National Parks & Locations
This Wyoming park features mountains rising over 7,000 feet above the valley floor with no foothills.
Grand Teton National Park
This stage of mountain building involves thick sedimentary or volcanic deposition.
Accumulation Stage
This fold arches upward and contains the oldest rocks at its center.
Anticline
This Cenozoic orogeny uplifted the Tetons and much of the Rockies.
Laramide Orogeny
These crystalline metamorphic structures form the cores of many Basin and Range mountains.
Metamorphic Core Complexes
This Nevada park contains Wheeler Peak and sits in the Basin and Range Province.
Great Basin National Park
This active mountain‑building stage involves folding and faulting.
Orogenic Stage
This fold dips downward like a trough and contains the youngest rocks at its center.
Syncline
This type of mountain structure dominates the Tetons, with 30,000 feet of displacement.
Fault‑Block Mountain
This rounded‑boulder weathering process shaped Joshua Tree’s granite outcrops.
Spheroidal Weathering
This California desert park is known for its namesake trees and filming locations.
Joshua Tree National Park
This final stage involves crustal extension, block faulting, and uplift.
Crustal Extension and Block Faulting Stage
This fault type occurs when the hanging wall moves down due to tension.
Normal Fault
This sharp peak in the Tetons is a classic horn carved by glaciers.
Grand Teton Peak
This French‑named mixture of deep‑ocean sediments and mafic lava forms Redwood’s terrane.
Mélange
This park contains the lowest point in North America at 282 feet below sea level.
Death Valley National Park
This stable interior of a continent contains the oldest rocks.
The Craton
This fault type involves lateral movement, such as along the San Andreas Fault.
Strike‑Slip Fault
These sediment‑rich features form where streams exit steep mountains into flat basins.
Alluvial Fans
These tallest trees on Earth grow in the foggy coastal ranges of northern California.
Coast Redwoods
These two adjacent California parks contain Mt. Whitney and the world’s largest trees.
Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks
This process adds exotic terranes to continents, such as in California and Oregon.
Tectonic Accretion
This mining‑derived term refers to the rock above a dipping fault plane.
Hanging Wall
This term describes the Great Basin’s lack of any surface drainage to the ocean.
Internal Drainage
This Arkansas park is the smallest national park and features 47 thermal springs.
Hot Springs National Park