Landscape
Yellowstone National Park
is situated in a semi arid geographical area. The air in this area holds relative humidity with sporadic
rainfall. The average annual
precipitation in the park is only 15.4 inches. Although many people think of hot temperatures in deserts,
the temperatures range from a freezing 9.6 degrees in January to a comfortable
79.6 in July.
Many rivers and lakes
make up this beautiful park. The
Yellowstone River is a type of exoreic drainage because it passes through this
desert area but originates from the Missouri River. Some of the lakes here are tarns. Tarns are lakes created in a depression as a glacier
is melting.
 |
| Yellowstone River in yellow originates from the Missouri River |
Landscape
1000 Years From Now
The
landscape will look quite different in the park from what it does today. The water features will look nothing as
they do today and in some instances flow in completely different areas. Most of these rivers are
meandering. The process that will
cause this change has to do with deposition and erosion. As the water flows down the streams it deposits
sediments at the point bars and will start eroding each cut bank. Over time this will cause the river to
change shape and even “move” through a different area if it creates close goosenecks
that will eventually be eroded and create a cut-off.
Landscape
10,000 Years From Now
Another
water feature that will not look the same will be Yellowstone Falls. It will have been eroded back
from the point where it lies today.
As streams try to reach equilibrium, they start removing nick points and
eventually begin undercutting the lower part of the rock. As this process repeats over and over
the falls will erode and move back.
 |
| Courtesy of Class Presentation
Landscape
1,000,000 Years From Now
Dinosaurs
might roam the park once again, probably not. However, this park and parts of the United States will be
drastically changed in 1,000,000 years from now due to volcanic activity. The Yellowstone Caldera has had three
eruptions with a 0.73 million-year interval. The last eruption occurred 0.64 million years ago. This means that if it kept in line with
the eruption cycle it would be due in about 90,000 years. If it were a volcanic eruption, lava
would burn everything in its path.
Also, depending on the size of the eruption, a lot of damage could be
caused by the volcanic ash. Although not fatal in most cases, it can create
anxiety, and irritation of the skin, eyes, and respiratory system.
Conclusion
Yellowstone
is a diamond in our back yard.
Many people that pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to travel outside
of the United States for recreation should do some research on their own
country. It is filled with
spectacular thermal features, a variety of animals and vegetation and is a
great place to camp and hike. I
visited the park for the first time this summer and plan to go back and enjoy the scenery again.
References:
2. http://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/weather.htm
4. http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/yellowstone/yellowstone_sub_page_50.htm
5. Class Powerpoints
|
