Nadia Hakim

The Year Glacier became a National Park

At the turn of the century people started noticing the land in a different way. Rather just seeing it for mining minerals they started looking at its spectacular scene. It was such a spectacular place that people started making facilities for tourists.

So many tourists came to Glacier Park that George Bird Grinnell wanted Glacier to become a National Park so people would respect it more. George Bird Grinnell was an early explorer and worked for many hard years to get the park established. He pushed for a National Park and he got his wish. He persuaded President Taft to sign a bill saying it was the 10th official national park in the United States on May 11th , 1910.

How Glacier was Formed

There are three main forces that have shaped Glacier National Park for the past 1.5 billion years. They are sedimentation, uplifting and glaciation. They each played an important part of making Glacier National Park. It started with sedimentation and ended with glaciation. It took billions of years to complete.

Sedimentation

Sedimentation began over 1 billion years ago in a big shallow lake. The lake is about 50 miles from the park. The sediment in the lake turned to rock because of the pressure of gravity. The sediment was resting on a continental plate. 100 million years ago the continental plate was moving west. It collided with the pacific plate which was moving east. This is how the Rocky Mountains were formed but it also played an important in Glacier National Park. It was called the Lewis Overthrust .

Up Lifting

The Lewis Overthrust was when the sedimentary rock about 1.5 billion years ago was pushed over a younger rock only about 7 million years old. As it was being thrust over the younger rock, it continued moving east. It finally reached its current place in Montana. This is when Glaciation occurred.

Glaciation

Glaciation started about 2 million years ago. Glaciation is when rocks get covered with sheets of ice. Glaciation formed U shaped valleys and left behind some moraines, which created lakes. There are only 25 glaciers left from the 150 glaciers there used to be. Scientists believe that all the glaciers in Glacier National Park will be gone if the current patterns continue.

Rocks in Glacier National Park

There are many rocks in Glacier National Park. The four main types of rock are Altyn, Appekunny, Grinnell, and Siyeh layer. They are all made up of different materials.

Altyn

One of the oldest layers of rock is Altyn. Altyn is rock that is made of limestone. Limestone is usually formed from dead sea animals at the bottom of an ocean. Altyn was formed about 1.2 billion years ago, before sea animals existed. Instead the Altyn is made up of layers of mud and sand, that is held together by calcium carbonate (chalk.)

Appekunny

On top of the Altyn is a layer of a greenish-gray rock. This rock is called the Appekunny formation. The Appekunny formation is 2,500 to 3500 feet thick and made of silt and hardened mud. This make’s it mudstone. It also has layers of sand that became hard rock. The Appekunny layer has well kept mud cracks and ripple marks.

Grinnell

Right on top of the Appekunny layer is the Grinnell layer. The Grinnell layer is red mudstone. The Grinnell layer is red and green, due to a little amount of iron. If there was oxygen when the rock formation occurred the color would be red, however if there was no oxygen when it was being formed the rock is green. Like the Appekunny layer the Grinnell layer has well kept mud cracks and ripple marks.

Siyeh

The very top layer is the Siyeh layer. This layer forms a lot of the bold cliffs and tops of mountains in the park. The Siyeh layer is blue-green algae that has been fossilized. These are known as stromatolites. Stromatolites make up a lot of the Siyeh layer.

Changing Land in Glacier National Park

Glacier National Park is changing rapidly. One of the main things affecting Glacier is the climate change. The climate change is melting the glaciers very fast. Scientists think that most of the glaciers will be gone by 2020. Also Glacier floods quite often. When the park floods it is sculpting the land in a new way. Another way Glacier National Park is changing is by weathering and erosion.

Landforms and Features in Glacier

Glacier National Park is filled with valleys, cirques, moraines, and more. Cirques are a half open steep-sided hollow at the head of a valley or mountainside. Moraines are a mass of rock and sediment. Glacier National Park has lots of lakes. There are over 130 named lakes in the park. Lake McDonald is the largest, and deepest lake in the park. There are also many river and streams in Glacier National Park. McDonald Creek is the longest creek in Glacier, and is about 25 miles long.  

Landforms and Features in Glacier

There are many mountains in Glacier National park. The parks tallest mountain is Mt. Cleveland, which is about 10,466 feet tall. There are more then 100 mountains that are higher then 8,000 feet tall. There are also many forests in the park. About 55% of Glacier Park is forest. There are wet and dry forests all around the park. There are many kinds of trees like paper birch, white pine, spruce and many other species.

Environmental issues in Glacier National Park

 

Glacier National Park has many environmental issues. One of them is that there are a ton of wild fires that can really damage the park. The plants in Glacier National park play a big role and when they get burned this can also affect the park. The fires will most likely increase with climate change. 

There is also a lot of snow in the winter, so when it melts in the spring it causes a lot of floods. This can really hurt many parts of the park. There can be some pollution in the water in Glacier, but it is usually clean. The air is mostly clean but there can be some pollution caused by air transportation.

Technology in Glacier National Park

 

In Glacier National Park right now they are using an air-monitoring program. In Glacier they want to make sure that the air is clean. Right now the air is one of the most important environmental issues in Glacier. The program is now seeing where the pollution is the worst, then seeing how they can help it. There is also a problem with fluoride. Since Glacier National Park is only 6 miles down the road from Columbia Falls Aluminum CO, fluoride comes to the park. The fluoride then kills animals and plants. They are still trying to find some technology to prevent this from happening.

Map of Glacier National Park

United States maps with Glacier National Park

Topographic Picture of Glacier National Park

Bibliography

Carruthers Margaret W. “Glacier From Top to Botttom.” Glacier. Library of Congress, 2005. 31-39. Print.

http://www.nps.gov/glac/index.htm 

http://www.glacier.national-park.com/info.htm#esta 

http://www.nps.gov/archive/glac/history/overview.htm 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glacier_National_Park_(U.S.)

http://www.starrywonders.com/page5.html

http://www.nps.gov/glac/naturescience/naturalfeaturesandecosystems.htm 

http://www.nps.gov/glac/naturescience/environmentalfactors.htm

Flyer Glacier National Park sent me:

Rocks and Glaciers in Glacier

National Park Service

U.S. Department of the Interior