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National Parks formed by Mountain Building & Uplift. Grand Teton National Park Great Smoky National Park. Mountain Building and Uplift. Mountains usually form in ranges, long but narrow zones. Accumulation of sediment Orogenesis Folding, thrust faults, meta, intrusions Adjustment
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National Parks formed by Mountain Building & Uplift Grand Teton National Park Great Smoky National Park
Mountain Building and Uplift • Mountains usually form in ranges, long but narrow zones. • Accumulation of sediment • Orogenesis • Folding, thrust faults, meta, intrusions • Adjustment • Extension, block-faulting, uplift • many ranges -> mountain belts
Formation of Appalachians • 300 mya collision • Erosion • 180 mya rifting
Grand Teton National Park FVH 07 AUG 2005
Vital Statistics • Northwest Wyoming • ~310,000 acres • ~480 square miles
Human History • 5000 BC - Native Americans in area as early as this • 1800’s Blackfeet, Crow, Flathead, Gros Ventre, Nez Perce, Shoshone, Ute Tribes • 1820’s – 1840’s “Mountain Men” trappers
Human History • 1870’s Hayden Geological Surveys • 1880’s Settlers • 1929 established as NP
Geologic Features • Fault Block Mountains • Cross-cutting Relationships • Glacial Features
Geologic Features • Fault Block Mountains • Cross-cutting Relationships • Glacial Features
Geologic Features • Fault Block Mountains • Cross-cutting Relationships • Glacial Features
Geologic History • 2800 mya Precambrian: seds and vol, later meta • 2500 mya igneous intrusions • 1400 mya basalt intrusions dike • Pz shallow water sediments • Mz marine and continental sediments • Mz ~70 mya uplift Larimide Orogeny
Geologic History (con’t) • Cenezoic • 40-55 mya uplift and volcanism • 25-40 mya volcanism lessens, faulting • 8-10 mya lake, volcanism, major block faulting • Pleistocene – erosion • Pleistocene – glaciation • Most melted by 8,000 years ago • Reformed by 4,000 years ago
Vital Statistics • Straddles NC/TN border • ~517,000 acres • ~815 square miles • 5000-6000 ft elevation
Human History • Cherokee Tribes • 1540 de Soto named Appalachian Mts • 1700’s settlers, mostly English or Scot-Irish • 1815 Gold discovered • 1838-39 winter Cherokee evicted • Trail of tears
Human History • 1899 NP first suggested • 1920 traction by motor clubs • 1926 Bill passed to authorize a Park • 1934 enough land was purchased • 1940 Dedicated by FDR
Features • The “smoke” in Smoky • Moisture • Terpenes • The Balds (treeless areas) • Grass balds • Heath balds
Geologic Features • Basement Complex • Folded Rocks • Faulting • Fenster • Inliers
Geologic Features • Outliers • Metamorphic zones • Granitization • The Sinks • Sedimentary features
Geologic History • Pre-Cambrian • 1000 mya formation of basement complex • Ocoee rocks mostly sandstone and conglomerate • Paleozoic Marine Limestones with some shales • Late Pz folding and faulting • Appalachian Orogeny • Mz & Cz erosion and uplifts • .5 mya to 20,000 glaciations