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Half Dome is a quartz monzonite batholith at the eastern end of Yosemite Valley in Yosemite National Park, California.It is a well-known rock formation in the park, named for its distinct shape.
Half Dome Granodiorite traces to early Late Cretaceous. Its age is between 85 and 83.4 (+/-1 to 2%) Ma, with average age of 84.1 Ma. It is younger than Sentinel granodiorite (88.4 Ma), and older than Cathedral Peak granite (83.7 Ma). [4] Half Dome Granodiorite is the Valley's youngest plutonic rock. [5]
The steepness is caused by glacial plucking of rock along fracture joints. Good examples in the park are Liberty Cap, Lembert Dome, and Mount Broderick. Half Dome was created by a different process, but erosion acting on jointing planes was still the major factor.
Half Dome, Yosemite, a classic granite dome of the Sierra Nevada Batholith. The Sierra Nevada Batholith is a large batholith that is approximately 400 miles long and 60-80 miles wide which forms the core of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in California, exposed at the surface as granite.
Ninety-five percent of Yosemite National Park (including the trails leading to Half Dome) is a federally designated wilderness area. Meaning it is managed by the park service in accordance with ...
Half Dome, a quartz monzonite monolith in Yosemite National Park and part of the Sierra Nevada Batholith. A batholith (from Ancient Greek bathos 'depth' and lithos 'rock') is a large mass of intrusive igneous rock (also called plutonic rock), larger than 100 km 2 (40 sq mi) in area, [1] that forms from cooled magma deep in the Earth's crust.
It is found west of Half Dome Granodiorite, both north and south, to a western limit near Cookie Cliffs. All of Turtleback Dome, El Capitan, The Three Brothers, and Cathedral Rocks are made of El Capitan Granite [3] as is Elephant Rock. [4] El Capitan Granite makes up most of the granite found in the west half of the Yosemite Valley area. [5]
The youngest Yosemite Valley pluton is the 87-million-year-old Half Dome granodiorite, which makes up most of the rock at Glacier Point, the Royal Arches, and its namesake, Half Dome. Half Dome from Washburn Point. For the last 30 million years, glaciers have periodically filled much of the valley.