Yosemite Granite Domes

The park boundary perfectly frames a landscape that is composed almost entirely of granite and it s no surprise that this landscape contains some of the most iconic rock formations on earth.

Yosemite granite domes.

Toward the end of earth s last ice age huge glaciers moved down from the sierra nevada high country carrying debris that scoured and polished yosemite s granite rocks to a smooth surface. The dashed horizontal lines show the lowest contours that do not encircle higher peaks. Generally domical features such as these are known as bornhardts bornhardts can form in any type of plutonic rock but are typically composed of granite and granitic gneiss. Granite granite dominates the geology of yosemite national park.

As granitic plutons cool kilometers below the earth s surface minerals in the rock crystallize under uniform confining. The ocean is the absolute bottom. Massive granite dominates the yosemite area and much of the sierra nevada as well. The bedrock geology of yosemite national park consists almost entirely of granitic rocks.

Vertical arrows show the clean prominence of three peaks on an island. The best hikes in yosemite wind through valleys climb up granite faces to waterfall views and traverse alpine meadows through some of the most spectacular scenery in the lower 48. Mount hoffmann and most of the terrain visible from it are composed of granite formed deep within the earth by solidification of formerly molten rock material and subsequently exposed by erosion of the overlying rocks.