Sierra Nevada Batholith

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Glacier-sliced Half Dome, Yosemite, a classic granite dome of the Sierra Nevada Batholith
Glacier-sliced Half Dome, Yosemite, a classic granite dome of the Sierra Nevada Batholith

The Sierra Nevada Batholith is a large batholith in the Sierra Nevada mountain range, USA, and is a continuous granitic formation that forms much of the Sierra Nevada mountain range of California.

The batholith is composed of many individual masses of rock called plutons, which formed deep underground during separate episodes of magma intrusion. The extremely hot, more buoyant plutons, also called plutonic diapirs, intruded through denser, native country rock, ultimately to make landforms such as Yosemite National Park.

[edit] External links