BGuthrie Photos: CA -- Devils Postpile National Monument

CA -- Devils Postpile National Monument:

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[1] DEVILS_090729_004.JPG	[2] DEVILS_090729_007.JPG	[3] DEVILS_090729_010.JPG
[4] DEVILS_090729_016.JPG	[5] DEVILS_090729_027.JPG	[6] DEVILS_090729_046.JPG
[7] DEVILS_090729_050.JPG	[8] DEVILS_090729_054.JPG	[9] DEVILS_090729_063.JPG
[10] DEVILS_090729_069.JPG	[11] DEVILS_090729_073.JPG	[12] DEVILS_090729_081.JPG
[13] DEVILS_090729_084.JPG	[14] DEVILS_090729_105.JPG	[15] DEVILS_090729_110.JPG
[16] DEVILS_090729_122.JPG	[17] DEVILS_090729_129.JPG	[18] DEVILS_090729_132.JPG
[19] DEVILS_090729_141.JPG	[20] DEVILS_090729_152.JPG	[21] DEVILS_090729_159.JPG
[22] DEVILS_090729_163.JPG	[23] DEVILS_090729_167.JPG	[24] DEVILS_090729_171.JPG
[25] DEVILS_090729_182.JPG	[26] DEVILS_090729_194.JPG	[27] DEVILS_090729_199.JPG
[28] DEVILS_090729_208.JPG	[29] DEVILS_090729_216.JPG	[30] DEVILS_090729_219.JPG
[31] DEVILS_090729_225.JPG	[32] DEVILS_090729_228.JPG	[33] DEVILS_090729_232.JPG
[34] DEVILS_090729_236.JPG	[35] DEVILS_090729_243.JPG

Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. DEVILS_090729_010.JPG: Why Measure Weather and Water? Understanding our climate is more important than ever. Climate change and increasing demand for water affect us all. We need more information about regional climate and global warming to plan for the future. To better understand the Sierra Nevada's climate and local effects of global warming, several partners worked together to create this climate monitoring station: Scripps Institution of Oceanography, National Park Service, U.S. Geological Survey, California Department of Water Resources, and California Energy Commission. Instruments in this station monitor long-term climate trends. Scientists use this information to detect changes in climate that are affecting snowpack, wildlife, vegetation and fire patterns at Devils Postpile. From Snow to Water: Air temperature, wind, humidity, and, most importantly, the sun's energy determine how quickly snow melts. Measuring these factors helps to predict when snow will turn to water, forecast flood potential, and manage reservoir levels. All Snow is Not Created Equal: "Water content" tells how much water is in the snow. Water content varies with each storm depending on where the storm comes from. For example, many snow storms in the Sierra Nevada originate in moist air over the Pacific Ocean. Snow from these storms holds more water than storms from the drier air over interior Canada. Measuring snow water content helps to protect how much water it will yield as it melts. Climate Change in the Sierra Nevada: Global warming is affecting snow levels in the Sierra Nevada. Snow levels are rising and snowmelt starts earlier, leaving less water for later summer and fall. Air is colder at high altitudes. The higher the altitude, the more likely it is to snow than to rain. High, cold mountains store the snowpack until spring's warmer temperatures start to melt it. Global warming causes warmer temperatures at all altitudes. As a result, in the mountains, rain falls rather than snow. Snowpack builds up only at higher elevations. Watering a Thirsty State: Much of California's water begins as snow falling in these mountains. During winter, snow builds up to for a snowpack. When this melts, it fills streams, nourishes the forest, and provides water for farms and cities downstream. Years of low snowpack, and therefore less water, contribute to stressful conditions for plants, animals and people.
2. DEVILS_090729_054.JPG: Monitoring device
3. DEVILS_090729_063.JPG: This is what the postpile looks like from above
4. DEVILS_090729_228.JPG: Shapes By Fire and Ice: Molten lava and glacial ice shapes these unusual rock columns. Basaltic lava more than 400 feet deep filled this narrow valley nearly 100,000 years ago. As the lava cooled, cracks formed on the surface to release built-up tension. These cracks formed into hexagons, one of nature's most efficient and stable shapes. The cracks deepened as the interior cooled to form basaltic columns, During the last ice age, about 20,000 years ago, a glacier exposed this cliff of columns and polished the top surface. The postpile continues to be sculpted by weathering and earthquakes that break and change the formation. The Devils Postpile formation is one of the finest examples of visible basaltic columns in the world. When the cracks reached about 10 inches in length, they branched out at 120 degree angles to form hexagons.
AAA "Gem": AAA considers this location to be a "must see" point of interest. To see pictures of other areas that AAA considers to be Gems, click here.
Wikipedia Description: Devils Postpile National Monument
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Devils Postpile is a dark cliff of columnar basalt near Mammoth Mountain in extreme northeastern Madera County in eastern California. The postpile was created by a lava flow sometime between less than 100,000 years ago (according to current potassium-argon dating) to 700,000 years ago (according to other dating methods). The source of the lava is thought to have been somewhere near Upper Soda Springs campground at the north end of Pumice Flat on the floor of the Middle Fork of the San Joaquin River, from where it flowed to the site of the Postpile, was impounded by a moraine, and reached a thickness of 400 feet (newer estimate) to 600 feet (older estimate). In any event, the lava that now makes up the Postpile was near the bottom of this mass.

Because of its great thickness, much of the mass of pooled lava cooled slowly and evenly, which is why the columns are so long and so symmetrical. Columnar jointing occurs when certain types of lava cool; the joints develop when the lava contracts during the cooling process.

A glacier later removed much of this mass of rock and left a nicely polished surface on top of the Postpile with very noticeable glacial striations and glacial polish.

Devils Postpile was once part of Yosemite National Park, but discovery of gold near Mammoth Lakes prompted a boundary change that left the Postpile on adjacent public land. A proposal to build a hydroelectric dam later called for blasting the Postpile into the river. Influential Californians, including Walter L. Huber, persuaded the federal government to stop the demolition and in 1911, President William Howard Taft made the area into a United States National Monument. The John Muir Trail and Pacific Crest Trail pass through the monument.
Basalt column on side

The Postpile's columns average 2 feet (0.61 m) in diameter, the largest being 3.5 feet (1.1 m), and many are up to 60 feet (18 m) long. Together they look like tall posts stacked in a pile, hence the feature's name. If the lava had cooled perfectly evenly, all of the columns would be expected to be hexagonal, but some of the columns have different polygonal cross-sections on account of variations in cooling. A survey of 400 of the Postpile's columns found that 44.5% were 6-sided, 37.5% 5-sided, 9.5% 4-sided, 8.0% 7-sided, and 0.5% 3-sided. Compared with other examples of columnar jointing, the Postpile has more hexagonal columns. Another thing that places the Postpile in a special category is the lack of horizontal jointing.

Several stones from the Devil's Postpile can be seen at the entrance to the United States Geological Survey headquarters lot in Reston, Virginia.

Similar structures:

Although the basaltic columns are impressive, they are not unique. Basalt columns are a common volcanic feature, and they occur on many scales (faster cooling produces smaller columns). Other notable sites include Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland, Fingal's Cave in Scotland, the Garni gorge in Armenia, the Cyclopean Isles near Sicily, Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming, Sheepeater Cliff at Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, Basalt Prisms in Hidalgo, Mexico, the "Organ Pipes" formation on Mount Cargill in New Zealand, Gilbert Hill in Mumbai, Organ Pipes National Park in Australia and the "Columnar Cape" (Russian: Mis Stolbchaty) on Kunashir, the southernmost of the Kurile Islands in Russia.

Ancient columnar basalt can be seen in a high desert dry river falls area just north of Lajitas, Texas. The columns are accessible on horseback, on foot, or mountain bike via trail.
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