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The Geologic Story of Yosemite National Park (1987) by N. King Huber

CONTENTS

Page
Foreword	VII
Yosemite country	1
• Creation of a park	1
• Years of exploration	1
A view from the top—Mount Hoffmann	5
Geologic overview	10
Rocks, the building materials	11
• Granite, granite everywhere	11
• Granitic rocks of Yosemite	17
• Yosemite Valley area	18
• Tuolumne Meadows area	19
• Metamorphic rocks—ancient sediment and lavas	22
• Late Cenozoic volcanic rocks—born of fire	23
Genesis of Yosemite’s rocks	26
• A single quiet plate—the Paleozoic	26
• A time of fire and upheaval—the Mesozoic	26
• The Sierra grows again—the late Cenozoic	27
Final evolution of the landscape	30
• The role of joints	30
• Weathering and erosion	36
• Influence of the rocks on weathering	36
• Agents of erosion	38
• The role of flowing water	39
• The role of glaciers	40
Glacial erosion	41
Glacial deposition	44
• The record of Pleistocene glaciation	45
• The glacial geology of Yosemite	46
• What the glaciers missed	52
• Modern glaciers	54
• After the glaciers	56
Definition of terms	58
References and additional reading	60
• History	60
• Geology	60
• Geologic maps	61
A word of thanks	63
Index	64
Special topics ::
Geologic maps of Yosemite	III
Common minerals in granite	10
Classification of plutonic rocks	12
Plate tectonics—a dynamic globe	24

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