Discover National Monuments: National Parks (Discover Your World)

114 Pages·2009·12.3 MB·English

by  Cynthia Light Brown

OBUVSBMXPOEFST
Cynthia Light Brown
focus on environment
Illustrated by Blair Shedd
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MONUMENTS
.!4)/.!, PARKS
natural wonders
Cynthia Light Brown
Illustrated by Blair Shedd
NP.NatMonuments_Final.indd 1 12/16/08 10:14:56 AM
discover NATIONAL
monuments
NATIONAL parks
Dedication
To Phil, who has discovered many parks and monuments with me.
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Illustrations by Blair Shedd
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INTrOdUcTION 1
cHAPTer 1 cHAPTer 6 cHAPTer 11
Plate Tectonics 4 Petrified Forest Great Sand Dunes National
National Park 37 Park and Preserve 70
cHAPTer 2 cHAPTer 7 cHAPTer 12
Muir Woods Grand Canyon White Sands
National Monument 9 National Park 43 National Monument 76
cHAPTer 3 cHAPTer 8 cHAPTer 13
Carlsbad Caverns Lassen Volcanic Death Valley
National Park 16 National Park 51 National Park 80
cHAPTer 4 cHAPTer 9 cHAPTer 14
Jewel Cave Craters of the Moon National Denali National Park
National Monument 23 Monument and Preserve 59 and Preserve 86
cHAPTer 5 cHAPTer 10 cHAPTer 15
Dinosaur Devils Tower Buck Island Reef
National Monument 29 National Monument 63 National Monument 95
GLOSSARY RESOURCES INDEX
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contents
GLOssARY GLOssARY
acids: acids are chemical compounds botanists: scientists who study plants. dune field: a large area of sand
that taste sour. Examples are vinegar, calcite: a common mineral made of blown by wind into dunes.
lemon juice, and hydrochloric acid. crystallized calcium carbonate that is a earthquake: shaking and disturbing
adapt: a change in an organism that major part of limestone. of the earth, often violently, which occurs
makes it better suited to its environment. caldera: a large crater caused by when two plates on the earth slide under
adaptation: the process in which the violent explosion of a volcano. and above each other.
an animal or plant changes in order to canopy: the uppermost layer of a ecosystem: a community of plants
survive in its environment over a long forest, formed by the crowns of trees. and animals living in the same area and
period of time. canyon: a deep valley with steep rock relying on each other to survive.
air pressure: the amount of pressure walls cut by a river. element: a substance that is made up
in any part of the atmosphere. Air pres- carbon dioxide: a gas formed by of atoms that are all the same.
sure can force air to rush out of small the rotting of plants and animals and elevation: a measurement of height
openings as it changes. when animals breathe out. above sea level.
algae: a type of plant that lives in the carbonic acid: a weak acid formed embryo: a developing plant or animal
water and doesn’t have roots or leaves. when carbon dioxide dissolves in water. before it sprouts or is born.
alluvial fans: huge areas of cave: a natural underground opening enzymes: proteins produced by cells
sediment that form aprons, or fans, at connected to the surface and large to perform specific functions such as
the base of desert mountains. enough for a person to enter. killing bacteria or fighting off disease.
alpine: land higher in elevation than cavern: a very large cave or system erode: to wear away by weather or
where trees can grow (the treeline); where of interconnected caves. water.
it is too cold and windy for tall trees.
coastal redwood: one of three erosion: the gradual wearing away of
altitude sickness: sickness from species of redwood trees currently living. rock by water, glaciers, and wind.
gaining altitude too quickly or from Redwoods are known for being the tallest evaporation: when a liquid turns into
staying at high altitudes for a long time. living thing in the world and for their a vapor or gas.
aIt ncda ucsaens b ae fdlueiadd blyu. ild-up in the lungs reddish color bark. evaporite: a mineral that has formed
Colorado River: the river that carved by the evaporation of water, leaving
archaeologist: someone who studies the Grand Canyon and flows at its bottom. dissolved minerals behind. Examples are
a
lenftc ibeenht icnudl.t u r e s by studying what they’ve condense: when water vapor—a salt, gypsum, and calcium carbonate.
gas—changes back into liquid water. fissure: a crack in the surface of the
A
arorucntdic th Ce ieracrtlhe, :r ethpere imseangtinga rtyh elin peo int continental: relating to the earth’s earth, from which magma can erupt.
in the far north where, at certain times of continents. fossil: the remains or traces of ancient
year, the sun never sets or never rises. convergent boundary: where two plants and animals.
argon gas: an odorless gas. plates come together. fossilization: the process of becoming
asthenosphere: the semi-molten crater: a bowl-shaped depression, a fossil.
middle layer of the earth. in the top of a volcanic cone. fumarole: a vent that emits hot gases.
atom: the smallest particle of matter crevasse: a large crack in a glacier genes: information in the cells of living
that cannot be broken down without or in deep snow, from a few feet to things that determine traits of an organism,
changing the particle’s properties. hundreds of feet deep. such as hair color.
Everything on the earth is made of crown: the top of a tree, including geologist: a scientist who studies
various combinations of atoms. branches and leaves. rocks and minerals.
aurora borealis: lights in the night crust: the earth’s outer layer. ginkgo tree: a tree that existed
sky that occur because of the interaction crystallize: to form into a rock with in North America during the time of
between radiation from the sun and the a crystal shape. dinosaurs.
oxygen in the atmosphere. decay: to rot or decompose. glacial till: deposits of rocks made
bacteria: a single-celled organism. dendrochronology: the science of at the end of a glacier.
basalt: a type of rock that forms from dating using tree rings. glacier: a body of ice that slowly
magma deep in the earth flowing onto divergent boundary: where two moves downslope due to gravity.
the earth’s surface. plates are moving in opposite directions, gypsum: a mineral that is found in
basaltic lava: lava that, when cooled, sometimes called a rift zone. New crust seawater, which can form large deposits
becomes basalt, a grayish rock. forms at divergent zones from magma when the sea evaporates.
basin: a natural depression in the pushing through the crust. habitat: the environment.
surface of the land, often with a lake dormant: sleeping, or not growing. hexagonal: six-sided.
at the bottom of it. draperies: thin, wavy sheets of spele- hibernaculum: a place where
bleaching: the loss of algae from othems that hang down like curtains. animals hibernate.
coral tissues. It can be caused by water drought: period of dry weather.
that is too warm or cold.
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GLOssARY GLOssARY
hotspot: an area where hot magma petrifaction: the process in which scientific method: forming a
rises, usually in the middle of a plate. the material in living cells is replaced by hypothesis, or explanation for why
hydrochloric acid: a strong acid crystals, turning to stone over time. something happened, then testing
that eats away at whatever is in it. petroglyph: a rock carving. that hypothesis and revising it based
igneous rock: rock that forms pictograph: an image painted onto on evidence.
from magma cooling and solidifying. a rock. sea level: the level of the ocean.
Igneous rocks can form either beneath plankton: small plants, animals, or sediment: loose rock particles.
the surface of the earth or on the larvae that float freely in the ocean. sedimentary rocks: rocks formed
surface as volcanic rocks. plate tectonics: the theory that from the compression of sand, mud, ash,
inorganic: from something not living. describes how the plates move across or other rock fragments.
invertebrate: an animal without a the earth and interact with each other. silica: a chemical found in sand and
backbone. plates: huge, moving, interconnected quartz.
joint: a large crack in a rock. slabs of lithosphere. solution: a fluid with a substance
Kaibab Uplift: a dome-shaped area playa: a dried lakebed. dissolved in it.
through which the Grand Canyon passes. poacher: a person who hunts illegally. species: a distinct kind of organism,
lahars: huge mudflows that form from polyp: a small invertebrate animal with a characteristic shape, size,
lava and ash mixing with melted snow that often makes a calcium carbonate behavior, and habitat that remains
and rain. They can wipe out everything in skeleton. Polyps usually live in colonies, constant from year to year.
their path. and their skeletons form coral reefs. speleothem: a distinctive cave
lava: magma that has risen to the pyroclastic flows: high-speed formation, such as a stalactite.
surface of the earth. avalanches of hot ash, rock fragments, stalactite: a cave formation that looks
life zones: regions of plant and and gas that travel on a cushion of like an icicle hanging from the ceiling.
animal communities based on climate compressed air up to 150 miles per hour. stalagmite: a cave formation
and temperature. Five of the seven life radioactive decay: the process projecting from the floor, often
zones in North America are represented where certain elements lose particles and underneath a stalactite.
in the Grand Canyon. become a different element. subduct: when one tectonic plate
limestone: a type of rock consisting radiometric dating: a method of slides underneath another tectonic plate.
mainly of calcium that comes from the determining the age of rocks. tectonic plates: huge, moving
remains of sea animals. rain shadow: an area on the down- interconnected slabs of lithosphere.
lithosphere: the rigid outer layer wind side of a mountain range. When territory: a region that isn’t a state or
of the earth that includes the crust winds and clouds pass over mountains province, but is still part of a country.
and the upper mantle. it rains, leaving little moisture for the Transcontinental Railroad:
magma: partially melted rock below other side. a railroad built across the United States
the surface of the earth. rate: speed of something. in the 1860s that fostered the westward
microbe: a very small life form. rift zone: an area where the earth’s movement of people.
microorganism: an organism so crust is pulling apart. transform boundary: where two
small that you need a microscope to see it. rifting: when the lithosphere splits plates slide against each other.
minerals: inorganic substances that apart. vertebrae: back bones.
are found in the ground and in rocks. runoff: minerals, chemicals and other viscous: how easily a substance flows.
Not an animal or plant. remnants from farms and factories that Honey is very viscous; water is not.
mudstone: a sedimentary rock made collect in rivers and lakes and eventually volcano: a vent in the earth’s surface,
of clay or mud. reach the ocean. through which magma, ash, and gases
musher: leader of a sled dog team. salt pan: a flat area of ground covered erupt.
mutation: a change in a gene. with salt and other minerals. Western Hemisphere: the half of
oceanic: in or from the ocean. saltation: the bouncing movement of the earth that includes all of North and
old-growth forest: a forest that has sand grains caused by wind. South America.
not had a major disturbance like logging, sand dunes: a ridge of sand created whiteout: snow squalls so heavy you
or a large fire. Old-growth forests have by the wind. can only see a few feet in front of you.
large live and dead trees, fallen, decaying sandstone: a sedimentary rock zooxanthellae: blue-green algae
wood, and various layers of vegetation. made of sand-size mineral or rock grains. that live in the tissue of coral polyps.
organism: something living. sauropod: large, four-legged Zooxanthellae contribute nutrients to the
ornithischian dinosaurs: plant-eating dinosaurs with long necks, coral, and in return get a protected place
plant-eating dinosaurs with beaks. small heads and brains, and long tails. to live in the sunlight.

paleontologist: a scientist who
studies fossils.
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NATIONAL monuments NATIONAL parks LOcATIONs
Alaska Colorado Nevada U.S. Virgin Islands—
• D enali National Park and • D inosaur National Monument • D eath Valley National Park St. Croix
APrreiszeorvne a • G anreda Pt rSeasnerdv eDunes National Park •N C eawrlsb aMd Ceaxveircnso N ational Park • B Muocnku Imsleantd Reef National
• G rand Canyon National Park Idaho • W hite Sands National Monument Utah
• P etrified Forest National Park • C
Mroanteurms eonf th aen Md Poroens eNravteional South Dakota • D inosaur National Monument
California • J ewel Cave National Monument Wyoming
• D eath Valley National Park • D evils Tower National Monument
• L assen Volcanic National Park
• M uir Woods National Monument
Our National Treasures
What do the Grand Canyon, the Petrified Forest,
Muir Woods, and Carlsbad Caverns have in common?
They are all places declared national monuments—
and they are amazing natural wonders.
 e United States has 93 national monuments (and counting!). Each celebrates
an important and unique facet of America. National monuments can be
sites of ancient Native American cultures.  ey can be battlefi elds, forts, or
remarkable structures built to honor important Americans. Many national
monuments celebrate and protect natural phenomena, created by the forces
of wind, fi re, water, and time.  is book focuses on this last group—some of
the most amazing natural sites in our country that have been named national
monuments. You’ll learn about the forces that shaped these places, and even
try out some projects and experiments to learn for yourself about the processes
at work.
Far Left and Right: NPS Photos
1
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Introduction
Our National Treasures
dIscOver NATIONAL monuments NATIONAL parks Our National Treasures
Timeline
July 16, 1790: District
of Columbia authorized,
including National
Capital Parks, National
Mall, White House
April 20, 1832: Death Valley
Hot Springs Reservation,
Arkansas (redesignated Hot
Springs National Park in 1921) How a Landscape Forms
March 1, 1872: T ere are many factors that go into forming the beautiful and
Yellowstone National
Park, Wyoming, Montana, interesting landscapes in the national monuments but the basic
and Idaho shape of the land is formed by huge earth processes. Did you
March 3, 1877: Statue of ever wonder how mountains form? Giant plates of the earth
Liberty, New York, Erected
(designated a National collide with and separate from each other. T is pushes some
Monument in 1924) areas higher—like mountains—and some areas lower—like valleys.
October 1, 1890: T e movements of the plates, called plate tectonics, also cause
Yosemite National Park,
California volcanoes to erupt and oceans to form. We’ll learn all about plate
June 8, 1906: tectonics in the next chapter.
Antiquities Act
September 24, 1906: The uniTed sTaTes has 93 naTional monumenTs.
Devils Tower National
Monument, Wyoming
Landforms and their position on the earth’s surface af ect the
December 8, 1906:
Petrified Forest National climate. Denali National Park, which is way up north in Alaska,
Monument, Arizona has glaciers because it is so far north and is cold. Death Valley,
(redesignated a National Park
in 1962) on the other hand, is hot and dry because it is surrounded by
May 6, 1907: Cinder mountains that block clouds from forming. So there is little rain
Cone National Monument
there. Even the plants and animals of an area change and af ect
and Lassen Peak National
Monument, California the landscape–the giant trees in Muir Woods create an environ-
(incorporated in Lassen Volcanic
National Park in 1916) ment in which whole worlds exist 200 feet in the air!
January 9, 1908: Even though each of the national monuments discussed
Muir Woods National here is known for one or two outstanding features,
Monument, California
those features came about from a complex web of
January 11, 1908:
interactions. T e features make them beautiful, but
Grand Canyon National
Monument, Arizona incredibly interesting as well.
(incorporated in Grand Canyon
National Park in 1919)
2
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dIscOver NATIONAL monuments NATIONAL parks Our National Treasures
National Monument or National Park? Timeline
T ere is a dif erence between national monuments and national February 7, 1908:
parks. In general, national monuments are smaller and protect Jewel Cave National
Monument, South Dakota
only one major resource. National parks are usually fairly large in
area. T ey are set aside because of a variety of outstanding scenic October 4, 1915:
Dinosaur National
features or natural phenomena. Another important dif erence is Monument, Colorado
who decides what becomes a national park and what becomes a and Utah
national monument. National parks can only be designated by August 25, 1916:
National Park Service Act
Congress. National monuments can be designated by Congress
October 25, 1923:
or the President. Monuments are usually designated by the
Carlsbad Cave National
President, though, because he or she can do it without going Monument, New Mexico
(redesignated Carlsbad Caverns
through the lengthy process of getting Congressional approval. National Park in 1930)
May 2, 1924:
many naTional monumenTs and parks celebraTe Craters of the Moon
National Monument,
and proTecT naTural phenomena, creaTed by
Idaho (redesignated a
The forces of wind, fire, waTer, and Time. National Park in 2002)
March 17, 1932:
Great Sand Dunes
Presidents have the authority to designate national monuments National Monument,
through the Antiquities Act of 1906. T is act was established by Colorado (redesignated
a National Park in 2004)
Congress to protect mostly prehistoric ruins, called “antiquities.”
January 18, 1933:
President T eodore Roosevelt also used the Antiquities Act to White Sands National
designate monuments for their scientif c and scenic value. He Monument, New Mexico
named Devils Tower, Wyoming, the f rst national monument, February 11, 1933:
Death Valley National
and he did it because of its natural beauty and
Monument, California
scientif c interest. and Nevada (incorporated
in Death Valley National Park
T is book looks at fourteen of the national in 1994)
monuments, some of which were later desig- December 28, 1961:
nated national parks. T ese fourteen represent Buck Island Reef National
Monument, Virgin Islands
a huge variety of natural processes—from
December 1, 1978:
volcanoes to glaciers, and everything
Denali National
in between. Monument, Alaska
(incorporated with Mount
McKinley National Park in
Denali National Park in 1980)
President Theodore Roosevelt
3
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