Week 6 Geologic Interpretation

This week I traveled to Mount Whitney (the tallest peak in the Sierra Nevada Range) located in California. The mountain is made of granite and igneous rocks. Its elevation is still changing because the movement of the fault that is lies on acts like a door or a hinge. This movement has caused one side of the mountain to become much steeper that the other. To understand this peak better, I would like to know how much the elevation has varied since formation. This information will help us predict how much it will move in the future. I would also like information about the fault line it lies on, because I would like to know if there is a possibility of the mountain to stop growing or for the fault to become inactive. I would like to study the past fault movement and see if it has slowed down. This information would also be helpful in understanding what would happen if something triggered a rapid movement of the fault. Could there be extensive damage to the mountain, such as a crack or even an avalanche? This mountain formed due to intrusive magma this cooled, hardened and eventually was forced upwards by tectonic movement. It is believed that there is much unexposed granite and other igneous rock that are still below Mount Whitney, I would like to know how much unexposed rock there is beneath it because that effects the growth of the peak as the plates move further. This information could help us predict how much more growth we can expect for the mountain as well as getting an understanding of the magmatic activity below. Can further plate movement be enough to cause a crack that leaks magma to the surface?