AVA HAMMEL’S BIG BEND NATIONAL PARK AVA HAMMEL

WHY DID BIG BEND BECOME A NATIONAL PARK AND WHY? NATIONAL PARK BIG BEND

NATIONAL PARK IN 1933 TEXAS RECOGNIZED THE VALUE OF PRESERVING THE LAND AND CREATED TEXAS CANYONS STATE PARK, LATER THE SAME YEAR IT WAS RENAMED BIG BEND STATE PARK. BIG BEND BECAME AN OFFICIAL NATIONAL STATE PARK IN JUNE OF 1944 AND WAS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. BIG BEND IS VERY UNIQUE, THERE ARE MANY OLD BUILDINGS, TRAILS, AND CREATURES! BIG BEND NATIONAL PARK BECAME A NATIONAL PARK BECAUSE IT'S THE LARGEST PROTECTED AREA IN THE UNITED STATES. IT PROTECTS MANY PLANTS, BIRDS, MAMMALS AND REPTILES FROM DANGEROUS PEOPLE AND/OR A HARSH ENVIRONMENTS. IT ALSO BECAME A NATIONAL PARK TO CAPTURE ITS BEAUTIFUL NATURE, IT IS A LOT LIKE THE ZOO BUT ABOUT 100 TIMES BIGGER. SOURCES: "WHY BIG BEN BECOME A NATIONAL PARK." N.P., N.D. WEB. 18 NOV "BIG BEND NATIONAL PARK FAST." N.P., N.D. WEB. 18 NOV BIG BEND NATIONAL PARK

IMPORTANT LANDFORMS BIG BEND NATIONAL PARK IS PRETTY FAR FROM LARGER CITIES, ITS ON A REMOTE PORTION OF THE U.S.-MEXICO BORDER ALONG RIO GRANDE. A PLACE OF DIVERSE SCENERY, FROM CACTUS GARDENS IN LOWLAND BASINS TO CONIFER GROVES ON RUGGED RIDGELINES, THE PARK OFFERS WILDERNESS AND RECREATION OPPORTUNITIES ALSO A CHANCE TO SAMPLE SOME OF THE LANDFORMS OF THE GREAT CHIHUAHUAN DESERT. MAP OF BIG BEND

STATE MAP OF BIG BEND State Map Of Big Bend Big Bend National Park is located in the southwestern part of Texas along the Texas-Mexico border. " Big Bend National Park." Spoon and Ink. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov [Couldn't find country map]

TOPOGRAPHICAL MAP OF BIG BEND "Big Bend National Park Fire Department." ToPo Quest. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov

CITY MAP OF BIG BEND "Big Bend National Park." Big Bend Book Store. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov

BIG BEND’S SPECIAL LANDFORMS AND FEATURES Big Bend has lot’s cactus gardens in lowland basins, conifer groves on rugged ridge lines and many more! The park offers wild animals, creatures, nature and recreation opportunities with a chance to sample some landforms of the great Chihuahuan Desert. Big Bend also has huge mountain's like the Chisos Mountains where the average temperature can reach up to 86.8*F, the highest point in the Chisos Mountain range is Emory Peak at 7,825 f eet (2,385 m) that's above sea level! Big Bend also a sweet rock balancing on each other too, it is shaped like a old time doorway! Big Bend has Mountains formed by compression, volcanism, and tension. Erosion also formed the Rio Grande, making it the youngest but biggest river system in Texas. Many cliffs are also in Big Bend National Park along with the huge hill and mountains. Big Bend National Park takes up a total of 801, acres of land. Big Bend is more than 1,250 square miles, that's almost the size of Rhode Island! Big Bend also has some dirty rivers and fresh water lakes!

BIG BEND’S ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES Big Bend Has some new dirty air, from coal burning plants around 70 miles away. Before Big Bends air was polluted from coal burning plants, in the 1970s, visitors to the region enjoyed the view of the landscape and could see objects up to 290 miles away. But now they can only see up to about 180 miles away! But because of the air pollution you can't just not see 290 miles away, it destroys the habitat and creatures that wrap the beauty together. It pollutes some of the drinking sources for plants/animals and hurts or kills these animals, with Big Bend Being so big it could have one of a kind species that ives in only big bend and kills them all, they could be a big part of the food chain with no one even knowing! With the food chain being so big, it could take days for organisms to get food in their system! Witch means the whole world could be starving for a while! But the chances of that happening are low, BUT, it IS possible!

BIG BEND ROCKS The Big Bend has many different types of agate, chalcedony and jasper, quartz crystals and other minerals and rocks. Agate a lot like form of quartz. It is the quartz gem for which the Big Bend area is greatly known. Agate is usually very multicolored and is translucent or transparent. Jasper is another form of quartz that is also multicolored but not translucent. With great luck you might find a chunk of jasper as large as several hundred pounds. Jasper can be made into stylish jewelry and other decorative objects. Chalcedony has a strong solid colored, translucent form of quartz. It papers to form in lots of different colors in Big Bend National Park. Quartz crystal produces other crystals that are clear often called rock crystal, pink quartz also known as Rose Quartz, yellow, purple, and brown Quartz. Individual crystals are usually very small, but when they cover an entire surface of agate or other rock they are known as drowsy quartz. Beautiful specimens are abundant, and some individual crystals are big enough to be used as jewelry. Calcite, aragonite and selenite are single crystals, in a big crystal cluster. These are generally too soft for jewelry, but make beautiful specimens and may be utilized in sculpture. Sedimentary rocks like limestone, shale and sandstone are sometimes found in big bend national park too. Most of these rocks were moved to big bend national park when the area was covered by a salty sea during the Cretaceous, which started one hundred forty five million years ago. The oldest rocks in Big Bend can be up tom500 million years. The lime mud that lined the bottom of the ocean turned into the limestone rock you see in Big Bend now. During these transformations, the mud stored many ancient fossils. The deep sea left behind sandstone and clay when it finally moved into the Gulf of Mexico. At the end of the Cretaceous times, the Rocky Mountain range began to form due to a west east compression inside the earth's crust

BIG BEND TECHNOLOGY (COULDN’T FIND TOO MUCH INFO. JUST ONE WEBSITE) Big bend has a small amout of technology uses, one big one, pretty important, is super fast satellite internet witch is used for people exploring the parks or when someone is lost. another type of technology found in big bend national park is some webcams, they can often be tough on modern electronic equipment, somethimes blackouts occur, and can disrupt some webcams functionality. The two operating webcams in Big Bend National Park present a glimpse of two of Big Bend's most pouplour locations, the Sierra del Carmen range in Mexico, as seen from park headquarters, and "The Window" as seen from the ChisosBasin.