answersLogoWhite

0

Glacier National Park was established in a bill signed by President William Howard Taft in May, 1910. The park fell to the management of the National Park Service upon the agency's inception in 1916, and it is still managed by the U.S. National Park Service. In 1932, Glacier National Park joined with Waterton Lakes National Park in Alberta to form the world's first international peace park. Although there are certain parallel goals between the parks and some cooperation on issues, both parks collect separate fees and are managed by their respective federal agencies. Today, the park is also recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site and a Biosphere Reserve. Geologically speaking, the park's landscape was formed by two processes: mountain-building and glaciation. A very long time ago, a huge slab of rock thrust upward and to the east; this formation is called the Lewis Overthrust. This overthrust formation contained all the rock in the mountains in the park today, plus a large amount of rock no longer found there because of erosion. During the Pleistocene Epoch, a cooler and wetter period in North America's geologic history, massive ice sheets descended from Canada and shaped much of the northern United States' landscape. The mountains created their own separate glaciers where moisture and lower temperatures at higher altitudes formed their own glaciers in the mountains. The glaciers scoured out the rock over time and created classic U-shaped valleys in the park, chiselled the mountains, and created the fascinating landscape in the park. The glaciers remaining in the park today are thought not to be of this geologic age, but are instead remnants of the "Little Ice Age," which only ended in 1850. The glaciers in the park today are expected to disappear by 2030.

User Avatar

Wiki User

17y ago

What else can I help you with?