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Characterizing Boulder Deposition to Assess Rock Fall Hazard in Upper Pines Campground, Yosemite National Park, Ca

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Characterizing Boulder Deposition to Assess Rock Fall Hazard in Upper Pines Campground, Yosemite National Park, Ca CHARACTERIZING BOULDER DEPOSITION TO ASSESS ROCK FALL HAZARD IN UPPER PINES CAMPGROUND, YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, CA HUMBOLDT STATE UNIVERISTY By Shaun Emmett Cordes A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of Humboldt State University In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science in Environmental Systems, Geology Option May, 2012 Original signatures on file in the office of Graduate Studies. ABSTRACT CHARACTERIZING BOULDER DEPOSITION TO ASSESS ROCK FALL HAZARD IN UPPER PINES CAMPGROUND, YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, CA Shaun Emmett Cordes Large boulders exceeding 10 m3 in exposed volume are widely scattered throughout the Upper Pines Campground in eastern Yosemite Valley, Yosemite National Park, California. These boulders rest 130-330 m from the base of adjacent talus slopes and lack typical geomorphic expressions of a rock fall deposit in Yosemite Valley. Three modes of transport were considered for deposition of these boulders: (1) glacial deposition during retreat, approximately 15-17 ka, (2) rock fall postdating 15 ka, and (3) fluvial deposition during large scale flooding such as might occur from glacial outburst. The boulder deposit was characterized by field mapping, cosmogenic 10Be exposure ages, x-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis, and spatial analysis to determine mode(s) of transportation and source. A mean cosmogenic exposure age of 9.6 ± 1 ka (derived from four samples) considerably postdates the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), suggesting that boulder emplacement does not result from glacial deposition during retreat of ice. XRF results identify Glacier Point Granodiorite boulders transported from ~500 m above Upper Pines on Glacier Point. Based on measured boulder attributes, I suggest that partial ii burial by fan development conceals the original geomorphic expression of the deposit. Discharge and bed stress modeling indicate that flooding was not capable of moving the boulders to their current location. Thus, I interpret that the boulders were deposited as the result of a single rock fall (or possibly rock avalanche) event that originated ~500 m above Upper Pines Campground on Glacier Point at approximately 9.6 ± 1 ka. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and foremost, thank you Greg Stock for your support and guidance. Thank you Bud Burke, Andre Lehre, and Brandon Schwab for your time and advice; Allen Glazner and Tom Chapman for adopting my XRF samples and providing me with the analytical geochemical results that were needed to complete this study; Harvey Kelsey and Sue Cashman for the off the clock discussions and field visit; fellow graduate students Dylan Caldwell, Tyler Ladinsky, and Paul Sundberg for the frequent discussions, ramblings, and brainstorming; Codie LaPoint, Cassie May, and Jenny Scholfield for opening up their floor space for extended periods of time; and finally my number one field minion Casey Cordes. Gerald Wieczorek of U.S. Geological Survey collected the radiocarbon samples at Stoneman Bridge, and Jack McGeehin of the U.S. Geological Survey radio carbon laboratory preformed the radiocarbon dating at the Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Laboratory at the University of Arizona. X-ray fluorescence analysis was conducted by Professor Allen Glazner at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. iv DEDICATION I would like to dedicate this project to the faculty and staff of the Humboldt State University Department of Geology: Bud Burke, Sue Cashman, Lori Dengler, Mark Hemphill-Haley, Harvey Kelsey, Andre Lehre, Bob McPherson, William Miller, Brandon Schwab, Steve Tillinghast and, Colin Wingfield. Thank you for your years of continued support and providing me with the opportunity to pursue this endeavor at Humboldt State. You have all played a significant role in allowing me to discover the passion I have for geology. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iv DedicatioN v TABLE OF CONTENTS vi LIST OF TABLES viii LIST OF FIGURES ix LIST OF FIGURES CONTINUED x INTRODUCTION 1 DEFINITION OF THE PROBLEM AND HYPOTHESES 5 GEOLOGIC SETTING 9 Overview 9 Cretaceous Intrusive Rocks and Field Relationships 9 Quaternary History of Yosemite Valley 15 METHODS 19 Field Mapping and Spatial Analysis 19 Cosmogenic 10Be Exposure Ages 21 X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometry (XRF) 24 RESULTS 27 Field Mapping and Spatial Analysis 27 Cosmogenic 10Be Exposure Ages 30 X-Ray Fluorescence Analysis 32 vi TABLE OF CONTENTS CONTINUED DISCUSSION 37 Aggradation of and Degradation of Yosemite Valley 37 Discharge and Flow Velocity Modeling 45 Rock Avalanche 50 CONCLUSION 52 REFERENCES 53 APPENDICIES 58 Appendix A - Detailed lithologic descriptions 58 Appendix B - Photo locations correlated to figure numbers 59 Appendix C - Gray et al. (2008) major element compositions for in situ Khd 60 Appendix D - Additional XRF sample data 61 vii LIST OF TABLES Table 1 – Sierra Nevada Glacial Nomenclature and Ages 16 Table 2 - Cosmogenic Beryllium-10 Data and Exposure Ages 31 Table 3 - Major Element Compositions 34 Table 4 - Discharge and Bed Stress Results from the Manning’s Equation. 48 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Hillshade location map of Yosemite Valley 2 Figure 2. Hillshade location map of Eastern Yosemite Valley 4 Figure 3. P1 boulders located in Upper Pines Campground 7 Figure 4. P2 boulders located throughout Upper Pines Campground 8 Figure 5. Quaternary Geomorphologic Features. 10 Figure 6 - Geologic map of eastern Yosemite Valley 11 Figure 7. Kgp/Khd Contact 13 Figure 8. Kgp/Khd Hand Samples 14 Figure 9. Kcp Field Samples 14 Figure 10. El Capitan Terminal Recessional Moraine 18 Figure 11. Upper Pines Campground Mapped Boulder Locations 20 Figure 12. Cosmogenic 10Be Exposure Age Sample Locations. 22 Figure 13. XRF Sample Locations 26 Figure 14. Mapped Boulder Cumulative Frequency Curve 28 Figure 15. Spatial Analysis of Mapped Boulders. 29 Figure 16. Harker Variation Diagrams of XRF Analysis 35 Figure 17. Spatial Analsysis of XRF Results 36 ix LIST OF FIGURES CONTINUED Figure 18. Stoneman Bridge Stratigraphic Section 38 Figure 19. Terrace Profiles 41 Figure 20. Additional Spatial Analysis 42 Figure 21. Conceptual Fan Model 43 Figure 22. Discharge Model Cross Section Location 46 Figure 23. Bed Load Shear Stress vs. Water Depth 48 Figure 24. Photos of Fluvial Deposits 49 Figure 25. Geologic Map with Rock Fall Extent 51 x 1 CHARACTERIZING BOULDER DEPOSITION TO ASSESS ROCK FALL HAZARD IN UPPER PINES CAMPGROUND, YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, CA INTRODUCTION Yosemite Valley in Yosemite National Park, California, is a glacially carved U- shaped valley that has undergone multiple episodes of glacial erosion. Located in the central portion of the Sierra Nevada batholith, granitic plutons ranging from Middle Cretaceous to Late Cretaceous dominate the ~1000 m of exposed wallrock (Fig. 1). Rock fall is an ongoing phenomenon in Yosemite Valley, but has only been documented for the past one hundred and fifty years (Stock et al., 2012). The Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) in the Sierra Nevada ended ~15 ka (Birkeland and Burke 1988; Bursik and Gillespie 1993; Phillips et al. 2009; Rood et al. 2010) and cleared previous talus fields and older glacial deposits. Since the LGM, accumulation of boulders and debris have created extensive talus fields at the base of Yosemite Valley’s ~1000 m tall cliffs and alluvial fans that now extend far into the valley. Remnant terraces on the valley floor record a maximum aggradation level prior to breaching of a terminal moraine that lowered the base level of the Merced River. Figure 1. Hillshade location map of Yosemite Valley produced from a 1 m LiDAR Digital Elevation Model (DEM) provided by National Park Service (NPS). Red box indicates the field area and the tent indicates the location of Upper Pines Campground. Note the location of El Capitan and Curry Village for future figures. 2 3 Since 1857, more than 900 rock falls and other slope movements have been documented in Yosemite National Park with most rock falls originating from the glacially-steepened walls of Yosemite Valley (Stock et al., 2012). In 2008, two rock falls of ~6000 m3 originated above Curry Village on Glacier Point and caused significant damage to park infrastructure and prompted the permanent closure of 246 structures in the Curry Village area. The 2008 Glacier Point rock falls highlighted the importance of rock-fall hazard assessment in Yosemite Valley, including that associated with large but infrequent prehistoric rock falls. A widely scattered group of boulders at the site of Upper Pines Campground in eastern Yosemite Valley may represent one of these large prehistoric rock falls. Upper Pines Campground is located in the eastern extent of Yosemite Valley on a north-dipping alluvial fan and bordered to the east by the Merced River (Fig.2). The fan extends outward from Happy Isles just downstream of a prominent change in river gradient, and projects past a recessional moraine (adjacent to the campground) and into the eastern portion of Yosemite Valley. The campground consists of 240 campsites with granitic boulders >1 m3 scattered throughout the entire campground and west of the campground. Previous mapping compiled by Wieczorek et al. (1999) identified these boulders as a prehistoric debris flow and an uncharacterized talus deposit. 4 Figure 2. Hillshade location map of Eastern Yosemite Valley. Qlm = Quaternary lateral moraine. 4 5 DEFINITION OF THE PROBLEM AND HYPOTHESES I identified two boulder populations in Upper Pines Campground based on visual estimation of exposed volume and angularity during field reconnaissance. The first boulder population (P1) is in the southern portion of the campground and consists of a higher frequency of boulders >5 m3 (Fig. 3). Due to the magnitude of boulder size, P1 was hypothesized as being the result of a rock fall, despite a general lack of geomorphic resemblance to other mapped rock fall deposits within Yosemite Valley (e.g., Wieczorek et al., 1998, 1999; Stock and Uhrhammer, 2010). P1 is over ~130 m from the talus adjacent to the west side of Glacier Point but appears to be isolated.
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