Mountain Building
Folds & Faults
Fault Anatomy
National Parks – West
National Parks – East
100

This stage involves thick layers of sediment or volcanic rock building up over time.

What is the Accumulation Stage?

100

A bend in rock layers due to stress.

What is a fold?

100

The surface along which movement occurs in a fault.

What is a fault plane?

100

This Wyoming park features dramatic mountains formed by faulting and uplift.

What is Grand Teton National Park?

100

This Arkansas park is known for thermal springs and bathhouses.

What is Hot Springs National Park?

200

This stage includes folding and faulting as mountains begin forming.

What is the Orogenic Stage?

200

A break in rock with movement along it.

What is a fault?

200

The rock located above the fault plane.

What is the hanging wall?

200

This Nevada park has elevations from desert valleys to alpine peaks.

What is Great Basin National Park?

200

This Virginia park features Skyline Drive and part of the Appalachian Trail.

What is Shenandoah National Park?

300

This stage includes uplift, erosion, and block faulting after mountains form.

What is Crustal Extension and Uplift?

300

A fold where the oldest rocks are in the center and it arches upward.

What is an anticline?

300

The rock located below the fault plane.

What is the footwall?

300

This California park is known for Joshua trees and two desert ecosystems.

What is Joshua Tree National Park?

300

This park spans Tennessee and North Carolina and is known for biodiversity.

What is Great Smoky Mountains National Park?

400

The process where the Earth’s crust rebounds upward after being compressed.

What is Isostatic rebound?

400

A fold where the youngest rocks are in the center and it dips downward.

What is a syncline?

400

Cracks in rock where no movement has occurred.

What are joints?

400

This park is the hottest, driest, and lowest place in the U.S.

What is Death Valley National Park?

400

These trees are the tallest in the world and found in a California park.

What are Redwoods (Redwood National Park)?

500

This mountain-building event influenced Grand Teton formation.

What is the Laramide Orogeny?

500

A rare fold where rock layers bend in one direction like a step.

What is a monocline?

500

The type of faulting common in the Basin and Range Province.

What is block faulting?

500

These parks contain the largest trees on Earth, including General Sherman.

What are Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks?

500

Compared to Death Valley, this park has extreme elevation variation but cooler alpine climates.

What is Great Basin National Park?