Explore the incredible geological forces that shaped Yosemite, from ancient granite formation to the powerful work of glaciers and ongoing erosion.
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Born From Fire Beneath the Earth
Yosemite National Park covers nearly 1,200 square miles of California's Sierra Nevada, and almost everything you see here — the cliffs, the domes, the valley walls — is…
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When Glaciers Carved a Valley Deep
The ice that shaped this landscape reached depths of up to four thousand feet — thick enough to bury most of the valley walls entirely.
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How Granite Peels Itself Into Shape
Half Dome lost roughly forty percent of its original mass — not from glaciers slicing it away, but from the rock essentially shedding its own skin.
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Hanging Valleys Feed Yosemite's Giant Falls
Yosemite Falls drops 2,425 feet in three cascades, making it one of the tallest waterfalls in North America — roughly thirteen times the height of Niagara.
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Cliffs That Never Stop Falling Apart
In 2008, a granite slab the size of a football field peeled off the cliff near Curry Village, sending debris across a wide area at speeds exceeding a hundred miles per…
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