Tag Archives: geology

February 10, 2023 · 3:27 am

Celebrating Volcanoes

It’s nearing the end of #volcanoweek and it’s also #FunFactFriday . Oh, and the National Parks Traveler has published an article I wrote about volcanos and volcanic features in units of the National Park System as a Feature Story. It’s sort of a trifecta for me, I guess. Check out the article by clicking on the image above.

As for this image of Kilauea volcano, it was captured in the very late afternoon during a 2017 during a photo tour I attended. Kilauea volcano, in Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park, is a shield volcano, like Mauna Loa. Shield volcanoes are actually the largest volcanoes in the world, although they do not exhibit that high, conical shape of stratovolcanoes, which we tend to think of as the highest. No, shield volcanoes look like warriors’ shields – a bit convex on top where the summit is, with broad, gentle, rounding slopes fanning outward.

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Tagged as feature story, geology, national parks, National Parks Traveler, national volcano week, volcanic parks, Volcanoes, where the trails take you

January 27, 2023 · 6:15 am

Fun Fact Friday January 27, 2023

It’s #funfactFriday folks! And today’s edition of the National Parks Traveler features a contribution from the Caldera Chronicles, a weekly feature produced by collaboration by scientists and the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory.

Today’s article is all about how the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone came into being. Granted, it’s not like the Grand Canyon of Arizona, but it’s a pretty cool (and colorful) place all on it’s own, “Stretching from the Lower Falls to the Tower Falls area, the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone is about 28 km (17 miles) long, 250–350 meters (820–1150 feet) deep, and 450–1200 meters (1500–4000 feet) across. It appears to be a surprisingly young feature of the region, having mostly formed during and immediately following the last ice age, within the past 20,000 years or so. “

To read more about this and view the video, click the image above.

These shots were captured during my autumn 2019 visit to Yellowstone National Park. I’d wanted to see the Lower Falls area back during the summer of 2018, as I made my way from TX to WA, but the crowds were horrendous and there was absolutely no place to park – seriously, every single parking space was filled. On the other hand, this visit resulting in these images was great – definitely no crowds.

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Tagged as Fun Fact Friday, fun facts, geology, grand canyon of the yellowstone, knowledge is power, learning, National Park, National Parks Traveler, photography, where the trails take you, Yellowstone, Yellowstone National Park

December 16, 2022 · 4:37 am

Fun Fact Friday 12-16-2022

It’s #FunFactFriday folks! According to the 2021 annual report put out by Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, which continues to work at locating every single hydrothermal feature within Yellowstone National Park, there is a current count of 1,100 thermal features within Norris Geyser Basin alone!

Pictured here is another “same place, different season” set of images captured at Porcelain Basin, a smaller area within the larger Norris Geyser Basin purview, showing some of those 1,100 thermal features.

There are times when I deliberately set out to photograph a spot I’ve already captured at some other time, but this was not one of those times. I just happened to be standing at the same view area slong the boardwalk – one time in early October (early autumn), then again in mid February (late winter) and discovered just this morning I’d taken photos of that same landscape.

The autumn image was captured with the Canon 5DS I used to own, and the winter image was photographed with my Sony a7riv. Both cameras used a 24-105mm lens (each their own brand). The 24-105mm lens is a great travel lens with a nice focal range that produces great landscape retults.

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Tagged as autumn, Canon, Canon 5DS, February, Fun Fact Friday, fun facts, geology, hydrothermal, landscape, National Park, October, photography, Porcelain Basin, scenery, Sony a7riv, Sony Alpha, where the trails take you, winter, Yellowstone, Yellowstone National Park

November 22, 2022 · 4:56 am

Photography In The National Parks: Getting Great Smartphone Shots – Part 2

It’s #TriviaTuesday folks! If you visit Lassen Volcanic National Park in California, you’ll have the opportunity to see all four types of volcano: plug dome (aka lava dome), cinder cone, shield, and strato (aka composite). And you can hike up to each of these, too. Lassen Peak is one of the world’s largest plug domes, Prospect Peak is a shield volcano, Brokeoff Mountain is an eroded part of stratovolcano Mount Tehama, and, well, Cinder Cone is a cinder cone. You can even hike up to and then down into Cinder Cone, pictured here.

This shot was captured with my iPhone. And speaking of iPhones, and smartphones in general, my latest photo column has been published in the National Parks Traveler: Getting Great Smartphone Shots – Part 2.

To read the article, click on the image above

I’m an SLR gal, but I readily admit the smartphone camera is an amazing piece of technology and smartphone cameras can get some pretty cool shots. I used mine when I neglected to bring along a particular wide-angle lens for my other camera during my own hike up to Cinder Cone. And I wanted to prove, not only to myself, but to you also, that you can get some very nice images with your smartphone.

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Tagged as California, fun facts, geology, iPhone, Lassen Volcanic National Park, National Parks Traveler, photography, Photography In The National Parks, smartphone, smartphone camera, Trivia Tuesday, volcano, Volcanoes, where the trails take you

November 15, 2022 · 3:14 am

Trivia Tuesday 11-15-2022

It’s Trivia Tuesday folks!

Morning Glory Pool in the Upper Geyser Basin of Yellowstone National Park is indeed a glory to behold, no matter what the season. But, if you’ve seen (and photographed) this hot spring in different seasons, under different lighting conditions, you’ll notice that the colors don’t look quite the same – in the cooler months, they tend to be a little less bright and a little more murky.

When this pool was first discovered it was a brilliant blue, hence the name after a beautiful morning glory flower. People throwing trash, coins, rocks and logs into this pool over the years have caused a change in the water temperature (cooling it because all that trash has piled up around the vent and reduced hot water circulation) which in turn has caused the colors to change, allowing orange- and yellow-colored bacteria to thrive within the water. Add to that the subfreezing temps of the winter season (when this photo was captured), which in turn cool the surface water of the hot spring, and you get a murky look like you see here. It’s still a beautiful little spring, but the change in colors is mainly due to the extreme short-sightednes of humans. Sigh.

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Filed under Geology, National Parks, Trivia Tuesday, Yellowstone National Park

Tagged as 23mm, fujifilmgfx100s, geology, gfx100s, hydrothermal, medium format, morning glory pool, photography, prime lens, Trivia Tuesday, upper geyser basin, where the trails take you, wide-angle, winter, Yellowstone National Park

October 25, 2022 · 3:37 am

Photography And Trivia Tuesday

It’s #TriviaTuesday *and* my latest photo column has been published in today’s edition of the National Parks Traveler!

How many of you have ever heard of, or seen, columnar jointing? It’s a pretty cool geological formation that usually occurs with basaltic lava (as opposed to other lavas, although it’s happened with other mixes before). When lava begins to cool, it contracts, and when it contracts, it causes fracturing. This fracturing begins at the top and bottom and moves inward toward the center. Turns out (long story short) that the hexagonal pattern is the most efficient way for heat to be released when cooling. Columnar jointing occurs perpendicular to the original lava flow.

You can see really cool columnar jointing (aka columnar basalts) at places like Devils Postpile and Devils Tower national monuments. You can also see all sorts of columnar jointing along the Columbia River and in other parts of eastern Washington State, like at Drumheller Channels National Natural Landmark along the Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail. And that’s what today’s photo column is all about: photography and exploration at Drumheller Channels.

Click on either the image above or the image below to read more and see more pics.

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Filed under National Parks Traveler, Photography, Photography In The National Parks, Trivia Tuesday

Tagged as columnar basalt, Drumheller Channels National Natural Landmark, eastern Washington, geology, Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail, National Parks Traveler, Pacific Northwest, photography, Photography In The National Parks, travel, Trivia Tuesday, Washington State

September 20, 2022 · 5:47 am

Photography In The National Parks: An Exploration Of The Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail – Part 2

*A view of Echo Basin from the South Alcove of Frenchman Coulee, Channeled Scablands, Eastern Washington*

September is a two-for-one month regarding photo columns published in the National Parks Traveler. The first article was about smartphone photography. This article is about a photographic visit to Frenchman Coulee in Eastern Washington, a feature of the Channeled Scablands along the Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail.

To read this article, click on the image above.

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Tagged as Channeled Scablands, eastern Washington, geology, Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail, National Parks Traveler, photography, Photography In The National Parks, Washington State, where the trails take you

August 5, 2022 · 7:46 am

Fun Fact Friday, August 5, 2022: Exfoliation

It’s #FunFactFriday

Ok, be honest. What comes to mind when I write the word “exfoliation?” To me, a picture of dry, flaky skin first comes to mind. However, exfoliation has a geological context to it, too. It’s a weathering process and one of the best places to see this process is along Tioga Road in Yosemite National Park.

As you drive that road, take a look at the granite hills and domes all around you. Notice that interesting sort of “onion peel” effect on the rock layers? That’s exfoliation! It’s a type of weathering and is common in granites.

You see, granite formed beneath the earth’s surface, under immense pressure. So, when the surface sediments and rocks – collectively termed as overburden – covering that granite are eroded or removed and that granite is exposed, the pressure beneath which the granite lay is gone and the granite begins to expand, forming all sorts of fractures (joints). Weathering (like frost heaving) causes plates, or flakes of rock to strip away the surface rock much like onion skin peels away from the onion.

And now you know.

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Filed under Fun Fact Friday, Geology, National Parks, Photography, Yosemite National Park

Tagged as California, exfoliation, Fun Fact Friday, fun facts, geology, Granite, National Park, Tioga Road, where the trails take you, Yosemite, Yosemite National Park

July 5, 2022 · 6:00 am

One Heck Of A Pothole!

It’s Trivia Tuesday! So, what are you looking at in this image, you may be asking yourself. You see a teeny white SUV to the upper left of this image, some golden grass and scrubby sagebrush. You see a large hole in the center and center-left of the image. Well, that’s a pothole you are looking at. Yes, a pothole – like the ones your vehicle drives over and it doesn’t get fixed until some member of the city council or their relative damages their car driving over it and they demand it gets fixed. Only this pothole was created by something entirely different, and is out in the middle of Drumheller Channels National Natural Landmark, a part of the Channeled Scablands landscape seen along the Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail in Eastern Washington state.

Ever heard of a “kolk”? Tens of thousands of years ago, colossal floodwaters surged through the area, higher than that white SUV, higher than any of the buttes you see in the image. Those waters were so strong and fast that they created corkscrew vortices called kolks (whirlpools) within the water. Those kolks drilled down into the ground and eroded and carried away boulders and soils to other destinations, leaving scraped and scoured landscape with these large potholes. And they are large. If you were to hike within the landscape of Drumheller Channels (much of which is located within the Columbia National Wildlife Refuge), you’d see dry potholes and water-filled potholes.

I’m writing a series of photo columns about the Channeled Scablands for the National Parks Traveler. Part 1 has already been published. Parts 2 and 3 are going to be published in later months.

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Tagged as 16-35mm, Channeled Scablands, drumheller channels, eastern Washington, geology, Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail, kolk, landscape, landscape photography, national natural landmark, scenery, Sony a7riv, Sony Alpha, Trivia Tuesday, Washington State, wide-angle, wide-angle lens

May 21, 2022 · 6:14 am

Science In Yellowstone National Park

*Colloidal Pool in Porcelain Basin was one of the hydrothermal features studied in the YVO 2021 annual report, Yellowstone National Park / photo by Rebecca Latson*

Photography articles are not the only things about which I write for the National Parks Traveler. I also pen quizzes, park checklists, and itineraries, to name a few other pieces I contribute. Last week, you might have read a piece I wrote synopsizing a technical article about how scientists are running simulation scenarios for lahars (volcanic mudflows) that might occur due to an avalanche on Mount Rainier.

Today, the National Parks Traveler has published another article I’ve written: a synopsis of the 2021 annual report produced by the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory (YVO) of scientific research conducted over 2021 in Yellowstone National Park and some conclusions reached. It was a cool annual report to read and fun to condense into an article for the Traveler.

If you are interested in finding out what went on in Yellowstone National Park in 2021, and want to download the full 2021 YVO annual report, click on the image above.

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Filed under Geology, National Parks, National Parks Traveler, Yellowstone National Park

Tagged as annual report, Cistern Spring, Colloidal Pool, earthquakes, geochemistry, geology, geysers, hot springs, hydrothermal features, National Parks Traveler, Steamboat Geyser, Yellowstone National Park, Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, YVO