PUMICE DESERT AT CRATER LAKE NATIONAL PARK OREGON OR MAZAMA

Added: Sep 6, 2008

From: embalm

Duration: 0:46

A VIEW OF THE LAKE NATIONAL PARK OREGON. The Pumice Desert is a flat, open area that conspicuously contrasts with the surrounding forest of lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta). A wedge-shaped opening about 5-1/2 square miles in size, the Pumice Desert is covered with material ejected from ancient Mount Mazama. Gaseous materials filled the valleys and depressions surrounding the flanks of the mountain. The depths of deposits covering the Pumice Desert may be some 200 feet thick. Although it appears flat, small washes are scattered throughout. The two benchmarks probably represent the highest and lowest elevations: 6010 and 5962 feet, respectively.Why has it remained virtually treeless? That was the question posed to me by park staff who suggested that it would be a good project for my masters' thesis. I therefore initiated an ecological study of the Pumice Desert's vegetation in 1965. Nine strip plots or transects were marked for future observation. A larger 100-acre plot for tabulating the number of lodgepole pine was also established.

Channel: Travel

Tags: at  crater  desert  lake  mazama  mount  mountain  mt.  national  or  oregon  park  pumice  rocky  volcano 

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