El Capitan is a vertical granite monolith rising about 900 meters from the floor of Yosemite Valley in the Sierra Nevada of California, formed from the El Capitan Granite, part of the Sierra Nevada Batholith, a vast body of magma that intruded and slowly crystallized deep underground between roughly 130 and 100 million years ago. Its sheer face is largely the product of glacial erosion: repeated glaciations during the last two million years carved and steepened Yosemite Valley, plucking away jointed and fractured granite along the valley walls to leave the exceptionally smooth, uninterrupted cliff face for which El Capitan is renowned. The rock's minimal jointing and fracturing, unusual for granite, gives it the continuous, unbroken vertical expanse that has made it one of the most celebrated big-wall rock climbing formations in the world.
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Protected StatusNational Park or Reserve 1 Connections
Associated With
Source El Capitan (Wikipedia)
Source El Capitan (Wikipedia)
Caused By
Source El Capitan (Wikipedia)
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Sources
1. El Capitan (Wikipedia)
Lead section
El Capitan (Spanish: El Capitán; lit. 'the Captain') is a vertical rock formation in Yosemite National Park, on the north side of Yosemite Valley, near its western end. The granite monolith is about 3,000 feet (914 m) from base to summit along its tallest face and is a world-famous location for big wall climbing, including the disciplines of aid climbing, free climbing, and more recently for free solo climbing.
Associated With: Granite, Article text, rock Granite
A separate intrusion of igneous rock, the Taft Granite, forms the uppermost portions of the cliff face.
Associated With: Diorite, Article text, rock Diorite
A separate intrusion of igneous rock, the Taft Granite, forms the uppermost portions of the cliff face. A third igneous rock, diorite, is present as dark-veined intrusions through both kinds of granite, especially prominent in the area known as the North America Wall.
Caused By: Glaciation, Article text, process Glaciation
Along with most of the other rock formations of Yosemite Valley, El Capitan was carved by glacial action.
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