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 Mountains in Motion / Hot Rocks - Denali National Park Posted by:  Lat34North
N 63° 32.135 W 149° 49.720
6V E 359386 N 7048372
Glaciers and tectonic forces are still at work shaping the Denali landscape. Located in a rest stop on Park Rd., Denali National Park. See the parks web site for access information.
Waymark Code: WMJ309
Location: Alaska, United States
Date Posted: 09/14/2013
Views: 17
Mountains in Motion
Though the visible glaciers appear remote - gleaming between distant peaks - the valley below is strewn with signs of masses glaciation: stranded boulders, gouged-out ponds, and gravel outwash plains. The last big glacial advance plowed through this Valley about 10,000 years ago. To a geologist’s eye, the landscape is still active with glaciers. Denali’s wondering meltwater rivers, cloudy with glacial silt and rock fragments, are evidence of ongoing glaciation and mountain carving.
Hot Rocks
The many colored (Polychrome) rocks are hardened lava, from a period of mountain building 100 million years ago. That timeframe seems unimaginably distant - yet this area is experiencing continued seismic activity. Earthquake tremors are frequent. As the crustal plates along the Denali fault keep grinding together, mountains of the Alaskan range may still be rising.
More Information:
NPS - Denali National Park
Wikipedia - Glacier
Wikipedia - Tectonics
Wikipedia - Glacial erratic
Marker Name: Mountains in Motion / Hot Rocks
Marker Type: Roadside
Addtional Information:
From Wikipedia: Glacial erratic
"A glacial erratic is a piece of rock that differs from the size and type of rock native to the area in which it rests. "Erratics" take their name from the Latin word errare, and are carried by glacial ice, often over distances of hundreds of kilometres. Erratics can range in size from pebbles to large boulders such as Big Rock (15,000 tonnes or 17,000 short tons) in Alberta."
Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glacial_erratic
Date Dedicated / Placed: Not listed
Marker Number: Not listed
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Visit Instructions:
Preferred would be to post a photo of you OR your GPS at the marker location. Also if you know of any additional links not already mentioned about this bit of Alaska history please include that in your log.
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