1.
Mount Le Conte (California)
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Mount Le Conte is a mountain located in the Sierra Nevada of California. The boundary between Inyo and Tulare counties runs along the crest of the Sierra, across Mount Le Conte, the mountain was named in 1895 for Joseph Le Conte, the first professor of geology and natural history at the University of California. Mount Le Conte is about 3.5 miles southeast of Mount Whitney, and is flanked to the northwest by Mount Mallory, the southwest side of Mount Le Conte drains into Rock Creek, thence into the Kern River, which ends in the Central Valley of California. The north side of Mount Le Conte drains into Meysan Creek, thence into Lone Pine Creek, the east side of Le Conte drains into Tuttle Creek, and thence into Diaz Lake in the Owens Valley. The southwest side is in Sequoia National Park while the north, the Pacific Crest Trail enters the park from the south at Siberian Pass about 5 miles south of Mount Le Conte, and runs through the park a few miles west of the Sierra Crest. Mountain peaks of California Mount LeConte
2.
Summit
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A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. Mathematically, a summit is a maximum in elevation. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak, and zenith are synonymous, the UIAA definition is that a summit is independent if it has a prominence of 30 metres or more, it is a mountain if it has a prominence of at least 300 metres. This can be summarised as follows, A pyramidal peak is an exaggerated form produced by ice erosion of a mountain top, Summit may also refer to the highest point along a line, trail, or route. In many parts of the western United States, the term refers to the highest point along a road, highway. For example, the highest point along Interstate 80 in California is referred to as Donner Summit while the highest point on Interstate 5 is Siskiyou Mountain Summit, geoid Hill List of highest mountains Maxima and minima Nadir Summit accordance Peak finder
3.
Topographic prominence
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It is a measure of the independence of a summit. A peaks key col is a point on this contour line. By convention, the prominence of Mount Everest, the Earths highest mountain, is taken to equal the elevation of its summit above sea level, if the peaks prominence is P metres, to get from the summit to any higher terrain one must descend at least P metres. Together with the convention for Mount Everest, this implies that the prominence of any island or continental highpoint is equal to its elevation above sea level, for every ridge connecting the peak to higher terrain, find the lowest point on the ridge. The key col is defined as the highest of these cols, the prominence is the difference between the elevation of the peak and the elevation of the key col. The following mental exercise may illustrate the meaning of topographic prominence, imagine you are standing at the top of a peak and imagine that an imaginary sea level rises to your feet. Now slowly lower the sea level and an imaginary island appears beneath your feet. Your island will grow and will merge with other islands that emerge, the parent peak may be either close or far from the subject peak. The summit of Mount Everest is the parent peak of Aconcagua at a distance of 17,755 km, the key col may also be close or far from the subject peak. The key col for Aconcagua is the Bering Strait at a distance of 13,655 km, the key col for the South Summit of Mount Everest is about 100 m distant. Prominence is interesting to many mountaineers because it is a measurement that is strongly correlated with the subjective significance of a summit. Peaks with low prominences are either subsidiary tops of some higher summit or relatively insignificant independent summits, peaks with high prominences tend to be the highest points around and are likely to have extraordinary views. Only summits with a sufficient degree of prominence are regarded as independent mountains, for example, the worlds second-highest mountain is K2. While Mount Everests South Summit is taller than K2, it is not considered an independent mountain because it is a subsummit of the main summit, many lists of mountains take topographic prominence as a criterion for inclusion, or cutoff. John and Anne Nuttalls The Mountains of England and Wales uses a cutoff of 15 m, in the contiguous United States, the famous list of fourteeners uses a cutoff of 300 ft /91 m. Also in the U. S.2000 feet of prominence has become a threshold that signifies that a peak has major stature. This generates lists of peaks ranked by prominence, which are different from lists ranked by elevation. Such lists tend to emphasize isolated high peaks, such as range or island high points, one advantage of a prominence-ranked list is that it needs no cutoff, since a peak with high prominence is automatically an independent peak
4.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
5.
Sevier County, Tennessee
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Sevier County is a county of the U. S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2010 census, the population was 89,889 and its county seat and largest city is Sevierville. Sevier County comprises the Sevierville, TN Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is included in the Knoxville-Morristown-Sevierville, TN Combined Statistical Area. Prior to the arrival of settlers in present-day Sevier County in the mid-18th century. Sevier County was formed on September 18,1794 from part of neighboring Jefferson County, and has retained its original boundaries ever since. The county takes its name from John Sevier, governor of the failed State of Franklin and first governor of Tennessee, since its establishment in 1795, the county seat has been situated at Sevierville, the eighth-oldest city in Tennessee. Sevier County was strongly pro-Union during the Civil War, when Tennessee held a vote on the states Ordinance of Secession on June 8,1861, Sevier Countians voted 1,528 to 60 in favor of remaining in the Union. Pickens, Sheriff of Sevier County, led an attempt to destroy the railroad bridge at Strawberry Plains as part of the East Tennessee bridge-burning conspiracy. Prior to the late 1930s, Sevier Countys population, economy, however, with the creation of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in the early 1930s, the future of Sevier County changed drastically. Today, tourism supports the countys economy, according to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 598 square miles, of which 593 square miles is land and 5.2 square miles is water. The southern part of Sevier County is located within the Great Smoky Mountains, the northern parts of the county are located within the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians. Sevier contains the highest point in Tennessee, Clingmans Dome, which rises to 6,643 feet along the border with North Carolina. Mount Guyot, located in the Eastern Smokies in the eastern part of the county, is the states second-highest mountain at 6,621 feet. The 6, 593-foot Mount Le Conte, a prominent mountain visible from much of the central part of the county, is the states third-highest. Sevier County is drained primarily by the French Broad River, which passes through the part of the county. A portion of the French Broad is part of Douglas Lake, the three forks of the Little Pigeon River flow northward from the Smokies, converge near Sevierville, and empty into the French Broad north of Sevierville. The West Fork is the best known, as it flows through the popular tourist areas of Gatlinburg, the population density was 120 people per square mile. There were 37,252 housing units at a density of 63 per square mile
6.
Mountain range
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A mountain range is a geographic area containing numerous geologically related mountains. A mountain system or system of ranges, sometimes is used to combine several geological features that are geographically related. Mountain ranges are usually segmented by highlands or mountain passes and valleys, individual mountains within the same mountain range do not necessarily have the same geologic structure or petrology. They may be a mix of different orogenic expressions and terranes, for example thrust sheets, uplifted blocks, fold mountains, most geologically young mountain ranges on the Earths land surface are associated with either the Pacific Ring of Fire or the Alpide Belt. The Andes is 7,000 kilometres long and is considered the worlds longest mountain system. The Alpide belt includes Indonesia and southeast Asia, through the Himalaya, the belt also includes other European and Asian mountain ranges. The Himalayas contain the highest mountains in the world, including Mount Everest, mountain ranges outside of these two systems include the Arctic Cordillera, the Urals, the Appalachians, the Scandinavian Mountains, the Altai Mountains and the Hijaz Mountains. If the definition of a range is stretched to include underwater mountains. The mountain systems of the earth are characterized by a tree structure, the sub-range relationship is often expressed as a parent-child relationship. For example, the White Mountains of New Hampshire and the Blue Ridge Mountains are sub-ranges of the Appalachian Mountains, equivalently, the Appalachians are the parent of the White Mountains and Blue Ridge Mountains, and the White Mountains and the Blue Ridge Mountains are children of the Appalachians. The position of mountains influences climate, such as rain or snow, when air masses move up and over mountains, the air cools producing orographic precipitation. As the air descends on the side, it warms again and is drier. Often, a shadow will affect the leeward side of a range. Mountain ranges are constantly subjected to forces which work to tear them down. Erosion is at work while the mountains are being uplifted and long after until the mountains are reduced to low hills, rivers are traditionally believed to be the principle erosive factor on mountain ranges, with their ability of bedrock incision and sediment transport. The rugged topography of a range is the product of erosion. The basins adjacent to a mountain range are filled with sediments which are buried and turned into sedimentary rock. The early Cenozoic uplift of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado provides an example and this mass of rock was removed as the range was actively undergoing uplift
7.
Appalachian Mountains
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The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, are a system of mountains in eastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period and it once reached elevations similar to those of the Alps and the Rocky Mountains before naturally occurring erosion. The Appalachian chain is a barrier to east-west travel, as it forms a series of alternating ridgelines, definitions vary on the precise boundaries of the Appalachians. A common variant definition does not include the Adirondack Mountains, which belong to the Grenville Orogeny and have a different geological history from the rest of the Appalachians. The range covers parts of the islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, the system is divided into a series of ranges, with the individual mountains averaging around 3,000 ft. The highest of the group is Mount Mitchell in North Carolina at 6,684 feet, the term Appalachian refers to several different regions associated with the mountain range. Most broadly, it refers to the mountain range with its surrounding hills. The Ouachita Mountains in Arkansas and Oklahoma were originally part of the Appalachians as well, the name was soon altered by the Spanish to Apalachee and used as a name for the tribe and region spreading well inland to the north. Pánfilo de Narváezs expedition first entered Apalachee territory on June 15,1528, now spelled Appalachian, it is the fourth-oldest surviving European place-name in the US. After the de Soto expedition in 1540, Spanish cartographers began to apply the name of the tribe to the mountains themselves. The first cartographic appearance of Apalchen is on Diego Gutierrezs map of 1562, the name was not commonly used for the whole mountain range until the late 19th century. A competing and often more popular name was the Allegheny Mountains, Alleghenies, in the early 19th century, Washington Irving proposed renaming the United States either Appalachia or Alleghania. In U. S. dialects in the regions of the Appalachians. In northern parts of the range, it is pronounced /ˌæpəˈleɪtʃᵻnz/ or /ˌæpəˈleɪʃᵻnz/, the third syllable is like lay. There is often debate between the residents of the regions as to which pronunciation is the more correct one. Elsewhere, a commonly accepted pronunciation for the adjective Appalachian is /ˌæpəˈlætʃiən/, the whole system may be divided into three great sections, Northern, The northern section runs from the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador to the Hudson River. The Monteregian Hills, which cross the Green Mountains in Quebec, are also unassociated with the Appalachians, Central, The central section goes from the Hudson Valley to the New River running through Virginia and West Virginia. Southern, The southern section runs from the New River onwards and it consists of the prolongation of the Blue Ridge, which is divided into the Western Blue Ridge Front and the Eastern Blue Ridge Front, the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians, and the Cumberland Plateau
8.
Blue Ridge Mountains
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The Blue Ridge Mountains are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains range. This province consists of northern and southern regions, which divide near the Roanoke River gap. The mountain range is located in the eastern United States, starting at its southernmost portion in Georgia, then ending northward in Pennsylvania. To the west of the Blue Ridge, between it and the bulk of the Appalachians, lies the Great Appalachian Valley, bordered on the west by the Ridge, the Blue Ridge Mountains are noted for having a bluish color when seen from a distance. Trees put the blue in Blue Ridge, from the isoprene released into the atmosphere, thereby contributing to the haze on the mountains. Within the Blue Ridge province are two national parks, the Shenandoah National Park, in the northern section, and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The Blue Ridge also contains the Blue Ridge Parkway, a 469-mile long scenic highway that connects the two parks and is located along the ridge crestlines with the Appalachian Trail, the Blue Ridge extends as far north into Pennsylvania as South Mountain. The Blue Ridge contains the highest mountains in eastern North America south of Baffin Island, about 125 peaks exceed 5,000 feet in elevation. The highest peak in the Blue Ridge is Mt. Mitchell in North Carolina at 6,684 feet. There are 39 peaks in North Carolina and Tennessee higher than 6,000 feet, by comparison, Southern Sixers is a term used by peak baggers for this group of mountains. The Blue Ridge Parkway runs 469 miles along crests of the Southern Appalachians, in many places along the parkway, there are metamorphic rocks with folded bands of light-and dark-colored minerals, which sometimes look like the folds and swirls in a marble cake. Most of the rocks that form the Blue Ridge Mountains are ancient granitic charnockites, metamorphosed volcanic formations, modern studies have found that the basement geology of the Blue Ridge is made of compositionally unique gneisses and granitoids, including orthopyroxene-bearing charnockites. Analysis of zircon minerals in the completed by John Aleinikoff at the U. S. Geological Survey has provided more detailed emplacement ages. Many of the found in the Blue Ridge and documented by Tollo. The lack of an affinity and zircon ages less than 1,200 Ma suggest that the Blue Ridge is distinct from the Adirondacks, Green Mountains. The petrologic and geochronologic data suggest that the Blue Ridge basement is a composite orogenic crust that was emplaced during several episodes from a magma source. Field relationships further illustrate that rocks emplaced prior to 1, 078-1,064 Ma preserve deformational features and those emplaced post-1,064 Ma generally have a massive texture and missed the main episode of Mesoproterozoic compression. The Blue Ridge Mountains began forming during the Silurian Period over 400 million years ago, approximately 320 Mya, North America and Europe collided, pushing up the Blue Ridge
9.
Great Smoky Mountains
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The Great Smoky Mountains are a mountain range rising along the Tennessee–North Carolina border in the southeastern United States. They are a subrange of the Appalachian Mountains, and form part of the Blue Ridge Physiographic Province, the range is sometimes called the Smoky Mountains and the name is commonly shortened to the Smokies. The Great Smokies are best known as the home of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the park was established in 1934, and, with over 9 million visits per year, it is the most-visited national park in the United States. The Great Smokies are part of an International Biosphere Reserve, the range is home to an estimated 187,000 acres of old growth forest, constituting the largest such stand east of the Mississippi River. The Great Smokies are also home to the densest black bear population in the Eastern United States, along with the Biosphere reserve, the Great Smokies have been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The park contains five districts and nine individual listings on the National Register of Historic Places. The name Smoky comes from the fog that often hangs over the range. This fog is caused by the vegetation exhaling volatile organic compounds, chemicals that have a vapor pressure. As a result of the 2016 Great Smoky Mountains wildfires, the Great Smoky Mountains have received media coverage. The Great Smoky Mountains stretch from the Pigeon River in the northeast to the Little Tennessee River to the southwest, the northwestern half of the range gives way to a series of elongate ridges known as the Foothills, the outermost of which include Chilhowee Mountain and English Mountain. The range is bounded on the south by the Tuckasegee River and to the southeast by Soco Creek. The Great Smokies comprise parts of Blount County, Sevier County, the sources of several rivers are located in the Smokies, including the Little Pigeon River, the Oconaluftee River, and Little River. Streams in the Smokies are part of the Tennessee River watershed and are thus entirely west of the Eastern Continental Divide. The largest stream wholly within the park is Abrams Creek, which rises in Cades Cove, other major streams include Hazel Creek and Eagle Creek in the southwest, Raven Fork near Oconaluftee, Cosby Creek near Cosby, and Roaring Fork near Gatlinburg. The Little Tennessee River passes through five impoundments along the southwestern boundary, namely Tellico Lake, Chilhowee Lake, Calderwood Lake, Cheoah Lake. The highest point in the Smokies is Clingmans Dome, which rises to an elevation of 6,643 feet, the mountain is the highest in Tennessee and the third highest in the Appalachian range. Clingmans Dome also has the ranges highest topographical prominence at 4,503 feet, Mount Le Conte is the tallest mountain in the range, rising 5,301 feet from its base in Gatlinburg to its 6, 593-foot summit. The Smokies rise prominently above the low terrain
10.
Topographic map
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Traditional definitions require a topographic map to show both natural and man-made features. A topographic map is published as a map series, made up of two or more map sheets that combine to form the whole map. A contour line is a line connecting places of equal elevation, however, in the vernacular and day to day world, the representation of relief is popularly held to define the genre, such that even small-scale maps showing relief are commonly called topographic. The study or discipline of topography is a broader field of study. Topographic maps are based on topographical surveys, performed at large scales, these surveys are called topographical in the old sense of topography, showing a variety of elevations and landforms. This is in contrast to older cadastral surveys, which primarily show property, the first multi-sheet topographic map series of an entire country, the Carte géométrique de la France, was completed in 1789. Topographic surveys were prepared by the military to assist in planning for battle, as such, elevation information was of vital importance. As they evolved, topographic map series became a resource in modern nations in planning infrastructure. Excluding borders, each sheet was 44 cm high and up to 66 cm wide, although the project eventually foundered, it left an indexing system that remains in use. TIGER was developed in the 1980s and used in the 1990, digital elevation models were also compiled, initially from topographic maps and stereographic interpretation of aerial photographs and then from satellite photography and radar data. Since all these were government projects funded with taxes and not classified for security reasons. Initial applications were mostly professionalized forms such as innovative surveying instruments, by the mid-1990s, increasingly user-friendly resources such as online mapping in two and three dimensions, integration of GPS with mobile phones and automotive navigation systems appeared. As of 2011, the future of standardized, centrally printed topographical maps is left somewhat in doubt, the various features shown on the map are represented by conventional signs or symbols. For example, colors can be used to indicate a classification of roads and these signs are usually explained in the margin of the map, or on a separately published characteristic sheet. Topographic maps are commonly called contour maps or topo maps. In the United States, where the national series is organized by a strict 7. 5-minute grid. Topographic maps conventionally show topography, or land contours, by means of contour lines, contour lines are curves that connect contiguous points of the same altitude. In other words, every point on the line of 100 m elevation is 100 m above mean sea level
11.
United States Geological Survey
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The United States Geological Survey is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its resources. The organization has four science disciplines, concerning biology, geography, geology. The USGS is a research organization with no regulatory responsibility. The USGS is a bureau of the United States Department of the Interior, the USGS employs approximately 8,670 people and is headquartered in Reston, Virginia. The USGS also has major offices near Lakewood, Colorado, at the Denver Federal Center, the current motto of the USGS, in use since August 1997, is science for a changing world. The agencys previous slogan, adopted on the occasion of its anniversary, was Earth Science in the Public Service. Prompted by a report from the National Academy of Sciences, the USGS was created, by a last-minute amendment and it was charged with the classification of the public lands, and examination of the geological structure, mineral resources, and products of the national domain. This task was driven by the need to inventory the vast lands added to the United States by the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the legislation also provided that the Hayden, Powell, and Wheeler surveys be discontinued as of June 30,1879. Clarence King, the first director of USGS, assembled the new organization from disparate regional survey agencies, after a short tenure, King was succeeded in the directors chair by John Wesley Powell. Administratively, it is divided into a Headquarters unit and six Regional Units, Other specific programs include, Earthquake Hazards Program monitors earthquake activity worldwide. The National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colorado on the campus of the Colorado School of Mines detects the location, the USGS also runs or supports several regional monitoring networks in the United States under the umbrella of the Advanced National Seismic System. The USGS informs authorities, emergency responders, the media, and it also maintains long-term archives of earthquake data for scientific and engineering research. It also conducts and supports research on long-term seismic hazards, USGS has released the UCERF California earthquake forecast. The USGS National Geomagnetism Program monitors the magnetic field at magnetic observatories and distributes magnetometer data in real time, the USGS operates the streamgaging network for the United States, with over 7400 streamgages. Real-time streamflow data are available online, since 1962, the Astrogeology Research Program has been involved in global, lunar, and planetary exploration and mapping. USGS operates a number of related programs, notably the National Streamflow Information Program. USGS Water data is available from their National Water Information System database
12.
First ascent
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In climbing, a first ascent is the first successful, documented attainment of the top of a mountain, or the first to follow a particular climbing route. First ascents are notable because they entail genuine exploration, with risks, challenges. The person who performs the first ascent is called the first ascensionist, the details of the first ascents of even many prominent mountains are scanty or unknown, sometimes the only evidence of prior summiting is a cairn, artifacts, or inscriptions at the top. Today, first ascents are generally recorded and usually mentioned in guidebooks. Overwhelmingly, the idea of a first ascent is a one, especially in places such as Africa. There may be little or no evidence or documentation about the climbing activities of indigenous peoples living near the mountain. The term is used when referring to ascents made using a specific technique or taking a specific route, such as via the North Face. In rock climbing, some of the earlier first ascents, particularly for difficult routes, involved a mix of free, as a result, purist free climbers have developed the designation first free ascent to acknowledge ascents intentionally made more challenging by using equipment for protection only. Some other first ascents could be recorded for particular mountains or routes, one is the First Winter Ascent, which is, as the name easily suggests, the first ascent made during winter season. This is most important where the climate of winter is a factor in increasing the difficulty grade of the route, in the Northern Hemisphere conventional winter ascents are made between December 21 and March 21 and are not related to the conditions. Also in the Himalayan area, although Nepal and Chinas winter season permits start on December 1, another is the First Solo Ascent, which is the first ascent made by a single climber. This is most important on high-level rock climbing, when the climber has to provide his own security or even when climbing without any protection at all, another type of ascent, also known as FFA is the first female ascent. The term last ascent has been used to refer to an ascent of a mountain or face that has changed to such an extent – often because of rockfall – that the route no longer exists. It can also be used facetiously to refer to a climb that is so unpleasant or unaesthetic that no one would willingly repeat the first ascent partys ordeal. List of first ascents List of first ascents in the Alps List of first ascents in the Himalaya Glossary of climbing terms Alpinist Magazine – Peter Mortimers First Ascent, Issue 17
13.
Hiking
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Hiking is the preferred term, in Canada and the United States, for a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails, in the countryside, while the word walking is used for shorter, particularly urban walks. On the other hand, in the United Kingdom, and the Republic of Ireland, the word hiking is also often used in the UK, along with rambling, hillwalking, and fell walking. The term bushwalking is endemic to Australia, having been adopted by the Sydney Bush Walkers club in 1927, in New Zealand a long, vigorous walk or hike is called tramping. It is an activity with numerous hiking organizations worldwide. In the United States, Canada, the Republic of Ireland, a day hike refers to a hike that can be completed in a single day. However, in the United Kingdom, the walking is also used, as well as rambling. In Northern England, Including the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales, fellwalking describes hill or mountain walks, hiking sometimes involves bushwhacking and is sometimes referred to as such. This specifically refers to walking through dense forest, undergrowth, or bushes. In extreme cases of bushwhacking, where the vegetation is so dense that human passage is impeded, the Australian term bushwalking refers to both on and off-trail hiking. Common terms for hiking used by New Zealanders are tramping, walking or bushwalking, trekking is the preferred word used to describe multi-day hiking in the mountainous regions of India, Pakistan, Nepal, North America, South America, Iran and in the highlands of East Africa. Hiking a long-distance trail from end-to-end is also referred to as trekking, in North America, multi-day hikes, usually with camping, are referred to as backpacking. The idea of taking a walk in the countryside for pleasure developed in the 18th-century, in earlier times walking generally indicated poverty and was also associated with vagrancy. Thomas West, an English priest, popularized the idea of walking for pleasure in his guide to the Lake District of 1778. To this end he included various stations or viewpoints around the lakes, published in 1778 the book was a major success. Another famous early exponent of walking for pleasure, was the English poet William Wordsworth, in 1790 he embarked on an extended tour of France, Switzerland, and Germany, a journey subsequently recorded in his long autobiographical poem The Prelude. His famous poem Tintern Abbey was inspired by a visit to the Wye Valley made during a tour of Wales in 1798 with his sister Dorothy Wordsworth. Wordsworths friend Coleridge was another keen walker and in the autumn of 1799, he and Wordsworth undertook a three weeks tour of the Lake District. John Keats, who belonged to the generation of Romantic poets began, in June 1818, a walking tour of Scotland, Ireland
14.
Mountain
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A mountain is a large landform that stretches above the surrounding land in a limited area, usually in the form of a peak. A mountain is steeper than a hill. Mountains are formed through tectonic forces or volcanism and these forces can locally raise the surface of the earth. Mountains erode slowly through the action of rivers, weather conditions, a few mountains are isolated summits, but most occur in huge mountain ranges. High elevations on mountains produce colder climates than at sea level and these colder climates strongly affect the ecosystems of mountains, different elevations have different plants and animals. Because of the less hospitable terrain and climate, mountains tend to be used less for agriculture and more for resource extraction and recreation, the highest mountain on Earth is Mount Everest in the Himalayas of Asia, whose summit is 8,850 m above mean sea level. The highest known mountain on any planet in the Solar System is Olympus Mons on Mars at 21,171 m, there is no universally accepted definition of a mountain. Elevation, volume, relief, steepness, spacing and continuity have been used as criteria for defining a mountain, whether a landform is called a mountain may depend on local usage. The highest point in San Francisco, California, is called Mount Davidson, notwithstanding its height of 300 m, similarly, Mount Scott outside Lawton, Oklahoma is only 251 m from its base to its highest point. Whittows Dictionary of Physical Geography states Some authorities regard eminences above 600 metres as mountains, in addition, some definitions also include a topographical prominence requirement, typically 100 or 500 feet. For a while, the US defined a mountain as being 1,000 feet or taller, any similar landform lower than this height was considered a hill. However, today, the United States Geological Survey concludes that these terms do not have technical definitions in the US, using these definitions, mountains cover 33% of Eurasia, 19% of South America, 24% of North America, and 14% of Africa. As a whole, 24% of the Earths land mass is mountainous, there are three main types of mountains, volcanic, fold, and block. All three types are formed from plate tectonics, when portions of the Earths crust move, crumple, compressional forces, isostatic uplift and intrusion of igneous matter forces surface rock upward, creating a landform higher than the surrounding features. The height of the feature makes it either a hill or, if higher and steeper, major mountains tend to occur in long linear arcs, indicating tectonic plate boundaries and activity. Volcanoes are formed when a plate is pushed below another plate, at a depth of around 100 km, melting occurs in rock above the slab, and forms magma that reaches the surface. When the magma reaches the surface, it builds a volcanic mountain. Examples of volcanoes include Mount Fuji in Japan and Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines, the magma does not have to reach the surface in order to create a mountain, magma that solidifies below ground can still form dome mountains, such as Navajo Mountain in the US
15.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
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The border between Tennessee and North Carolina runs northeast to southwest through the centerline of the park. It is the most visited park in the United States with over 11.3 million recreational visitors in 2016. On its route from Maine to Georgia, the Appalachian Trail also passes through the center of the park, the park was chartered by the United States Congress in 1934 and officially dedicated by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1940. It encompasses 522,419 acres, making it one of the largest protected areas in the eastern United States, the main park entrances are located along U. S. Highway 441 at the towns of Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and Cherokee, North Carolina. It was the first national park land and other costs were paid for in part with federal funds. Due to the 2016 Great Smoky Mountains wildfires, the Park was under orders, along with some towns. Before the arrival of European settlers, the region was part of the homeland of the Cherokees, frontiers people began settling the land in the 18th and early 19th century. Many of the Cherokee left, but some, led by renegade warrior Tsali, some of their descendants now live in the Qualla Boundary to the south of the park. Cut-and-run-style clearcutting was destroying the beauty of the area, so visitors. The U. S. National Park Service wanted a park in the eastern United States, though Congress had authorized the park in 1926, there was no nucleus of federally owned land around which to build a park. Slowly, mountain homesteaders, miners, and loggers were evicted from the land, farms and timbering operations were abolished to establish the protected areas of the park. Travel writer Horace Kephart, for whom Mount Kephart was named, former Governor Ben W. Hooper of Tennessee was the principal land purchasing agent for the park, which was officially established on June 15,1934. It was also a site for filming of parts of Disneys hit 1950s TV series, Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier. This park was designated an International Biosphere Reserve in 1976, was certified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983, a 75th anniversary re-dedication ceremony was held on September 2,2009. Among those in attendance were all four US Senators, the three US Representatives whose districts include the park, the governors of states, and Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar. Tennessee native, singer, and actress Dolly Parton also attended and performed, the majority of rocks in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park are Late Precambrian rocks that are part of the Ocoee Supergroup. This group consists of metamorphosed sandstones, phyllites, schists, early Precambrian rocks are not only the oldest rocks in the park but also the dominant rock type in sites such as the Raven Fork Valley and upper Tuckasegee River between Cherokee and Bryson City. They primarily consist of gneiss, granite, and schist
16.
Clingmans Dome
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Clingmans Dome is a mountain in the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina, in the southeastern United States. At an elevation of 6,643 feet, it is the highest mountain in the Smokies, the highest point in the state of Tennessee, and it is also the third highest point in all of Eastern North America, after the nearby Mount Mitchell and Mount Craig. Clingmans Dome has two subpeaks,6, 560-foot Mount Buckley to the west and 6, 400-foot Mount Love to the east. The headwaters of several substantial streams are located on the slopes of Clingmans Dome, namely Little River on the north slope, the mountain is located entirely within the Tennessee River watershed. Clingmans Dome is protected as part of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, a paved road connects it to U. S. Highway 441. The 45-foot concrete observation tower, built in 1959 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, an air quality monitoring station, operated by the Environmental Protection Agency, is the second highest in eastern North America. Clingmans Dome stands prominently above the terrain, rising nearly 5,000 feet from base to summit. The forest on and around Clingmans Dome has experienced a large die-off of Fraser fir caused by the non-native insect, the Cherokee name for Clingmans Dome was Kuwahi, or mulberry place. In 1789, an act passed by the North Carolina legislature ceded what is now Tennessee to the federal government. This act fixed a portion of the boundary between the two along the crest of the Great Iron or Smoky Mountains, which would have included the now known as Clingmans Dome. The mountain was dubbed Smoky Dome by American settlers moving in from other areas, Mitchell contended that a peak by the name of Black Dome was the highest, while Clingman asserted that Smoky Dome was the true highest peak. Guyot determined that Black Dome was 39 feet higher than Smoky Dome, in the early morning hours of June 12,1946, a Boeing B-29 Superfortress crashed near the summit of Clingmans Dome, killing all twelve aboard. Clingmans Dome is part of a formation known as the Copperhill Formation. It consists predominately of massive, coarse-grained metagreywacke and metaconglomerate, the Lower northern flanks of Clingmans Dome are underlain by thick layers of sulfidic, quartz-garnet-muscovite phyllite and schist, which occur within the metagraywackes and metaconglomerates. Adjacent to and south of its summit, thin, southward-dipping, the Copperhill Formation is part of the greater Ocoee Supergroup, a body of clastic metasedimentary rocks formed 560 million years ago. They unconformably lie upon Precambrian granitic and gneissic rocks and these basins were rift basins formed by the rifting of Rodinia. The initial metamorphism of the Ocoee Supergroup occurred about 400 million years ago as the result of Ordovician-Silurian tectonism during the Taconic orogeny. During the latest part of this orogeny, this segment of the Appalachian Mountains was formed by thrust faulting and folding that uplifted these strata as a series of complexly deformed thrust sheets
17.
Mount Guyot (Great Smoky Mountains)
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Mount Guyot is a mountain in the eastern Great Smoky Mountains, located in the southeastern United States. At 6,621 feet above sea level, Guyot is the fourth-highest summit in the eastern U. S. while the mountain is remote, the Appalachian Trail crosses its south slope, passing to within 1,000 feet of the summit. Mount Guyot lies on the Tennessee-North Carolina border, between Sevier County and Haywood County, there are two peaks atop the mountain, appx. one-half mile apart, with the southwestern peak being the true summit. The mountain rises 3,600 feet above its base near Walnut Bottom and 4,000 feet above its western base near Greenbrier Cove. Ramsey Cascades, one of the parks most spectacular waterfalls, spills down a cliff near the bottom of Guyots western slope. A dense stand of Southern Appalachian spruce-fir forest coats the summit, a long hike and a challenging bushwhack are required to reach the summit. Mount Guyot is composed of Precambrian rocks of the Ocoee Supergroup, the mountain is underlain by Thunderhead sandstone, which is common throughout the Smokies. The Thunderhead sandstone was thrust over Roaring Fork sandstone several hundred years ago. Mt. Guyot itself was formed during the Appalachian orogeny over 200 million years ago, Mount Guyot was named in honor of Swiss geographer Arnold Guyot by Guyots friend, Samuel Buckley. Buckley was a naturalist who accompanied Thomas Lanier Clingman on an expedition to the crest of the Smokies in 1858. Guyot measured the elevation of Mt. Guyot at 6,636 feet, regarding the Eastern Smokies, surveyors and authors alike agreed on one thing, the region was very remote and isolated. Guyot himself said of the area, neither the man or the Indian hunter venture in this wilderness. For Horace Kephart, who wrote extensively on the Smoky Mountains in the early 1900s, I know but few men who have ever followed this part of the divide. Kephart goes on to relate the account of James Ferris and his wife, Mt. Guyot remained isolated until the CCC constructed a segment of the Appalachian Trail across the mountains western slope in 1935. Although the trail opened up the heart of the Eastern Smokies to backpackers, according to author Laura Thornborough, who climbed Guyot in the late 1930s, My first of three trips to the top of Mt. Guyot remains sharply etched in my memory. It was the hardest, roughest and most exhausting of all the trips I have ever made in the Great Smokies, Thornborough followed the route out of Greenbrier that ascends Guyots western slope. She recalled that there was no trail to Guyot, not even a dim one, the party followed Ramsay Prong until it became a mere trickle of water, and emerged near modern-day Guyot Spring. From the state line, they found a dim trail leading to the summit, Thornborough concluded her report by saying, if it is wilderness you want, then go to Guyot
18.
Gatlinburg, Tennessee
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Gatlinburg is a mountain resort city in Sevier County, Tennessee, United States. It is 39 miles southeast of Knoxville and its population was 3,944 at the 2010 Census, and 4,047 according to the 2012 Census estimate. It is a vacation resort, as it rests on the border of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park along U. S. Route 441. Gatlinburg is located at 35°43′19″N 83°29′58″W, according to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 10.1 square miles, all land. The main watershed is the West Fork of the Little Pigeon River, U. S. Route 441 is the main traffic artery in Gatlinburg, running through the center of town from north to south. Along 441, Pigeon Forge is approximately 6 miles to the north, tN-73 forks off from 441 in the Sugarlands and heads west for roughly 25 miles, connecting the Gatlinburg area with Townsend and Blount County. U. S. Route 321 enters Gatlinburg from Pigeon Forge and Wears Valley to the north before turning east, connecting Gatlinburg with Newport and Cosby. For centuries, Cherokee hunters used a known as the Indian Gap Trail to access the abundant game in the forests. US-441 largely follows this route today, although it crests at Newfound Gap rather than Indian Gap. With the help of the Cherokee, Ogle cut, hewed and he returned home to Edgefield to retrieve his family and grow one final crop for supplies. Shortly after his arrival in Edgefield, however, an epidemic swept the low country. His widow, Martha Jane Huskey Ogle, moved the family to Virginia, shortly after their arrival, they erected a cabin near the confluence of Baskins Creek and the West Fork of the Little Pigeon. The cabin still stands today near the heart of Gatlinburg, james and Rebecca McCarter settled in the Cartertown district of Gatlinburg. In the decade following the arrival of the Ogles, McCarters, and Huskeys in what came to be known as White Oak Flats, a steady stream of settlers moved into the area. Most of these settlers were veterans of the American Revolution or War of 1812 who had converted into deeds the 50-acre tracts they had received for service in war, among these early settlers were Timothy Reagan, John Ownby, Jr. and Henry Bohanon. Their descendants still live in the area today, in 1856, a post office was established in the general store of Radford Gatlin, giving the town the name Gatlinburg. Despite the town bearing his name, Gatlin, who had arrived in the flats around 1854. By 1857, a feud had erupted between the Gatlins and the Ogles, probably over Gatlins attempts to divert the towns main road
19.
Massif
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In geology, a massif is a section of a planets crust that is demarcated by faults or flexures. In the movement of the crust, a massif tends to retain its structure while being displaced as a whole. The term is used to refer to a group of mountains formed by such a structure. In mountaineering and climbing literature, a massif is frequently used to denote the mass of an individual mountain. The massif is a structural unit of the crust than a tectonic plate and is considered the fourth largest driving force in geomorphology. The word is taken from French, where it is used to refer to a mountain mass or compact group of connected mountains forming an independent portion of a range. One of the most notable European examples of a massif is the Massif Central of the Auvergne region of France, the Face on Mars is an example of an extraterrestrial massif. Massifs may also form such as with the Atlantis Massif
20.
Arnold Guyot
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Arnold Henry Guyot was a Swiss-American geologist and geographer. Guyot was born on September 28,1807 at Boudevilliers, near Neuchâtel and he was educated at Chaux-de-Fonds, then at the college of Neuchâtel. In 1825, he went to Germany and resided in Karlsruhe where he met Louis Agassiz, from Karlsruhe he moved to Stuttgart, where he studied at the gymnasium. He returned to Neuchâtel in 1827 and he determined to enter the ministry and started at the University of Berlin to attend lectures. While pursuing his studies, he attended lectures on philosophy. His leisure time was spent in collecting shells and plants, in 1835, he received the degree of PhD from Berlin. In 1838, at Agassizs suggestion, he visited the Swiss glaciers and he was the first to point out certain important observations relating to glacial motion and structure. He subsequently collected important data concerning erratic boulders, in 1839, he became the colleague of Agassiz as professor of history and physical geography at the College of Neuchâtel. The suspension of that institution in 1848 caused Guyot to emigrate, at Agassizs instance, to the United States and he delivered a course of lectures at the Lowell Institute which were afterward published as Earth and Man. For several years the Massachusetts Board of Education retained his services as a lecturer on geography and methods of instruction to the normal schools and teachers institutes. He was occupied with this work until his appointment, in 1854, as professor of geography and geology at Princeton University. He was also for several years lecturer on geography in the State Normal School in Trenton, New Jersey. He also gave courses in the Union Theological Seminary, New York and he founded the museum at Princeton, many of the specimens of which are from his own collections. His scientific work in the United States included the perfection of plans for a system of meteorological observations. Most of these were conducted under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution and his extensive meteorological observations led to the establishment of the United States Weather Bureau, and his Meteorological and Physical Tables were long standard. A guyot, also known as a tablemount, is an underwater volcanic mountain. The diameters of these flat summits can exceed 10 km, the term guyot was coined by Harry Hammond Hess and named after Arnold Guyot. Scientist James Dwight Dana described Guyot as a religious man, living as if ever in communion with his Heavenly Parent
21.
John LeConte
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John LeConte was an American scientist and academic. He served as president of the University of California from 1869 to 1870, LeConte was born in Liberty County, Georgia, to Louis Le Conte, patriarch of the noted LeConte family. He attended Franklin College at the University of Georgia in Athens and his younger brother Joseph LeConte also attended the University. Like many of his relatives, John LeConte next studied medicine at the New York College of Physicians and Surgeons. During this time, LeConte married Eleanor Josephine Graham and he practiced medicine until 1846 when he returned to UGA as a professor of physics and chemistry and taught there until his resignation in 1855. His next academic position was at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, as professor of physics, in March 1869, he moved to Oakland, California, to join the faculty of the newly established University of California as a professor of physics. In June 1869, he was appointed acting president of the University, in September 1869, his brother Joseph LeConte arrived in California to join the faculty of the University as a professor of geology. Upon the resignation of President Gilman in March 1875, LeConte was appointed acting president a second time until June,1876, on June 7,1881, LeConte tendered his resignation as president of the University, asking to be returned to his faculty position. LeConte died at his home in Berkeley, on April 29,1891,1949, pp. 398-400 San Francisco Street Names National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoir
22.
Waynesville, North Carolina
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Waynesville is a town in and the county seat of Haywood County, North Carolina, United States. It is the largest town in Haywood County and the largest in Western North Carolina west of Asheville, Waynesville is located about 30 miles southwest of Asheville between the Great Smoky and Blue Ridge mountains. In the 2000 census, the town had a population of 9,232 with an estimate of 10,000 as of early 2007 and 9,869 at the 2010 census and 9,789 in 2012. Waynesville is located just outside the Pisgah National Forest and is close to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Waynesville and Haywood County are part of the four-county Asheville Metropolitan Statistical Area, currently the 5th largest metropolitan area in North Carolina. It is the third largest town in the MSA behind the cities of Asheville and Hendersonville, Waynesville is located at 35°29′00″N 82°59′40″W. According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has an area of 7.8 square miles. Most of the town of Waynesville lies between 2500 and 3000 feet above sea level, and is located in a valley among 6000-foot mountain peaks, a USGS survey marker at the old Haywood County Courthouse in downtown Waynesville lists the elevation as 2,752 feet above sea level. As of the census of 2000, there were 9,232 people,4,106 households, the population density was 1,191.8 people per square mile. There were 4,761 housing units at a density of 614.6 per square mile. The racial makeup of the town was 94. 42% White,3. 31% African American,0. 54% Native American,0. 16% Asian,0. 08% Pacific Islander,0. 76% from other races, and 0. 73% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2. 01% of the population,34. 0% of all households were made up of individuals and 16. 0% had someone living alone who was 65 years or older. The average household size is 2.16 and the family size is 2.71. In the town, the population is out with 19. 9% under the age of 18,6. 1% from 18 to 24,25. 5% from 25 to 44,25. 8% from 45 to 64. The median age is 44 years, for every 100 females there are 87.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 82.9 males, the median income for a household in the town is $28,296, and the median income for a family is $36,404. Males have an income of $26,374 versus $21,159 for females. The per capita income for the town is $17,821,15. 5% of the population and 12. 6% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the population,24. 3% of those under the age of 18 and 10. 7% of those 65
23.
Knoxville, Tennessee
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Knoxville is a city in the U. S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Knox County. The city had an population of 185,291 in 2015. Knoxville is the city of the Knoxville Metropolitan Statistical Area. The KMSA is, in turn, the component of the Knoxville-Sevierville-La Follette Combined Statistical Area. First settled in 1786, Knoxville was the first capital of Tennessee, the city struggled with geographic isolation throughout the early 19th century. The arrival of the railroad in 1855 led to an economic boom, during the Civil War, the city was bitterly divided over the secession issue, and was occupied alternately by both Confederate and Union armies. Following the war, Knoxville grew rapidly as a wholesaling and manufacturing center. The citys economy stagnated after the 1920s as the manufacturing sector collapsed, Knoxville is the home of the flagship campus of the University of Tennessee, whose sports teams, called the Volunteers or Vols, are extremely popular in the surrounding area. The first people to form settlements in what is now Knoxville arrived during the Woodland period. One of the oldest artificial structures in Knoxville is a burial mound constructed during the early Mississippian culture period, the earthwork mound is now surrounded by the University of Tennessee campus. By the 18th century, the Cherokee had become the dominant tribe in the East Tennessee region, although they were consistently at war with the Creek, the Cherokee people called the Knoxville area kuwandatalunyi, which means Mulberry Place. Most Cherokee habitation in the area was concentrated in the Overhill settlements along the Little Tennessee River, the first Euro-American traders and explorers were recorded as arriving in the Tennessee Valley in the late 17th century. There is significant evidence that Hernando de Soto visited Bussell Island in 1540, the end of the French and Indian War and confusion brought about by the American Revolution led to a drastic increase in Euro-American settlement west of the Appalachians. By the 1780s, Euro-American settlers were established in the Holston. The U. S. Congress ordered all illegal settlers out of the valley in 1785, as settlers continued to trickle into Cherokee lands, tensions between the settlers and the Cherokee rose steadily. In 1786, James White, a Revolutionary War officer, and his friend James Connor built Whites Fort near the mouth of First Creek, on land White had purchased three years earlier. In 1790, Whites son-in-law, Charles McClung—who had arrived from Pennsylvania the previous year—surveyed Whites holdings between First Creek and Second Creek for the establishment of a town, mcClung drew up 640. 5-acre lots. The waterfront was set aside for a town common, two lots were set aside for a church and graveyard
24.
Proterozoic
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The Proterozoic is a geological eon representing the time just before the proliferation of complex life on Earth. The name Proterozoic comes from Greek and means life, the Greek root protero-, means former, earlier and zoic-, means animal. The Proterozoic Eon extended from 2500 Ma to 541 Ma, and is the most recent part of the Precambrian Supereon and it is subdivided into three geologic eras, the Paleoproterozoic, Mesoproterozoic, and Neoproterozoic. The geologic record of the Proterozoic Eon is more complete than that for the preceding Archean Eon, studies of these rocks have shown that the eon continued the massive continental accretion that had begun late in the Archean Eon. The Proterozoic Eon also featured the first definitive supercontinent cycles and wholly modern mountain building activity, there is evidence that the first known glaciations occurred during the Proterozoic. One of the most important events of the Proterozoic was the accumulation of oxygen in the Earths atmosphere, until roughly 2.3 billion years ago, oxygen was probably only 1% to 2% of its current level. The Banded iron formations, which provide most of the iron ore, are one mark of that mineral sink process. Their accumulation ceased after 1.9 billion years ago, after the iron in the oceans had all been oxidized, red beds, which are colored by hematite, indicate an increase in atmospheric oxygen 2 billion years ago. Such massive iron oxide formations are not found in older rocks, the Proterozoic Eon was a very tectonically active period in the Earth’s history. The late Archean Eon to Early Proterozoic Eon corresponds to a period of increasing crustal recycling, suggesting subduction, evidence for this increased subduction activity comes from the abundance of old granites originating mostly after 2.6 Ga. The appearance of eclogites, which metamorphic rocks created by pressure, are explained using a model that incorporates subduction. As a result of remelting of basaltic oceanic crust due to subduction, the long-term tectonic stability of those cratons is why we find continental crust ranging up to a few billion years in age. It is believed that 43% of modern continental crust was formed in the Proterozoic, 39% formed in the Archean, studies by Condie 2000 and Rino et al.2004 suggest that crust production happened episodically. By isotopically calculating the ages of Proterozoic granitoids it was determined there were several episodes of rapid increase in continental crust production. The reason for these pulses is unknown, but they seemed to have decreased in magnitude after every period, evidence of collision and rifting between continents raises the question as to what exactly were the movements of the Archean cratons composing Proterozoic continents. Paleomagnetic and geochronological dating mechanisms have allowed the deciphering of Precambrian Supereon tectonics and it is known that tectonic processes of the Proterozoic Eon resemble greatly the evidence of tectonic activity, such as orogenic belts or ophiolite complexes, we see today. Hence, most geologists would conclude that the Earth was active at that time and it is also commonly accepted that during the Precambrian, the Earth went through several supercontinent breakup and rebuilding cycles. In the late Proterozoic, the dominant supercontinent was Rodinia and it consisted of a series of continents attached to a central craton that forms the core of the North American Continent called Laurentia
25.
Sandstone
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Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earths crust, like sand, sandstone may be any color, but the most common colors are tan, brown, yellow, red, grey, pink, white, and black. Since sandstone beds often form highly visible cliffs and other topographic features, quartz-bearing sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure, usually related to tectonic compression within orogenic belts. They are formed from cemented grains that may either be fragments of a rock or be mono-minerallic crystals. The cements binding these grains together are typically calcite, clays, grain sizes in sands are defined within the range of 0.0625 mm to 2 mm. The formation of sandstone involves two principal stages, first, a layer or layers of sand accumulates as the result of sedimentation, either from water or from air. Typically, sedimentation occurs by the settling out from suspension. The most common cementing materials are silica and calcium carbonate, which are derived either from dissolution or from alteration of the sand after it was buried. Colours will usually be tan or yellow, a predominant additional colourant in the southwestern United States is iron oxide, which imparts reddish tints ranging from pink to dark red, with additional manganese imparting a purplish hue. Red sandstones are seen in the Southwest and West of Britain, as well as central Europe. The regularity of the latter favours use as a source for masonry, either as a building material or as a facing stone. These physical properties allow the grains to survive multiple recycling events. Quartz grains evolve from rock, which are felsic in origin. Feldspathic framework grains are commonly the second most abundant mineral in sandstones, Feldspar can be divided into two smaller subdivisions, alkali feldspars and plagioclase feldspars. The different types of feldspar can be distinguished under a petrographic microscope, below is a description of the different types of feldspar. Alkali feldspar is a group of minerals in which the composition of the mineral can range from KAlSi3O8 to NaAlSi3O8. Plagioclase feldspar is a group of solid solution minerals that range in composition from NaAlSi3O8 to CaAl2Si2O8. Lithic framework grains are pieces of ancient source rock that have yet to weather away to individual mineral grains, accessory minerals are all other mineral grains in a sandstone, commonly these minerals make up just a small percentage of the grains in a sandstone
26.
Siltstone
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Siltstone is a sedimentary rock which has a grain size in the silt range, finer than sandstone and coarser than claystones. Siltstone is a sedimentary rock. As its name implies, it is composed of silt sized particles. Siltstones differ significantly from sandstones due to their smaller pores and higher propensity for containing a significant clay fraction, although often mistaken as a shale, siltstone lacks the fissility and laminations which are typical of shale. Unless the siltstone is fairly shaly, stratification is likely to be obscure, mudstone or shale are rocks that contain mud, which is material that has a range of silt and clay. Siltstone is differentiated by having a majority silt, not clay, folk, R. L.1965, Petrology of sedimentary rocks PDF version. 2nd ed.1981, ISBN 0-914696-14-9 Williams, Howel, Francis J. Turner and Charles M. Gilbert,1954, Petrography, W. H. Freeman
27.
Shale
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Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock composed of mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals and tiny fragments of other minerals, especially quartz and calcite. The ratio of clay to other minerals is variable, shale is characterized by breaks along thin laminae or parallel layering or bedding less than one centimeter in thickness, called fissility. Mudstones, on the hand, are similar in composition. Before the mid 19th century, the slate, shale. In the context of underground mining, shale was frequently referred to as slate well into the 20th century. Non-fissile rocks of similar composition but made of smaller than 0.06 mm are described as mudstones or claystone. Rocks with similar sizes but with less clay and therefore grittier are siltstones. Shale is the most common sedimentary rock, shales are typically composed of variable amounts of clay minerals and quartz grains and the typical color is gray. Addition of variable amounts of minor constituents alters the color of the rock, black shale results from the presence of greater than one percent carbonaceous material and indicates a reducing environment. Black shale can also be referred to as black metal, red, brown and green colors are indicative of ferric oxide, iron hydroxide, or micaceous minerals. Clays are the constituent of shales and other mudrocks. The clay minerals represented are largely kaolinite, montmorillonite and illite, clay minerals of Late Tertiary mudstones are expandable smectites whereas in older rocks especially in mid- to early Paleozoic shales illites predominate. The transformation of smectite to illite produces silica, sodium, calcium, magnesium, iron and these released elements form authigenic quartz, chert, calcite, dolomite, ankerite, hematite and albite, all trace to minor minerals found in shales and other mudrocks. Shales and mudrocks contain roughly 95 percent of the matter in all sedimentary rocks. However, this amounts to less than one percent by mass in an average shale, black shales, which form in anoxic conditions, contain reduced free carbon along with ferrous iron and sulfur. Pyrite and amorphous iron sulfide along with carbon produce the black coloration, the process in the rock cycle which forms shale is called compaction. The fine particles that compose shale can remain suspended in long after the larger particles of sand have deposited. Shales are typically deposited in very slow moving water and are found in lakes and lagoonal deposits, in river deltas, on floodplains
28.
Conglomerate (geology)
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Conglomerates form by the consolidation and lithification of gravel. The size and composition of the fraction of a conglomerate may or may not vary in composition, sorting. In some conglomerates, the gravel-size class consist almost entirely of what were clay clasts at the time of deposition, conglomerates can be found in sedimentary rock sequences of all ages but probably make up less than 1 percent by weight of all sedimentary rocks. A sedimentary rock composed largely of gravel is first named according to the roundness of the gravel, if the gravel clasts that comprise it is largely well-rounded to subrounded, it is a conglomerate. If the gravel clasts that comprise it are largely angular, it is a breccia, such breccias can be called sedimentary breccias to differentiate them from other types of breccia, e. g. volcanic and fault breccias. Sedimentary rocks that contain a mixture of rounded and angular gravel clasts are sometimes called breccio-conglomerate, conglomerates are rarely composed entirely of gravel-size clasts. Typically, the space between the gravel-size clasts is filled by a mixture composed of varying amounts of silt, sand, paraconglomerates are also often unstratified and can contain more matrix than gravel clasts. If the gravel clasts of a conglomerate are in contact with each other, unlike paraconglomerates, orthoconglomerates are typically cross-bedded and often well-cemented and lithified by either calcite, hematite, quartz, or clay. The differences between paraconglomerates and orthoconglomerates reflect differences in how they are deposited, paraconglomerates are commonly either glacial tills or debris flow deposits. Orthoconglomerates are typically associated with aqueous currents, conglomerates are also classified according to the composition of their clasts. A conglomerate or any clastic sedimentary rock that consists of a rock or mineral is known as either a monomict, monomictic, oligomict. If the conglomerate consists of two or more different types of rocks, minerals, or combination of both, it is known as either a polymict or polymictic conglomerate. If a polymictic conglomerate contains an assortment of the clasts of metastable and unstable rocks and minerals, two recognized types of type of intraformational conglomerates are shale-pebble and flat-pebble conglomerates. Finally, conglomerates are often differentiated and named according to the dominant clast size comprising them, conglomerates are deposited in a variety of sedimentary environments. In turbidites, the part of a bed is typically coarse-grained. In this setting, conglomerates are normally very well sorted, well-rounded, conglomerates are normally present at the base of sequences laid down during marine transgressions above an unconformity, and are known as basal conglomerates. They represent the position of the shoreline at a time and are diachronous. Conglomerates deposited in environments are typically well rounded and well sorted
29.
Ice age
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An ice age is a period of long-term reduction in the temperature of Earths surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Within a long-term ice age, individual pulses of cold climate are termed glacial periods, in the terminology of glaciology, ice age implies the presence of extensive ice sheets in both northern and southern hemispheres. In 1742 Pierre Martel, an engineer and geographer living in Geneva, two years later he published an account of his journey. He reported that the inhabitants of that valley attributed the dispersal of erratic boulders to the glaciers, later similar explanations were reported from other regions of the Alps. In 1815 the carpenter and chamois hunter Jean-Pierre Perraudin explained erratic boulders in the Val de Bagnes in the Swiss canton of Valais as being due to glaciers previously extending further. An unknown woodcutter from Meiringen in the Bernese Oberland advocated a similar idea in a discussion with the Swiss-German geologist Jean de Charpentier in 1834, comparable explanations are also known from the Val de Ferret in the Valais and the Seeland in western Switzerland and in Goethes scientific work. Such explanations could also be found in parts of the world. When the Bavarian naturalist Ernst von Bibra visited the Chilean Andes in 1849–1850, meanwhile, European scholars had begun to wonder what had caused the dispersal of erratic material. From the middle of the 18th century, some discussed ice as a means of transport, the Swedish mining expert Daniel Tilas was, in 1742, the first person to suggest drifting sea ice in order to explain the presence of erratic boulders in the Scandinavian and Baltic regions. In 1795, the Scottish philosopher and gentleman naturalist, James Hutton, two decades later, in 1818, the Swedish botanist Göran Wahlenberg published his theory of a glaciation of the Scandinavian peninsula. He regarded glaciation as a regional phenomenon, only a few years later, the Danish-Norwegian geologist Jens Esmark argued a sequence of worldwide ice ages. In a paper published in 1824, Esmark proposed changes in climate as the cause of those glaciations and he attempted to show that they originated from changes in Earths orbit. During the following years, Esmarks ideas were discussed and taken over in parts by Swedish, Scottish, at the University of Edinburgh Robert Jameson seemed to be relatively open to Esmarks ideas, as reviewed by Norwegian professor of glaciology Bjørn G. Andersen. Jamesons remarks about ancient glaciers in Scotland were most probably prompted by Esmark, in Germany, Albrecht Reinhard Bernhardi, a geologist and professor of forestry at an academy in Dreissigacker, since incorporated in the southern Thuringian city of Meiningen, adopted Esmarks theory. In a paper published in 1832, Bernhardi speculated about former polar ice caps reaching as far as the zones of the globe. When he read his paper before the Schweizerische Naturforschende Gesellschaft, most scientists remained sceptical, finally, Venetz convinced his friend Jean de Charpentier. De Charpentier transformed Venetzs idea into a theory with a limited to the Alps. In fact, both men shared the same volcanistic, or in de Charpentiers case rather plutonistic assumptions, about the Earths history, in 1834, de Charpentier presented his paper before the Schweizerische Naturforschende Gesellschaft
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Precipitation
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In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, graupel, Precipitation occurs when a portion of the atmosphere becomes saturated with water vapor, so that the water condenses and precipitates. Thus, fog and mist are not precipitation but suspensions, because the vapor does not condense sufficiently to precipitate. Two processes, possibly acting together, can lead to air becoming saturated, Precipitation forms as smaller droplets coalesce via collision with other rain drops or ice crystals within a cloud. Short, intense periods of rain in scattered locations are called showers, moisture that is lifted or otherwise forced to rise over a layer of sub-freezing air at the surface may be condensed into clouds and rain. This process is active when freezing rain is occurring. A stationary front is often present near the area of freezing rain, provided necessary and sufficient atmospheric moisture content, the moisture within the rising air will condense into clouds, namely stratus and cumulonimbus. Eventually, the droplets will grow large enough to form raindrops. Lake-effect snowfall can be locally heavy, thundersnow is possible within a cyclones comma head and within lake effect precipitation bands. In mountainous areas, heavy precipitation is possible where upslope flow is maximized within windward sides of the terrain at elevation, on the leeward side of mountains, desert climates can exist due to the dry air caused by compressional heating. The movement of the trough, or intertropical convergence zone. Precipitation is a component of the water cycle, and is responsible for depositing the fresh water on the planet. Approximately 505,000 cubic kilometres of water falls as precipitation each year,398,000 cubic kilometres of it over the oceans and 107,000 cubic kilometres over land. Given the Earths surface area, that means the globally averaged annual precipitation is 990 millimetres, Climate classification systems such as the Köppen climate classification system use average annual rainfall to help differentiate between differing climate regimes. Precipitation may occur on celestial bodies, e. g. when it gets cold, Mars has precipitation which most likely takes the form of frost. Precipitation is a component of the water cycle, and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the planet. Approximately 505,000 km3 of water falls as precipitation each year,398,000 km3 of it over the oceans, given the Earths surface area, that means the globally averaged annual precipitation is 990 millimetres. Mechanisms of producing precipitation include convective, stratiform, and orographic rainfall, Precipitation can be divided into three categories, based on whether it falls as liquid water, liquid water that freezes on contact with the surface, or ice
31.
Inn
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Inns are generally establishments or buildings where travelers can seek lodging and, usually, food and drink. They are typically located in the country or along a highway, Inns in Europe were possibly first established when the Romans built their system of Roman roads two millennia ago. Some inns in Europe are several centuries old, in addition to providing for the needs of travelers, inns traditionally acted as community gathering places. Historically, inns in Europe provided not only food and lodging, famous London examples of inns include the George and the Tabard. There is however no longer a distinction between an inn and other kinds of establishment. Many pubs use the name inn, either because they are established and may have been formerly coaching inns. Inns were like bed and breakfasts, with a community dining room which was used for town meetings or rented for wedding parties. The front, facing the road was ornamental and welcoming for travelers, the back also usually had at least one livery barn for travelers to keep their horses. There were not lobbies as in modern inns, but the innkeeper would answer the door for each visitor, many inns were simply large estates that had extra rooms for renting. During the 19th century the inn played a role in the growing transportation system of England. Industry was on the rise and people were traveling more in order to keep, the English Inn was considered an important part of English infrastructure as it helped maintain a smooth flow of travel throughout the country. As modes of transport have evolved, tourist lodging has adapted to each generation of traveller. A stagecoach made frequent stops at roadside coaching inns for water, food, a passenger train stops only at designated stations in the city centre, around which were built grand railway hotels. The lodging aspect of the word inn lives on in hotel brand names like Holiday Inn, the Inns of Court in London were once accommodations for members of the legal profession. Other forms of inn exist throughout the world, among them are the honjin and ryokan of Japan, and caravanserai of the Ottoman Empire. In Asia Minor, during the periods of rule by the Seljuq and Ottoman Turks and these inns provided accommodation for people and their vehicles or animals and served as a resting place for people, whether travelling on foot or by other means. These inns were built between towns if the distance between them was too far for one days travel and these structures were called caravansarais which were inns with large courtyards with ample supplies of water for both drinking and other uses. They would also contain a café in addition to supplies of food
32.
Alum Cave Trail
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The Alum Cave Trail is an American hiking trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, in Sevier County, Tennessee. Tennessee sold the tract of land to the three men on December 6,1838, the Epsom Salts Manufacturing Company was formed to mine the deposit. The materials mined were alum, magnesium sulfate, saltpeter, magnesia, the easily accessible salts were depleted by the mid-1840s, but mining resumed during the Civil War. There is no report on any mining after the Civil War. The Alum Cave Trail is the shortest and steepest of the five trails leading to the Le Conte massif, which four separate peaks in all. Due to its length and beautiful scenery it is the most common footpath for hikers seeking to reach the summit of Le Conte. The entire trail is within Great Smoky Mountains National Park.3 miles of its length, hikers maneuver easily through the cold, moist rock via stairs and steel cables acting as handrails which are placed at numerous points along the footpath. A hiker who ascends beyond Arch Rock will gradually hear the shift from the company of Alum Cave Creek to the smaller Styx Branch. Inspiration Point is the landmark along this less trafficked, though still popular. Upon this outcropping of rocks about 4,700 feet in elevation, not far from Inspiration Point, the Eye of the Needle can be seen to the left as the hiker continues along the now rocky trail. Not far from there, at 2.2 miles from the trail head, the bluff is at 4,950 feet in elevation, and is 80 feet in height. The bluff is the final destination along the trail for many hikers, in winter, massive icicles often form and crash down onto the trail, making the bluff dangerous, in other seasons, the bluff forms a shelter from the frequent rainstorms in these mountains. Once the hiker reaches this final section of the trail most of his/her company has been left behind, the first half mile or so beyond the bluffs is the single steepest portion of the hike, and included in this section is Gracies Pulpit. Named for the matron of the mountain, Gracie McNichol, who hiked the trail on her 92nd birthday. From here, when skies permit, the onlooker can get as clear a view as any other along the trail of the four peaks of Le Conte. After Gracies Pulpit the hiker enjoys a scenic, peaceful — if strenuous — hike through highland Appalachia toward the end of the trail, with small water crossings. A prolific crop of healthy young Fraser firs grows in the place of the old ones in many areas. And the area still does possess great beauty, with the fragrant smell of spruce, as the hiker reaches the terminus, and the Alum Cave Bluff Trail assimilates into the Rainbow Falls Trail, s/he will soon encounter the LeConte Lodge
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The Boulevard Trail
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The Boulevard Trail is an American hiking trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, in Sevier County, Tennessee. The trail ascends Mount Le Conte, the tallest mountain east of the Mississippi River, the trail is named after the rugged gap situated between Mount Le Conte and Mount Kephart. The trailhead is located along the Appalachian Trail 2.7 miles east of Newfound Gap. Unlike the other leading to the top of Mount Le Conte. However, this statistic is a bit misleading, as the trail contains many dips. Still, the elevation provides for a much cooler hike. The Appalachian Trail between Newfound Gap and its Boulevard Trail junction is rather gentle, providing some peeks through the brush of the surrounding mountains. At the junction, the Appalachian Trail continues east to Charlies Bunion, about a mile past the Jumpoff Trail junction, the Boulevard Trail descends for appx. 500 feet before rising again along the side of Mount Le Conte. At 7.5 miles the trail comes to a 0. 2-mile spur trail leading to one of the four peaks of the Le Conte massif, Myrtle Point is particularly known for its fantastic sunrises, as it provides a clear view to the east. Just beyond the side trail to Myrtle Point, the Boulevard Trail ascends to High Top, LeConte Lodge is the only commercial lodging available in the national park, as it operates about 10 rustic cabins with no electricity or appliances. The lodge also operates an office which provides t-shirts and other merchandise for hikers, a final spur trail leads 0.2 miles from LeConte Lodge to the summit of Cliff Tops, which looks out over Le Contes western flank into the central Smokies. The Best of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, A Hikers Guide to Trails, Great Smoky Mountains National Park Homepage LeConte Lodge Homepage
34.
Bullhead Trail
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The Bullhead Trail is an American hiking trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, in Sevier County, Tennessee. The trail ascends Mount Le Conte, the tallest mountain east of the Mississippi River, the trailhead is located inside of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, off Cherokee Orchard Road,3.4 miles from Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Bullhead English Mountain/Sugarland Mountain overlook Balsam Point The beginning of the Bullhead Trail is, for all intents and purposes, both trails are designated the same parking area, and because of their proximity many hikers choose to ascend one trail and descend the other. Given this, however, the trail is still the least popular route along Mount Le Conte, probably because of its isolation, but it is this isolation that makes the trail so desirable to those who favor solitude when hiking. The trail itself begins gently underneath the covering of young hemlocks, at 2.5 miles a boulder field offers the hiker a glimpse into the Le Conte Creek valley below, even offering views of the Space Needle in downtown Gatlinburg. The path then switches back over Bullhead and continues along toward the top of the mountain when it passes a large boulder directly to the left of the trail at 3.0 miles. On a clear day, the hiker can see magnificent views of both English and Sugarland mountains to the northeast and southwest respectively, the rock is large enough to provide a suitable resting place close to the halfway mark of the trail. Moving along toward the LeConte Lodge, the footpath soon becomes very rocky, the dead Frasers are the unfortunate result of the influx of the non-native balsam wooly adelgid, an insect that latches on and feasts from the tree. The national park is undergoing extensive work and research in trying to save the remaining trees, but has so far had little success. The trail becomes quite strenuous for a period as it ascends and conquers Balsam Point, at 6.0 miles. Shortly hereafter the hiker arrives at the junction with the Rainbow Falls Trail, and, after the final 0. 6-mile jaunt, the LeConte Lodge provides the only commercial lodging in the national park, as it operates about 10 rustic cabins with no electricity or appliances. The Lodge also operates an office which provides t-shirts and other merchandise for hikers, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Maps. The Best of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, A Hikers Guide to Trails, elevation Information Great Smoky Mountains National Park Homepage LeConte Lodge Homepage Hiking the Bullhead Trail to Mt. LeConte
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Rainbow Falls Trail
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The Rainbow Falls Trail is an American hiking trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, in Sevier County, Tennessee. The trail ascends Mount Le Conte, the tallest mountain east of the Mississippi River, and passes Rainbow Falls before absorbing the Alum Cave Trail and terminating near the LeConte Lodge. The Rainbow Falls Trail is approximately the same as the route taken by Paul Adams as he led the first Park Commission trip to LeConte, which helped lead to the formation of the national park. The trailhead is located inside of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, off Cherokee Orchard Road,3.4 miles from Gatlinburg, Tennessee. The roaring sounds of the creek accompany the footpath for most of the first 2.6 miles, only dying down at about the 1. 5-mile mark, the path soon swings back, crossing over LeConte Creek twice via narrow footbridges over the final mile to Rainbow Falls. When hikers reach Rainbow Falls, they have hiked 2.6 miles and are in the presence of the highest single-drop waterfall in the national park. On the somewhat rare occasion of an afternoon at the falls. From Rainbow Falls, the trail continues as a footbridge over LeConte Creek. Rhododendron, sand myrtle, and mountain laurel blanket the trail during this portion, offering visitors a beautiful carpeting of purples, whites. At 5.4 miles, the comes to Rocky Spur. As the hiker continues on, s/he enters into a fragrant spruce fir forest, from that point, the now very rocky trail ascends for a half mile towards LeConte Lodge. The LeConte Lodge provides the only lodging in the national park. The lodge also operates an office which provides T-shirts and other merchandise for hikers, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Plan Your Visit, Rainbow Falls. Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Maps, the Best of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, A Hikers Guide to Trails and Attractions. Rainbow Falls Short Trail Summary Great Smoky Mountains National Park Homepage Hiking the Rainbow Falls Trail to Mt. LeConte
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Trillium Gap Trail
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The Trillium Gap Trail is an American hiking trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, in Sevier County, Tennessee. The trail ascends Mount Le Conte, the tallest mountain east of the Mississippi River, the trail to Grotto Falls is one of the busiest in the national park. The Trillium Gap Trail is one of the five trails leading to the Le Conte massif, which four separate peaks in all. The trailhead is located inside of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, about 7.5 miles from the town of Gatlinburg, Tennessee, off the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail. Although very easy, this portion of the trail does contain many small creek crossings, after the third small stream, Roaring Fork sidles up along the path, signalling the soon-approaching Grotto Falls at 1.3 miles. Here Roaring Fork tumbles thirty feet over the falls, which the trail actually passes behind on its way to Trillium Gap, Grotto Falls is one of the most picturesque waterfalls in the park, and inasmuch can draw quite the crowd on certain days. Once the hiker crosses the sometimes treacherous Roaring Fork, s/he begins a steady ascent towards Le Conte. The trail here becomes more narrow and progressively rockier, a combination of the gain in elevation, about a mile past the falls, the path enters into an expansive boulder field, where yet another small creek plummets down towards Roaring Fork. At 2.9 miles the trail comes to Trillium Gap, springtime hikers will be delighted by the brilliant carpetting of wildflowers underneath the American beech grove that dominates the area. After leaving Trillium Gap, the trail continues climbing for 3.6 miles towards its terminus, about a mile past the heath bald, the trail enters the fraser and spruce fir zone prevalent in the higher peaks of the Smokies. Fantastic views of the towns of Sevier County are available here when weather permits, sometimes extending to the outskirts of Knoxville. The LeConte Lodge provides the only lodging in the national park. The Lodge also operates an office which provides t-shirts and other merchandise for hikers, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Plan Your Visit, Grotto Falls. Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Maps, Gatlinburg, Tennessee, Great Smoky Mountains Association. The Best of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, A Hikers Guide to Trails, local Hikes Trail Description Great Smoky Mountains National Park Homepage Hiking information for Mt. LeConte via Trillium Gap
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Appalachian Trail
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The trail is about 2,200 miles long, though the exact length changes over time as parts are modified or rerouted. More than 2 million people are said to do at least one day-hike on the each year. The idea of the Appalachian Trail came about in 1921, the trail itself was completed in 1937 after more than a decade of work, although improvements and changes continue. It is maintained by 31 trail clubs and multiple partnerships, and managed by the National Park Service, United States Forest Service, the majority of the trail is in forest or wild lands, although some portions traverse towns, roads and farms. The trail conservancy claims that the Appalachian Trail is the longest hiking-only trail in the world. It passes through 14 states, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. Many books, memoirs, websites, and fan organizations are dedicated to these pursuits, other separate extensions continue the southern end of the Appalachian range in Alabama and continue south into Florida, creating what is known as the Eastern Continental Trail. The Appalachian Trail, the Continental Divide Trail, and the Pacific Crest Trail form what is known as the Triple Crown of Hiking in the United States. The trail was conceived by Benton MacKaye, a forester who wrote his original plan—called An Appalachian Trail, macKayes idea detailed a grand trail that would connect a series of farms and wilderness work/study camps for city-dwellers. The idea was adopted by the new Palisades Interstate Park Trail Conference as their main project. On October 7,1923, the first section of the trail, from Bear Mountain west through Harriman State Park to Arden, MacKaye then called for a two-day Appalachian Trail conference to be held in March 1925 in Washington, D. C. This meeting inspired the formation of the Appalachian Trail Conference, a retired judge named Arthur Perkins and his younger associate Myron Avery took up the cause. Andersons efforts helped spark renewed interest in the trail, and Avery was able to bring other states on board, upon taking over the ATC, Avery adopted the more practical goal of building a simple hiking trail. He and MacKaye clashed over the ATCs response to a commercial development along the trails path, MacKaye left the organization. Avery reigned as Chairman of the ATC from 1932 to 1952, Avery became the first to walk the trail end-to-end, though not as a thru-hike, in 1936. In August 1937, the trail was completed to Sugarloaf Mountain in Maine, the ATCs trail crews and volunteer trail-maintaining clubs have relocated or rehabilitated miles of trail since that time. The completed thru-hike was much later recorded and accepted by the Appalachian Long Distance Hikers Association, in 1948, Earl Shaffer of York, Pennsylvania, brought a great deal of attention to the project by publicizing the first claimed thru-hike. The claim was criticized for the hikes omission of significant portions due to short-cuts
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National Park Service
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It was created on August 25,1916, by Congress through the National Park Service Organic Act and is an agency of the United States Department of the Interior. As of 2014, the NPS employs 21,651 employees who oversee 417 units, the National Park Service celebrated its centennial in 2016. National parks and national monuments in the United States were originally individually managed under the auspices of the Department of the Interior, the movement for an independent agency to oversee these federal lands was spearheaded by business magnate and conservationist Stephen Mather, as well as J. Horace McFarland. With the help of journalist Robert Sterling Yard, Mather ran a publicity campaign for the Department of the Interior and they wrote numerous articles that praised the scenic and historic qualities of the parks and their possibilities for educational, inspirational, and recreational benefits. This campaign resulted in the creation of a National Park Service, Mather became the first director of the newly formed NPS. On March 3,1933, President Herbert Hoover signed the Reorganization Act of 1933, the act would allow the President to reorganize the executive branch of the United States government. It wasnt until later that summer when the new President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President Roosevelt agreed and issued two Executive orders to make it happen. In 1951, Conrad Wirth became director of the National Park Service, the demand for parks after the end of the World War II had left the parks overburdened with demands that could not be met. In 1952, with the support of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, he began Mission 66, New parks were added to preserve unique resources and existing park facilities were upgraded and expanded. In 1966, as the Park Service turned 50 years old, emphasis began to turn from just saving great and wonderful scenery, Director George Hartzog began the process with the creation of the National Lakeshores and then National Recreation Areas. Since its inception in 1916, the National Park Service has managed each of the United States national parks, Yellowstone National Park was the first national park in the United States. In 1872, there was no government to manage it. Yosemite National Park began as a park, the land for the park was donated by the federal government to the state of California in 1864 for perpetual conservation. Yosemite was later returned to federal ownership, at first, each national park was managed independently, with varying degrees of success. In Yellowstone, the staff was replaced by the U. S. Army in 1886. Due to the irregularities in managing these national treasures, Stephen Mather petitioned the government to improve the situation. In response, Secretary of the Interior Franklin K. Lane challenged him to lobby for creating a new agency, Mather was successful with the ratification of the National Park Service Organic Act in 1916. Later, the agency was given authority over other protected areas, the National Park System includes all properties managed by the National Park Service
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Geographic Names Information System
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It is a type of gazetteer. GNIS was developed by the United States Geological Survey in cooperation with the United States Board on Geographic Names to promote the standardization of feature names, the database is part of a system that includes topographic map names and bibliographic references. The names of books and historic maps that confirm the feature or place name are cited, variant names, alternatives to official federal names for a feature, are also recorded. Each feature receives a permanent, unique feature record identifier, sometimes called the GNIS identifier, the database never removes an entry, except in cases of obvious duplication. The GNIS accepts proposals for new or changed names for U. S. geographical features, the general public can make proposals at the GNIS web site and can review the justifications and supporters of the proposals. The Bureau of the Census defines Census Designated Places as a subset of locations in the National Geographic Names Database, U. S. Postal Service Publication 28 gives standards for addressing mail. In this publication, the postal service defines two-letter state abbreviations, street identifiers such as boulevard and street, department of the Interior, U. S. Geological Survey, National Mapping Division, Digital Gazeteer, Users Manual. Least Heat Moon, William, Blue Highways, A Journey Into America, standard was withdrawn in September 2008, See Federal Register Notice, Vol.73, No. 170, page 51276 Report, Principles, Policies, and Procedures, Domestic Geographic Names, U. S. Postal Service Publication 28, November 2000. Board on Geographic Names website Geographic Names Information System Proposals from the general public Meeting minutes
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International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
41.
Hut
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A hut is a primitive dwelling, which may be constructed of various local materials. A hut is a shape of a lower quality than a house, huts exist in practically all nomadic cultures. Some huts are transportable and can stand most conditions of weather, the designs in tropical and sub-tropical areas favour high airflow configurations built from non-conducting materials, which allow heat dissipation. The term house or home is considered by some to be more appropriate, in the Western world the word hut is often used for a wooden shed. The term has also adopted by climbers and backpackers to refer to a more solid. These vary from simple bothies – which are more than very basic shelters – to mountain huts that are far more luxurious. Apparently first in English as a military word, old Saxon hutta, Danish hytte, Swedish hytta, Frisian and Middle Dutch hutte, Dutch hut are from High German. Huts are used by shepherds when moving livestock between seasonal grazing areas such as mountainous and lowland pastures and they are also commonly used by backpackers and other travelers in rural areas. Some displaced populations of people use throughout the world during a diaspora. For example, temporary collectors in the agricultural workers at plantations in the Amazon jungle. Huts have been built for other than as a dwelling such as storage, workshops. Balok – A Siberian wilderness hut made of logs, usually communal, used by hunters, fishermen, some baloks are mobile and mounted on sleds. Bothy – Originally a one-room hut for men farm workers in the United Kingdom, burdei or bordei – a dugout or pit-house with a sod roof in Ukraine, Canada Cabana – an open shelter Chozo also spelled chozo – Spanish for hut, term also used in Mexico. Designed 1940 for barrack accommodation Lodge is a term for a hut or cabin such as a log cabin or cottage. Lodge is used to refer to a tipi, sweat lodge, and hunting, fishing, skiing, and safari lodge. Mitato – A small, dry stone hut in Greece Orri – A French dry stone, rondavel – Central and South Africa Sheiling – Originally a temporary shelter or hut for shepherds, now may be a stone building. Sod house – A pioneer house type on the American Plains where wood was scarce, construction often does not require specialized tools or knowledge. Hut is used to name commercial stores, companies, and concepts, the name implies a small, casual venue, often with a fun and friendly atmosphere
