Golden Gate Photo - North Cascades National Park Gallery
Fine Art Photography from North Cascades National Park, Washington.
North Cascades National Park encompasses about 790 square miles (2,040 Km2) of complex geology in north-central Washington. The Northern Cascade Range is among the youngest mountain areas in the world. It contains almost 700 alpine glaciers, most of the glaciers present in the lower contiguous 48 states. The range includes plutonic rocks, rocks formed from volcanic island arcs, deep ocean sediments, ocean crust basalt, accreted continental terrane, submarine fans, and ultramafic rocks representing slices of the Earth's mantle.
Kangaroo Ridge This is the view to the east from Washington Pass Overlook along Highway 20. Kangaroo Ridge are jagged peaks of granite from the 45 to 50 million year old (Eocene-age) Golden Horn Batholith. Print No. A01NW-19-9 |
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Early Winters Spires Looking south from the Washington Pass Overlook, the Early Winters Spires are jagged peaks of granite from the Golden Horn Batholith. These are fault-bound peaks. Above these peaks is the lower arc of a 22o halo around the sun. Print No. A01NW-19-8 |
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Diablo Lake In the background are the glaciated Snowfield, Colonial, and Pyramid Peaks which are composed of the Skagit Gneiss Complex, deep ocean and volcanic arc deposits that were metamorphosed from about 90 million years ago (Cretaceous Period) through (or again) about 45 million years ago (Eocene Epoch). Diablo Lake has as notable opaque green-blue color caused by the presence of suspended rock flour, rock ground to powder by the action of glacier scouring. The Hoh River in Olympic National Park is another example of this phenomenon. Print No. A01NW-17-10 |
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Gorge Creek Gorge Creek lies on the north side of Highway 20 and can be seen by looking down from the Gorge Creek Bridge pedestrian walkway. Gorge Creek forms a tiered cascade waterfall 242 feet (74 meters) high. It carves a narrow gorge through a relatively weak shear zone in the rock. Print No. A01NW-17-8 |
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