North Cascades National Park
https://www.britannica.com/place/North-Cascades-National-Park
My trip this week is taking
me to the North Cascade Mountains, as I’ve grown up with them all around me in
Washington state, I figured I’d get a closer look and learn more about them.
Geologists believe that the North Cascades were created in the South Pacific
Ocean, and drifted due to oceanic plate movements. They merged together by the
rock formations colliding into the North American Continent, which thrust the
older rocks from the South Pacific onto the younger rocks that had already
existed.
Then further movement from the Juan de Fuca plate compression, made the
ocean’s crust (which is relatively thinner and made from basalt) move under the
continental crust (which is thicker and made from granite). As this subduction
happened, it went deeper into the Earth and started to melt, which sent magma
upward and outward to solidify this mountain range. The North Cascade mountains
is said to be from a combination of subduction and transform faulting.
Ring of Fire
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_of_Fire
These
mountains are apart of the ring of fire, which is a ring around the Pacific Ocean,
known for its mountains and volcanoes--and are the most active.
Three major domains make up the North Cascades
https://geomaps.wr.usgs.gov/parks/noca/nocageol4a.html
This range is broken up into three
domains, known as the Western Domain, Metamorphic Core Domain and the Methow
Domain. Most of my visits to this area consist of the Western Domain as it’s the
easiest for me to get to. The rocks here are layered by faulting in a short
amount of time, and also display folding.
References:
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