Lithosphere of the Olympic National Park

Adjacent to the forest lays a strip of sandy and rugged beaches that range from 73 miles long and a couple miles wide. Such well known beaches such as the rialto and kalaloch beaches are easily accessible to tourists than the inner part of the forest. These beaches contain massive and heavy boulders with rocks that are only 40 million years young. The mixture of the sea-floor basalts with the deposition of material that comes from the Earth’s surface help make these sedimentary rocks found on these beaches and trenches. Most of the sediment found here comes from the rivers that drain the peninsula. 

Photo credit: https://www.e-education.psu.edu/geosc10/l3_p3.html

Photo credit: http://www.panoramio.com/photo/15659408

Photo credit: http://www.panoramio.com/photo/1223930

Mount Olympus is just one product of the accretionary wedge uplifting that rises a mere 7,965 feet above sea level. Basically the accretionary wedge are sediments shaped into a wedge like form that are scraped form the oceanic surface that make their way beneath the continent that contribute to the continental edge. 

Mount Olympus is part of the North American Cordillera which was formed from the compressional stresses of the tectonic plates pushing against each other which ultimately produced the gradually gathered sediments to uplift and form into mountains. 

Mount Olympus

Photo credit: http://mrdfourth90.com/all_class_sites/2010/Greek_Myths/data/mt.olympus.htm

Photo credit: http://www.pulsarmedia.eu/r_city_places_around_the_world_49_throne_of_ice_mount_olympus_olympic_national_park_washington_42765.html

Photo credit: http://gregvaughn.photoshelter.com/image/I0000Lzc19ovygw8

Sources:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Cordillera
• https://www.e-education.psu.edu/geosc10/l3_p3.html
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_National_Park

Coniferous Trees

The Olympic national park, also referred to as 'a gift from the sea', is home to some of the most beautiful trees. According to the American Forestry Association, these trees located within the park are the largest of their species.

Several of these trees have been around for 250 to 750 years with some taking a couple of centuries to decompose when fallen. One tree in particular that may take 2-3 centuries to decompose and known to be fire resistant, is the douglas fir. While others may only take a little over a century to fully decompose. When fallen, these trees provide nutrients that permit other trees to grow in their place.

These trees are an example of a species called Douglas Fir. These trees can get up to 300 feet tall and about 450 inches in circumference. The Douglas Fir can reach an age of 1,000-2,000 years old. Photo credit http://photography.nationalgeographic.com

The Sitka Spruce and Western Hemlock can get around 300 feet tall and in some cases even taller, with a circumference of 23 feet.  Photo credit
http://eu.fotolia.com

In the Olympic National Park there is a greater abundance of the sitka spruce, western hemlock, western redceder and douglas fir. This is because the evergreen conifers are more common in a temperate rain forests than other rain forests. These trees thrive in this forest not only because of the amount of rain received each year, but the temperature almost never drops below 0 degrees and rarely exceeds 80 degrees.

Elwha river road going through the Olympic National Park. Photo credit  http://total-wallpapers.com

Evergreen Forest Olympic National Park. Photo credit http://www.globeimages.net

The Big Leaf Maple has the biggest leaves of any other maple tree and is covered in epiphytic moss and fern species. Photo credit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hoh_Rain_Forest_Maples.JPG

Roger Blain, a rainforest guide for the Olympic National Park, guided a couple of tourists’ to a secret place where there stood a “secret tree”. The “secret tree” is a beautiful Big leaf Maple found deep within the Olympic National Park rainforest.

Video Credit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxGeN_oqUoA

RECORD TREES

• Alaska Cedar - 124 ft
• Douglas Fir - 300 ft   
• Grand Fir - 251 ft     
• Sitka Spruce - 200 ft 
• Subalpine Fir - 125 ft
• Western Hemlock - 241 ft
• Western Redcedar - 160 ft

These trees sit on a piece of land that is roughly 922,000 acres with a rainfall of 150 inches (12 to 14 feet) every year.

SOURCES:

• http://www.shannontech.com/ParkVision/Olympic/Olympic15.html#treesandvegetation
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_National_Park#Temperate_rainforest
• http://www.olympic.national-park.com/info.htm#tree
  http://www.fostertravel.com/washingtons-olympic-national-park/
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxGeN_oqUoA