen T Mather visits

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Geologic Features

• Exfoliation Domes
• Jointing
• Glacial Features

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Glacial Features

• Roche moutonnée
• Glacial valley
• Hanging valley
• Waterfalls
• Nunatak
• Glacial deposits

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Geologic History

• Paleozoic sedimentary and volcanic rocks
• Mesozoic Granitic intrusions
• Cenozoic uplift
• Pleistocene - glaciation