EARTHSC 1105 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Mount Rainier National Park, Old-Growth Forest, Muckleshoot
15 Nov 2016
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Mount rainier national park: earliest inhabitants occupied the surrounding plains and valleys, utilized rock shelters and built fire rings and storage pits. More recently six tribes maintain current relations with the park (treaties signed in 1854-1855: nisqually, puyallup, sqauaxin island, muckleshoot, yakama, cowlitz. 1889: park created by president woodrow wilson. Glaciers: largest glacial volume in contiguous us. Characterized by: moderate temperatures (40-55 degrees f, high rainfall (55 inches / year, old growth forest. Plants need three things for life: carbon dioxide, water, light. Forest floor, understory layer, canopy layer, emergent layer. Dominated by extrusive felsic / intermediate rocks. Stratovolcano volcano formed from layers of ash and lava. Active volcano last erupted 1894: rhyolite extrusive igneous rock of felsic composition, andesite extrusive igneous rock of intermediate composition, a spring of geothermally-heated groundwater. Rates of movement: pacific plate ~10cm / year. Plate tectonic boundaries: contiguous segments of crust. Continental arc volcanism beneath another into the mantle continental plate.
