Welcome to the MedLibrary.org Wikipedia Supplement on Granite dome -- Please Click to Return to Front Page

This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (January 2007)

A granite dome is a dome of granite, formed by exfoliation.

Granite domes in Rio de Janeiro

Formation

Granite forms plutons of igneous rock several kilometers below the surface as magma slowly cools and crystallizes. The granite is under great overhead pressure.

Glacier-sliced Half Dome, Yosemite, a classic granite dome

Then, granite is uplifted to the surface during a mountain-building event. During the mountain building process, the overlying rock is eroded as the granite is uplifted, and the pressure on the granite reduced. The granite expands and forms fractures or sheet joints parallel to the surface. The granite then erodes in concentric layers (similar to how an onion peels) forming rounded masses called exfoliation domes.

Stone Mountain, in the American state of Georgia, often claimed locally to be the world's largest exposed piece of granite

While found worldwide, many such domes are found in the Sierra Nevada range in California, which includes the most famous exfoliation dome in the United States, Half Dome. Granitic surfaces in this region that have been exfoliated are identified by their lack of glacial polish.

A number of the domes are clustered at the upper end of Tenaya Lake, Yosemite.

Liberty Cap, Yosemite, by Nevada Fall.

Tenaya Lake reflection

See also

• Corcovado
• Half Dome
• Stone Mountain
• Wolfenstein (rock)
• Weathering#Pressure release

External links

• Granite domes of the Cairngorms

Wikipedia content modification information:

• This page was last modified on 16 December 2008, at 13:54.

Wikipedia Authorship and Review

Wikipedia content provided here is not reviewed directly by MedLibrary.org. Wikipedia content is authored by an open community of volunteers and is not produced by or in any way affiliated with MedLibrary.org.

Wikipedia Usage Guidelines

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article on "Granite dome".

The URL for this specific entry is:

• http://medlibrary.org/medwiki/Granite_dome

All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details). Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.