Transcript Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone National Park
BY: JULIE JEVAHIRIAN
What Year did Yellowstone Become an Official
National Park and Why?
Yellowstone became a National Park on March 1, 1872.
Yellowstone became a National Park for the enjoyment of
people. Yellowstone was the first national park in the
world. It was also the first to be dedicated to the practice
of setting aside special areas for the enjoyment of people.
It’s 2.2 million acre wilderness with unlike any other
geothermal features that include hot springs, mud pots,
geysers, and fumaroles. Not only does it entertain and
fascinate people by those features, Yellowstone also has
the largest mountain lake in North America, forests and
valleys, beautiful mountains, a Petrified Forest, and
wonderful wildlife. These are just some of the amazing
features that Yellowstone has. If that is not enough I
don’t know what is to be a National Park.
How Was Yellowstone Formed?
The main reason that Yellowstone was formed was because of a
big volcanic eruption. The reason that it erupted was because
Yellowstone is on a big hotspot. A hotspot is weak spot in the
Earth’s crust. After a long period of time a lot of gas built up
in and under the volcano. Once it couldn’t take anymore it
erupted. But there was not only one that erupted, 3 did!
These three eruptions were the biggest three compared to
other volcanoes. The first and biggest explosion happened
over 2.1 million years ago, the second one happened about 1.3
million years ago and the third one happened just about 0.65
million years ago. The third and most recent caldera overlaps
the biggest and first caldera. These eruptions formed
Yellowstone and maybe even more calderas will explode and
make Yellowstone even bigger!
What Type of Rocks can be Found in
Yellowstone?
There are many different kinds of rocks that can be found in
Yellowstone. Two of the major rocks that are forming in
Yellowstone called Travertine and Geyserite. Geyserite is
the most common of the rocks in Yellowstone. It is formed
wherever Alkaline Hot Springs are bubbling out of the
ground. Some places you can see this rock being formed
are Upper Geyser Basin (where Old Faithful and Castle
geysers are located) and the Fountain Paint Pot area in
Lower Geyser Basin. Travertine is another rock that is
forming right now. It is a relatively rare rock but it forms
most of the Mammoth Hot Spring terraces, near the parks
north entrance. Travertine is made of calcium carbonate.
Scientist have found many other rocks in Yellowstone.
There are just way too many to count!
How is Technology used to Improve
Yellowstone?
There are many different ways that Yellowstone uses
technology. One of the ways they use it is to watch
the major geyser, Old Faithful. They use this to time
when it will erupt and to do studies on it. Another
way they use technology is they have raised up
walking ways to keep people off of the natural
habitat. The walk ways are made up of recycled
plastic. To get the plastic to the way it is they use big
machines and precise technology to get it just right.
What Environmental Issues are Affecting
Yellowstone?
There are many issues that are affecting Yellowstone National Park. There are
ix major things that have been affecting Yellowstone and have been solved or at
least improved, which include transportation, buildings, energy, waste
management and recycling, and pollution prevention.
Transportation
Transportation throughout the park could be one of the biggest issues
Yellowstone is facing. The first permit allowing private automobiles to enter
the park was issued in 1915. In 1917, the park officially opened up to
automobile traffic. Today nearly 80% of all visitors tour the park in about 1
million vehicles. This much traffic can cause congestion which can lead to
“animal jams”. “Animal jams” occur when many cars stop at once along a two
lane highway to view the wildlife. This is a problem in both winter and
summer. In winter, most cars are replaced with snowmobiles which produce
more air pollution. At certain times nearly 2,000 snowmobiles can enter the
park in one day. To improve this Yellowstone staff have been conducting
activities like these:
•
The park has partnered with the state of Montana to research bio-based fuels
and lubrication oils for vehicles. Surrounding communities, such as West
Yellowstone, have voluntarily implemented bio-based lubrication oils in
snowmobile rentals.
What Environmental Issues are Affecting
Yellowstone? (cont.)
 Air quality is being tested at various congestion areas to gather baseline
snowmobile emissions data.
 The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is drafting guidelines that
could be incorporated by 2003, setting noise and emissions standards for
snowmobiles.
 At the Society of Automotive Engineers’ (SAE) Clean Snowmobile Challenge
in March 200, several universities were challenged to develop a prototype
snowmobile “that retains today’s performance while reducing pollution and
noise.” The University of Buffalo in New York developed a 4-stroke engine
prototype that reduces typical emissions by 99%.
 In a ride-sharing program now in its third year, employees who live outside
the park can be transported on buses obtained through a partnership with
DOE’s Idaho Engineering and Environmental Laboratory. This program has
reduced traffic in the park by about 40 employee vehicles per day.
What Environmental Issues are Affecting
Yellowstone? (cont.)
 The Truck-in-the-Park Program introduced an unmodified ¾ ton 4x4 diesel
pickup truck used by the maintenance department that in Phase 1 logged
121,000 miles running on 100% biodiesel fuel made from rapeseed (canola)
ethyl ester. Rapeseed is harvested from Idaho and Montana: the oil is then
extracted at the University of Idaho and combined with ethanol made of
potato waste from the food processing industry. After 100,000 miles, a
teardown of the truck’s engine indicated little wear and no carbon buildup.
The park has developed a related education program for the public. Phase 2
of this project involves evaluating the truck’s engine after the next 100,00
miles of operation.
Buildings
Yellowstone has several historic structures, such as the Old Faithful Inn.
Many of these structured present opportunities for grater energy efficiency
through advanced technologies as they are maintained, remodeled, or
replaced. In fact, existing and planned park structured are being considered
for sustainability improvements. Several activities have already started and
some have been completed.
What Special Landforms and Features are in
Yellowstone?
There are many different kinds of landforms and
features in Yellowstone. They are home of 10,000
thermal features, and 500 in which are geysers.
Yellowstone carries most of the world’s geysers. One
of the major and most known geysers is called Old
Faithfull. Another thing that Yellowstone is known for
is their Hot Springs. A Hot Spring is a spring that is
produced by an emergence of geothermal heated
ground water from the Earth’s crust. These are the
two main things that Yellowstone is known for.
How is the Land Currently Changing in
Yellowstone?
There are many different things that are changing in
Yellowstone. One of the major things is the Hotspot
that is underneath Yellowstone. The Hotspot is
gradually getting bigger over time. About every year
the Hotspot increases about 1 inch, when getting
bigger it starts to leave a train of volcanic eruptions.
Over about 16.5 million years approximately 15-20
massive eruptions have left immense calderas to
“dot” the landscape from the Nevada- Oregon border
through Idaho’s Snake River to Yellowstone National
Park. Eventually, as time went on that was what
brought the Yellowstone area into contact with the
shallow body of magma.
Bibliography
Works Cited
Inc., ENSAR Group. "Greening Project Status Report: Yellowstone National Park." PDF. Aug.
2000. Web. 23 May 2010. <greening_yellowstone.pdf>.
Piehl, Janet. Yellowstone National Park. Minneapolis: Lerner, 2010. Print.
"Radio Guests - June 5, 2010 - Mammoth Hot Springs & Yellowstone National Park." Peter
Greenberg.com Travel News. 3 June 2010. Web. 4 June 2010.
<http://www.petergreenberg.com/2010/06/03/radio-guests-june-5-2010-mammoth-hotsprings-yellowstone-national-park/>.
"Yellowstone National Park Geothermal Features." Cool Cosmos! Web. 01 June 2010.
<http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/image_galleries/ir_yellowstone/lessons/geothermal.
html>.
"Yellowstone National Park (U.S. National Park Service)." U.S. National Park Service Experience Your America. Web. 03 June 2010. <http://www.nps.gov/yell/index.htm>.
"Yellowstone National Park." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 24 May 2010. Web. 04 June
2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowstone_National_Park>.
"Yellowstone Rocks." Yellowstone Treasures: Information about Yellowstone National Park.
Web. 04 June 2010. <http://www.yellowstonetreasures.com/yellowstone_rocks.htm
Cool Links & Photos!
Click on the link below to view the Hotspot Tracker:
http://www.nps.gov/yell/naturescience/tracking_hotspot.htm
This is a picture of the Old Faithful Inn, the famous Old Faithful
Geyser and the rock called Travertine:
Pictures (cont.)
Here are pictures of a diagram of the Hotspot and of
the beginning entrance of the park:
Pictures (cont.)
Here is a topographic map or Yellowstone: