Sunday, September 25, 2011

Mt. Rainier

Background Information
  Mt. Rainier is a widely known active volcano that is located in the Cascade Mountains.  With an elevation of 14,411 feet and being covered in thick layers of glacial ice, Mt. Rainier is known as the highest Mountain in Washington and one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world.  It is a Stratovolcano (one that builds layers of volcanic material around itself) that is included in the Cascade Volcanic Arc, which goes from Canada through California.
Physical Features
            Atop the summit, there are two volcanic craters that are each over 1000 ft. in diameter.  Since Mt. Rainier is active, volcanic heat rises to the top and prevents snow from forming on these craters.  Thus, within the craters lies the world’s largest volcanic glacier cave that is about 2 miles in length.  In the western crater, there is a small lake; about 130 by 30 ft. and 16 feet deep, this is the highest lake in North America at an elevation of 14, 203 ft.  Mt. Rainier’s glaciers harbor the beginning of the Puyallup, Carbon, Mowich, Nisqually and Cowlitz rivers.  The three peaks on Mt. Rainier are: the Columbia Crest at 14,411 ft., Point Success at 14,158 ft., and Liberty Cap at 14,112 ft. 
History
              A fourth peak resides on the eastern side known as Little Tahoma Peak with an elevation of 11, 138 ft.  This peak once was much higher like the rest of Mt. Rainier, which once stood at 16,000 feet before erosion from avalanches and the Osceola Mudflow occurred.  Geologists have discovered that Mt. Rainier is over 840,000 years old by observing it's layers of lava, tephra, pumice and volcanic ash. Lahars (mudflows of volcanic material) are prominent because of the thick glacial ice that covers the mountain.  The Osceola Mudflow occurred in this way, a large chunk slid off the side of Mt. Rainier and reduced its height by 1600 ft., leaving it at its current elevation.  After multiple eruptions, its cone figure was brought back to its original state.
Eruptions
The last recorded volcanic eruption was between 1820-1854, but multiple accounts have been taken in of volcanic activity since then.  The last huge eruption, about 2000 years ago shows that they are not as much a problem, and less common as lahars and breakage of the mountain's layering.  Mt. Rainier has shown no signs of an imminent eruption but is referred to as a Decade Volcano, one of 16 volcanoes that would destroy a great amount of life if it were to erupt or have pieces break off.  This is because of the type of volcano Mt. Rainier is -Stratovolcano- large pieces from the man layers of glacier and mud can slide down the mountain and can easily destroy anything at the base and continue to flow towards society.  This mountain is known for having constant seismic swarms, which are many occurrences of small earthquakes near the base.  The many glaciers present help the stream flow of the many rivers that branch off of the mountain and they also help erode parts of the volcanic cone so it does no break off and create lahars.
Tourism
The Native American’s referred to Mt. Rainier are Tacoma, meaning larger than Mt. Baker.  This name stuck for a while, being the other option for the name when it was decided in 1890.  About 8,000 to 13,000 people climb Mt. Rainier each year.  With over 90 trails based on difficulty, the Mountain's diversity draws in people from hundreds of miles away.  The most popular trail is the Wonderland Trail, stretching 93 miles and encircling the mountain.  Other winter activites that are available are snowmobiling, snowshoeing, skiing, snowboarding and sledding.  The summer activities include : horseback riding, camping, hiking, fishing and biking.  There are about 20 different lodges that are present in Mt. Rainier National Park, and over 30 camping and other privately owned and rented places in the park as well. 
Bibliography:
"Mount Rainier." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, Sept.-Oct. 2011. Web. 02 Oct. 2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Rainier.
Mount Rainier National Park Lodging, Events, Hiking, and Other Activities for the Mt. Rainier Area. Web. 07 Oct. 2011. <http://www.visitrainier.com/>.
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4 comments:

  1. Lacvien T.October 1, 2011 at 2:56 PM

    Considering the importance of audience and our potential to impact them, why did you choose to not categorize your subtopics about Mt. Rainer? The article seems more laid out as an essay format, rather than a Wikipedia-like text. You could organize this article into geographic location, basic descriptions of this mountain, and the past eruptions that could have happened. By splitting up your subtopics this would make it easier for your audience to view the information and go through it easier to find the information they maybe looking for. You should probably remove the heading on the left side because it gives this article more of an essay feel, then an article feel.

    I think adding pictures of the glacier caves and the small lake that you described within your article, would be great visual illustrations of Mt. Rainier because your audience would have a better grasp of the different aspects of how this mountain looks. Adding more description about how the mountain looks could help your target audience have a better visualization the mountain. You could touch more upon the

    Citing the information about Mt. Rainier would be beneficial because it would only make your credibility much stronger and therefore the audience would have that much more trust about how accurate your information is presented.

    Overall this is a good article describing about the background details of Mt. Rainier, but you could try to make this text into more of an article like text, try to add more pictures of the glacier and lakes of Mt. Rainier, and try to cite the facts that you have about this mountain.

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  2. tatyana says,October 2, 2011 at 6:51 PM

    I agree with Lacvien about pictures, and I see you have already incorporated them, very awesome. The first picture is very awesome and I would like to know more about what it is and what makes the ice melt that way.

    I disagree with Lacvien about how your headings made it seem not article-like. Well maybe im not sure exactly what he meant, but I like how you headed it so its easier to follow. I feel the tourism part should be longer, just because theres so much to the mountain. I didn't feel like the part about the native's calling it "tacoma" made sense and I feel that would better fit in the history section. In the tourism description it sounded as if all people do is either climb to the top or just sit and relax. I know there are a ton of different hikes, sides to climb that are better than others, and stuff like that. If you say tourism, maybe include what the highlights are, is there a resort? or can people only camp, is it open all year? or does it close down? Those are just the things I think about when I hear tourism! Everything else I thought was lovely so great job!

    Also, you said its one of the most dangerous volcanoes! If I had to cover information on Rainier I would definitely discuss that more!! How if it melts, all the horrible things that would happen, etc.

    :)

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  3. Joan LeBeauOctober 6, 2011 at 8:35 PM

    Hey Serena!
    Your paper was interesting and I liked the topic. It was nice to get to know more about Mt. Rainer. You could have added more information though, especially about the eruption. There are so many amazing facts about it, you should definitely add some. The pictures are great and I love the ice cave. The "physical features" heading would be more effective if it was under the photo. Almost all of the headings can have more "meat" added to them. There are numerous facts you could put under the history heading, which will make your writing more interesting, and add to the length. The Native American fact was interesting too so you should expand on that. Perhaps it would help if you utilized more websites than just Wikipedia. You can get more information that way, and different sorts of facts. There is a lot of facts to make use of, so you shouldn't limit yourself. Hope this helps!

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  4. OrsolyaOctober 7, 2011 at 2:05 PM

    Your post was interesting and caught my attention because of the subject matter. I enjoyed the photos that you included but would definitely have liked to see more detailed shots of the things you describe in your text. I felt that you started out well and led us into more detailed explanations about the mountain, however I got a little confused midway through with the structure of your content. I felt that some information was grouped together with content that was unrelated. For example, you talk about the name of the volcano near the end of your text and you immediately follow with trails and recreational information. I feel that you need to make the post a little more cohesive by grouping related information together, and use transitional sentences, instead of headings, to move on to other details. Another small change I would make is the size of the text, which to me could be a little larger (maybe cuz I'm old!) or maybe changing your background image could help to minimize distraction from what you write. Overall, I enjoyed reading your post, good job!
    Orsolya

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