Geology Paper

Yosemite National Park is a landscape that is currently glaciated. A glacier is a large body of continuously accumulating ice and compacted snow. The foundation of Yosemite National Park's conservation is the icy setting that resulted from the relations of the primary rocks (underlying rocks) with the glaciers. Furthermore, Yosemite National Park is located in the Sierra Nevada mountain range. As a whole, the Sierra Nevada is a lopsided mountain range with a lengthy, soft slant on its west side and a not so lengthy, sharply sloped east side cliff that ends in the peak of the Sierra Nevada. At the max it is 80 miles wide and varies widely in height near and above sea level. Much like the Sierra Nevada massive granite covers majority of the area. Granite is a type of coarse-grained rock. For example, Mount Hoffmann, which is located in Central Yosemite, is made of granite via merging of previously melted rock material and then uncovered by the destruction of the overlapped rocks. Many of the higher areas in Yosemite National Park such as its cliffs are molded into bold formations. This is because of the massive density and stability of Yosemite's primary rock, the granite rock. However, there is a variety of granite type rock locked in Yosemite, meaning it is not monolithic. In fact, the granite rock is made of a number of smaller types of granitic rock mixed with one another while they were molten material, also known as magma. The mixing of the rocks (intrusion) was estimated to have taken over a hundred million years. One can tell the differences in the rocks by their appearances and the way they react to weather and erosion. Furthermore, remnants of prehistoric grainy (sedimentary) and volcanic rocks in the foothills the edge of the west end of Yosemite National Park are layered metamorphic rocks. Metamorphic rocks are rocks that are morphed into another type of rock. The granitic intrusions is the reason for the transformations. The metamorphic rocks in Yosemite are not that dense because the park is centered in this greatly divided body of granite making it less than five percent of the park. Interestingly enough, a large majority of Yosemite is made up of plutonic igneous rocks. Plutonic igneous rocks are formed by considerable depth via crystallization of magma. Furthermore, plutonic rock is created deeply underground once molten type rocks cool off and slowly solidify. This process allows large crystals to formulate. On the other hand, volcanic igneous rocks form at the surface and create small crystals as a result of the molten rock cooling and solidifying. Quartz monzodiorite, quartz monzonite, granodiorite, tonalite, and granite are all listed as forms of plutonic rock that is found in Yosemite National Park to date. According to the Quartz, Alkali feldspar, Plagioclase diagram (QAPF diagram) created by the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) each of the latter listed are measured within the QAPF diagram and technically are not granitic rocks. Furthermore, plutonic rocks are mostly made of five types of minerals. The minerals plutonic rocks are made of are quartz, potassium feldspar, biotite,plagioclase feldspar, and hornblende. Quartz is a dense colorless material made of silicone dioxide which is basically a transparent solid that melts at a high temperature. Potassium feldspar is a type of alkali (acid-neutralizing chemical substance) feldspar (abundant rock-forming mineral). Biotite is a black, dark brown, or greenish black shiny

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