What type of valley is yosemite

Click here to learn more about Curry Village The Mariposa Grove is one of the most well known and most visited sequoia groves in the world. There are more than mature giant sequoia trees at Mariposa Grove, ranging in age from several hundred to several thousand years old. Established in by David and Jenny Curry Yosemite Looking for a place to stay in Yosemite Read More Looking for a place to stay in Yosemite Ahwahnee Hotel reviews The Ahwahnee Hotel is the standard in lu Science Explorer.

Multimedia Gallery. Park Passes. Technical Announcements. Employees in the News. Emergency Management. Can you imagine the Yosemite landscape with no lakes? Virtually all the innumerable natural lakes in the park are the result of glacial activity. But even these lakes are transitory, doomed to be filled with sediment and become meadows; many lakes already have undergone this transformation.

Yosemite Valley itself once contained a lake. The vast majority of Yosemite is comprised of plutonic igneous rocks. Plutonic rock forms deep underground when molten rock cools and solidifies very slowly, allowing large crystals to form. In contrast, volcanic igneous rocks form at the surface when molten rock cools and solidifies quickly, resulting in small crystals.

Granite, granodiorite, tonalite, quartz monzonite, and quartz monzodiorite are all forms of plutonic rock that are found in Yosemite, and are loosely referred to as granitic rocks.

Quartz diorite, diorite and gabbro are plutonic rocks found in Yosemite, but are not technically considered to be granitic rocks. Plutonic rocks are primarily comprised of 5 minerals: quartz, potassium feldspar, plagioclase feldspar, biotite, and hornblende.

Plutonic rocks, including granitic rocks, differ primarily in the relative proportions of quartz and feldspar, although texture is also an important consideration. The plutonic rocks were generally formed during the Cretaceous period.

Volcanic igneous rocks are erupted onto the Earth's surface and cool and solidify much more quickly than plutonic igneous rocks. There are small amounts of volcanic igneous rocks within Yosemite and large amounts east of the Sierra Nevada Crest.

The volcanic rocks inside the park include basalt flows, latite tuff, and latite lava flows. The volcanic rocks outside the park include these same rocks as well as ash-flow tuff, rhyolite, pumice, obsidian, etc. The Mono Craters, east and southeast of the park, are volcanoes that erupted 3, to years before present.

The Inyo Craters, southeast of the park, are volcanoes that erupted 40, to 3, years before present. Since the glaciers retreated around 15, years ago, rock fall has been the major force of change in Yosemite Valley. Geologists work to understand this force of nature in order to protect the millions of visitors who come here each year. Yosemite National Park is famous for its spectacular glacially carved landscape. Welcome to the Ice Age, where glaciers descended upon the Yosemite Valley, filling the massive valley groove with solid ice.

Parts of the Valley and the surrounding rock were totally encased in ice, with only the tallest peaks jutting above the frost. As the glaciers advanced through the Valley, they took no prisoners, so to speak. About 30, years ago, a smaller but still relatively massive ice sheet known as the Yosemite Glacier passed through the Valley.

The last of the glacial ice finally melted away, first leaving a massive lake, and then turning to essentially a basin of silt and glacial till. This laid a fantastic ecological foundation for the gorgeous flora that would emerge across the relatively level Valley floor. The result? Source: Official Yosemite Website. Shant Minas is the principal engineering geologist and managing director of AES.

As part of his tasks he oversees all field exploration, conducts detailed geologic investigations, and prepares reports and geologic maps.