The geology of Yosemite National Park
With stunning vistas of shear rock walls, cascading waterfalls, rounded granite domes and jagged spires, it's no surprise that Yosemite is one of the most popular national parks in the U.S. While most visitors are drawn to Yosemite Valley, the park has numerous other wonders beyond the valley and even the park boundaries in the Sierra Nevada (=snowy mountain range...
Why is the Rogue Valley a valley?
In the April 19 post, we examined the geologic units that are exposed in the Rogue Valley region, and saw that the units are all tilted toward the NE, with the oldest units located to the SW (between the valley and the coast), and the younger units located toward the NE (toward the active volcanoes of the High Cascades like...
The Rogue Valley region in SW Oregon: displaying 300 million years of geologic time
Typically, I post blogs when traveling away from my home in Ashland, Oregon. But with COVID-19 keeping us all at home, it seems a good time to investigate the landscape of my local region. Ashland is a tourist town best known as the home of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF), an eight-month season of 11 plays—four by Shakespeare and seven...
About the Blogger
Karen (here with Mt. Shasta in background) is a geology professor emerita who aims to provide a "pocket geologist" for world travelers. Follow the blog to explore the landscapes of our planet and figure out what causes them to look the way they do.