Yosemite's cliffs in retreat
This past winter, two athletes grabbed the world’s attention as they climbed up the sheer walls of Yosemite National Park’s El Capitan. But some geologists are more concerned with what falls down these precipitous faces — namely, rocks. Park geologist Greg Stock has developed a history of rockfalls in Yosemite valley dating back 15,000 years, which reveals how its cliffs have crumbled since glaciers disappeared at the end of the last ice age.
Full content for EARTH is available to subscribers. If you would like to gain access to the full version of this article, as well as all EARTH content, please subscribe today.
If you are connecting using a Library (IP-based) Subscription, please access full issues of the magazine through our Library Access portal.
Julia Rosen
Rosen holds a doctorate in geology and is a freelance science writer based in Portland, Ore. She has served as both an intern and an interim staff writer for EARTH, has also written for the Los Angeles Times and AGU’s Eos, and occasionally hosts 60-Second Science podcasts for Scientific American. Find more of her work at www.julia-rosen.com.
Monday, May 11, 2015 - 06:00
Did you know ...
EARTH only uses professional science journalists and scientists to author our content? In this era of fake news and click-bait, EARTH offers factual and researched journalism. But EARTH is a non-profit magazine, and at least 10 times more people read EARTH than pay for it. As advertising revenues across the media decline, we need your help to ensure that we can continue bringing you the reliable and well-written coverage of earth science you know and love. Our goal is not only to inform our readers, but to inform decision makers across the economic and political spectrum about the science of our planet. So, we need your help. By becoming a subscriber or making a tax-deductible contribution to support EARTH, you can fund our writers and help make sure the world knows about our planet.
CURRENT ISSUE
LATEST HEADLINES
CONTEST
