Geology
The geology of Lassen Volcanic National Park is widely varied and yet the same. It ranges from hard separate rocks to basalt to crumbly ashy deposits. It's the same because it is all the result of volcanic activity.
I am not a geologist, not even amateur. I am just a curious person that notices differences and attempts to explain them to myself.
Almost centered in this frame is a volcanic cone. The shape gives it away and the forest on it means it is not particularly new. There are several of these easily identifiable cones in the park.
Here is a detail of a rock we looked at earlier in this series. This is obviously a volcanic rock and equally obviously very sulfur based. I photographed this rock in the first 15 minutes in the park.
This looks like it ought to be loose and crumbly, basically held together with mud. It is not, it's solid as can be and what looks like 'filing' is just smoother rock. I'm sure it is related to the previous photo but with different contents in the mixture.
Another detail of some of the 'crumbly mud' looking rock. You can plainly see other rocks that were embedded in this deposit.
Here is a peak made largely out of an ashy ejection. You can tell by the color and the deep canyons left center that it is loose and fairly easy to erode. In the very right center is a very solid basalt peak.
There are also areas of polished and scoured bare rock in the park. It's too far south to have had the ice sheet from the last ice age, but there have been many large and active glaciers in the park in the not too distant park.
As if all those types of rock formed here were not enough there is this gizmo. It's a highly precision GPS unit that is able to monitor the spot it's on to within less than an inch.
The station and the system monitors the movement of the tectonic plates in the region, the rise and fall that are part of volcanic activity and earthquakes in the area.
The mountains in the park were formerly much larger but all of the forces of nature keep grinding them down. First are broken stacks of rock. These were probably piled by a glacier.
What you see here is crumbled up mountain just before it is realized as dirt and silt that make it possible for the trees to grow.
My last photo from Lassen Volcanic National Park is a basalt ridge. They are quite common throughout the park, and a good place to finish this series.
It's been really fun for me to see and to share. I hope you have enjoyed it half as much as I have. Thanks for hanging with me for the whole thing.
All words and photographs in this post are mine. For better or worse.
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Do you worry about earthquakes in the area?
I have never lived in a place that gets much activity, but I have seen disaster movies.
There are more than a couple of faults in the area, so I'm guessing the park gets it's fair share.
The volcanic activity in the whole coastal range is due to the subduction of the Pacific plate pushing under the North America plate. There is a lot of rattling and shaking due to that, too.
It's a geologically really active area, with several really large (planetary sized) things happening. It might be a really good place or a really bad place to be in a disaster movie :)
This is absolutely rad. Is there any sort of residential area in the location because it seems there is much activity there.
The whole big area is timber country so there aren't many towns. There are some 'Mom and Pop' type motels outside the park on the highway, but population density is LOW. My kind of place.
sounds about right then. devoid of living things.
terrific photos too.
Amazing photos. I love seeing and hearing of others' travels. Maybe someday I'll pull up some of my old photos of world travels. My problem is trying to remember when and where most were taken :-)
Hey Joe! Thank you.
One of the real huge advantages of digital photography is the ability to file and catalog with no additional time lost :)
I enjoy the travelling and finding new stuff. A lot. But I also really enjoy sharing those travels here.
Yes, digital was just in its infancy when I did most of my traveling. That coupled with the fact I took part in most of the adult beverages in port did not help my memory :-)
I lost at least 10,000 prints and maybe 100,000 negatives. I have no recollection of where they went :)
I haven't had an adult beverage since the digital photography age started so I have a fair fraction of the photos I've taken. A Hard drive cost me about half and taught me a valuable lesson. The cloud is my friend...
My two youngest uncles (10 and 7 years older than me) each bought 8mm movie cameras in Japan. Our family still has most of their film. When those two shared liberty the images were pretty shaky. I wonder why? :)
There is an epic pair of videos with the Ranger being replenished under way. One from each direction....
That would be so neat to see those films. Have you thought of converting them to digital and sharing?
Yeah, they are shaky for the same reason I have pictures of plain old rocks and blurs in some of mine...too many adult beverages :-)
Awesome photos! This really does seem like it would be a cool place to visit. I can't wait to visit Northern California some day.
Yeah. It is cool. Instead of checking a box on my 'need to visit' list I got another entry on my 'go back to' list.
I hope you are busy and not unwell. It's been a few days since you posted (yes, I checked :)).
Yeah, doing good thanks. Just took a break for the Labor Day Weekend!
Well good on you!
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That muddy rock does seem like a death trap, as it would crush on anyone standing underneath! So its solid, eh! That figures, not much dirt on the road.
I've enjoyed the series personally and you've documented the place quite well too!
Oh man, it looks like it would be completely unstable, but it certainly isn't. That one cornice in the picture and others that I saw were really solid rock that looked like the weren't.
Thank you. I enjoyed the park and enjoyed the series myself.
I have never seen volcanic rock formation and it's activities in person. I have seen limestone rock formation and some other minerals rock formation. It's interesting to explore this type of park, maybe there were dinosaurs once upon a time, who knows.
Beautiful park...
In the US, much of the land west of the Rockies is or was formed by Volcanic action. Even here in the extreme South West with all it's sandstone and limestone there is much evidence of volcanic activity.
There were most certainly dinosaurs in what are now the Sierra Nevada. Sea level was much higher and the world was warmer so there is no doubt. Not many fossils to be found because of the volcanoes, though.
Thanks for stopping by. I appreciate it!
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This series has been very interesting in the rock formation, nature in the region and how formation from volcanic and tectonic plate movements shape the earth.
Massive sheets of ice moving slowly down must leave a footprint that takes many years to close, wonderful to see new bush growing on what must fertile soil.
Thanks for sharing well document drive through the region @bigtom13
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I need to get back to the US and do some of the parks again. Had some amazing times there
Oh wow, what a wonderful world we live in! Have I said this before? Very interesting series of an amazing area, @bigtom13. Some of those rocks really look like mud that could come tumbling down at any time!