Geology underfoot in Yosemite National Park

Few places in the nation rival Yosemite National Park for vertigo-inducing cliffs, plunging waterfalls, and stunning panoramic views of granite peaks. Many of the features that visitors find most tantalizing about Yosemite have unique and compelling geologic storiestales that continue to unfold today in vivid, often destructive ways. While visiting these more than twenty-seven amazing sites, you'll discover why many of Yosemite's domes shed rock shells like onion layers, what happens when a volcano erupts under a glacial lake, and why rocks seem to be almost continually tumbling from the region's cliffs. With a multitude of colorful photos and illustrations, and prose tooled for the lay reader, Geology Underfoot in Yosemite National Park will help you read the landscape the way a geologist does.

• Preface p. vii
• Introduction p. 1
• Yosemite's Geologic Backdrop p. 1
• How Glaciers Work and How They Shaped Yosemite p. 10
• What is a Glacier? p. 11
• How Glaciers Erode p. 16
• Glacial Modification of Landscapes p. 18
• What Glaciers Leave Behind p. 22
• History of Glaciers in Yosemite p. 24
• Modern Glaciers p. 29
• Rivers and Streams in Yosemite p. 30
• Geologic Study of Yosemite p. 36
• 1 Bones of the Earth: Granite, Granodiorite, and the Bedrock of Yosemite p. 41
• 2 Vertical Exposure: The Geology of Yosemite Climbing p. 57
• 3 Pushed Off a Cliff: The Origin of Yosemite Falls p. 71
• 4 Giant Steps: Vernal and Nevada Falls p. 77
• 5 Free-Falling Granite: The 1996 Happy Isles Rockfall and its Unusual Air Blast p. 85
• 6 That's the Way the Cookie Crumbles: The 1982 Cookie Cliff Rockslide p. 95
• 7 The Walls Came Tumbling Down: Earthquakes and Rock Avalanches in Yosemite Valley p. 103
• 8 How Water Sculpts Yosemite: The Flood of 1997 p. 111
• 9 A Natural Dam Across Yosemite Valley: The El Capitan Moraine p. 121
• 10 Cracks in the Earth: The Fissures of Taft Point p. 131
• 11 Half a Dome is Better Than None: Sentinel Dome and Half Dome p. 139
• 12 The Earth as an Onion: Exfoliation Joints p. 147
• 13 The Ice Went Thataway!: The Shaping of Pothole Dome p. 155
• 14 Exotic Erratics: Glacially Transported Boulders at Olmsted Point p. 165
• 15 Why are there Trees Poking Out of Tenaya Lake? The Great Medieval Megadrought p. 171
• 16 Soda Springs: That Fizzy Taste Carries a Geochemical Surprise p. 181
• 17 Runaway Rocks: Metamorphic Rocks at May Lake p. 187
• 18 Root of an Ancient Volcano: Little Devils Postpile p. 195
• 19 Tombstone Rocks, Slate, and Greenstone: Rocks of the Western Approaches p. 205
• 20 Inverted Landscape: The Stanislaus Table Mountain Lava Flow p. 217
• 21 Eocene Erosion: Ancient, Weathered Landscapes of the Sierra Nevada p. 225
• 22 An Ancient, Ice-Bound Sea: Mono Lake and Ancestral Lake Russell p. 235
• 23 An Underwater Volcano: Mono Lake's Black Point p. 247
• 24 Evidence of the Ice Ages: Glacial Deposits in and Around Lee Vining Canyon p. 255
• 25 Dreams of Silver: The Mines of Bennettville and Dana Village p. 267
• Glossary p. 274
• Sources of More Information p. 282
• Index p. 289