Sequoi Kings Canyon National Park: Geology Analysis

Sequoia – Kings Canyon National Park is located in eastern California in the Sierra Nevada Range west of Death Valley. It has interesting geological features that can resemble those in Yosemite National Park. It contains various geological elements that enhance its appearance and history, resulting in an interest in the park by a variety of scientists and explorers. The park contains the largest groves of giant sequoias and covers over 1300 square miles. (Harris, 2004) ` The park contains a large portion of the Sierra Nevada mountain range and additional peaks that are taller than 13,000 feet. In Kings Canyon Mountain Range, mountain ridges extend west from the crust, which creates the Goddard and Monarch divides. The Great Western Divide can

Both parks are a result of movement of tectonic plates. The subduction of the Farallon plate under North America resulted in a chain of continental arc volcanoes. The Sierra Nevada mountain range is “asymmetrical; steep slopes on the fault-bounded eastern margin and a more gentle slope to the west”. (Harris, 2004, 746) This is an indication that an uplift and downfaulting associated with this and Death Valley has occurred in this part. (Harris, 2004) The downfaulting of Death Valley is correlated with the extension of the lithosphere in the Death Valley region, which plays a part to the uplifting associated with Sequoia – Kings Canyon National Park. The Batholiths of the Sierra Nevada mountain ranges are prominent in both parks, exposing “plumbing systems” in magma chambers that fed the volcanoes. “Magmatic differentiation” involves the crystallization of a magma with magma of a different chemical composition, creating more than one type of igneous rock, which can be seen in both Yosemite and Sequoia – Kings National Parks. (Harris, 2004, 748) Yosemite National Park and Sequoia National Park are both ‘traversed” by rivers heading in a southwesterly direction. (Nolan, 2009) In the Sequoia – Kings Canyon National Park this river is the Kern River. It rises in the upper Kern Basin between the Great Western Divide and the main crest. (Harris, 2004) In Yosemite, this river can be compared to the Merced River, which steepened walls as it grew deeper. (Harris,