The reading material you will need to help you answer these questions is on reserve at both the Geology Library (3rd floor of Leonard Hall) and at the Chester Fritz Library.

1. Mount Rainier is one of the mountains of the Cascade Range. Where is the Cascade Range and why is it there? That is, what causes volcanism to occur in that particular part of the world?

2. Most of the volcanic material deposited by Mt. Rainier is ash or pumice. Contrast this with the material that is deposited by Hawaiian volcanoes. What sort of volcanic rocks (what is the name of the rock type) are in Hawaii? Why are the different from those in the Cascade Range? Why do some volcanoes produce ash and pumice while others produce lava flows?

3. The "ice age" is long past, yet there are still glaciers on Mt. Rainier. Why?

4. At Glacier Bay, John Muir discovered that glaciers had retreated over 45 miles. Why do glaciers retreat sometimes and advance other times? Why do you suppose there was so much retreating at Glacier Bay in the last 150 years?

5. Describe the topography at Glacier Bay. What features are there that could only have been formed by a glacier? Are any of them present in Rocky Mountain National Park? Which ones?

6. What other glacial features are present in Rocky Mountain National Park? That is, what topographic features are there that were created by glaciers? The geographic write-up says there were several periods of glaciation in Rocky Mountain National Park during the ice age. How do geologists know this? What evidence is there? When (how many years ago) was the ice age? What parts of the United States did it effect?

7. Most of the rocks of Rocky Mountain National Park are metamorphic rocks. What were they originally? What changes do you suppose occurred when they were metamorphosed? What kind of rock (give some names of specific rock types are they now? What caused the changes that is what are the forces that resulted in the metamorphism?

8. How old are the rocks that make up Mt. Rainier? How old are the rocks found in the high peaks of Rocky Mountain National Park? How old are the rocks found in the walls of the Grand Canyon? Don't just give words like Proterozoic, but tell me in millions of years: how long ago did the rocks form?

9. Most mountain ranges are found around the edges of continents. The Rockys, however, are in the interior of North America. How/why did they form?

10. Look at the geologic cross section in the handout on the Grand Canyon. I marked the ages of the rock formations.
a. Note the "great uncomformity" at the base of the Cambrian rocks. What is an uncomformity? What characterizes this one in the Grand Canyon?
b. Most of the rocks exposed in the Grand Canyon are of Paleozoic ages most, but not all, Paleozoic periods are represented. Why are rocks of some Paleozoic periods absent?
c. Note that the Cambrian, Pennsylvanian, and Permian sections in the Grand Canyon are very thick, and each contain several different formations. Each formation is a different type of sedimentary rock. Why are the rocks of these periods so thick, and why is there so much variation within the periods? Why are periods, such as the Mississippian and Devonian, barely represented?