Download Lassen Volcanic National Park

By: Julia Dickerson
Lassen Volcanic became a
national park on August 9, 1916
because of its significance as an
active volcanic landscape. Lassen
Peak started erupting in 1914 and
had the best activity until 1920. The
four types of volcanoes in the world
are found in Lassen Volcanic’s
106,000 acres.
Lassen Volcanic National Park
was formed by plate tectonics. The
theory of plate tectonics says the
expanding oceanic crust is thrust
beneath the continental plate
margins. It penetrates deep into the
Earth to be partly remelted. The
result is magma (molten rock). These
became the feeding chambers for
volcanoes in Lassen Volcanic National
Park.
Volcanic rocks can be found in Lassen
Volcanic National Park. They are igneous rocks
with volcanic origin. Igneous rocks are formed by
molten rock that cools and becomes solid. There are
three main types of igneous rocks; Intrusive,
Extrusive, and Hypabyssal. Intrusive igneous rocks
are made from magma that cools and solidifies
within the crust of the planet. Extrusive igneous
rocks are made at the crust’s surface as a result of
partial melting rocks within the crust and the
mantle. Hypabyssal igneous rocks are made at a
depth in between volcanic and plutonic rocks.
The special landforms in my National Park are volcanoes.
The four types of volcanoes in the world can all be found in
Lassen Volcanic’s 106,000 acres of land. There are cinder cone
volcanoes, composite volcanoes, shield volcanoes, and lava dome
volcanoes. A cinder cone volcano is the most simple type of
volcano. They are blobs and particles of congealed lava that is
ejected from a single vent. When the lava is blown into the air
it breaks into little pieces that solidify and fall as cinders
around the vent to form an oval or circular cone. A composite
volcano are mostly steep-sided, symmetrical cones of large
dimension made of bombs, blocks, cinders, volcanic ash, and
lava flows. They could rise up as much as 8,000 feet above
their base. A shield volcano is almost entirely built by fluid
lava flows. Lava dome volcanoes are formed by small, bulbous
masses of lava that are too flow at a great distance. A Lava
Dome grows large by expansion from the inside.
You can find boiling mud pots and hissing
fumaroles that are still changing and shaping
the land in Lassen’s mountain forests. In the
hydrothermal areas at Lassen Volcanic there are
roaring fumaroles, boiling mud pots, sulfurous
gases, and steaming ground that are all linked
to active volcanism. They are all reminders of
the ongoing eruptions in Lassen Volcanic.
Weather is also very important in Lassen
Volcanic National Park. Winter shapes the land
a lot; snow begins to accumulate in October, but
it doesn’t melt in some places until July.
Weather in summer is more predictable with
the warm, dry days, cool nights, and blue skies.
Lassen Volcanic was in the
process of making an Environmental
Assessment for a Weed Management
Plan. The increase in dominance and
distribution of weeds has began
competing with native species and the
disruption of ecological systems.
Lassen Volcanic is making a plan to
help guide future management of the
weeds.
Lassen Volcanic needs to put more vegetation
and trees into the park to help stabilize the flanks.
Officials say that they need to install turnouts
along the trail for people’s safety. Plus, they’re
going to have a new trail connecting to the
Manzanita Creek Trail to the Lassen Peak Trail. One
more thing that they’re going to do is add a
trailside toilet for people to use. Putting these
things in the park will make it safer, more fun, and
more people will want to come and check out the
volcanoes.
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