Crater Lake By: Claire Sheppard

What Year Did Crater Lake Become a National Park and Why? It became a national park in 1902 after President Theodor Roosevelt declared it a national park marking an end to a long campaign. A man named Will Steel wanted Crater Lake to be a national park because he and everyone else who saw the lake were amazed by its beauty. So, he started a campaign to save it. Once Roosevelt heard about it he went to Oregon to see for himself. Once he saw the lake he was amazed like everyone else by it’s natural beauty, blue waters and calming presents. He realized that there was no other place on earth like it so he declared it a national park. It was Oregon’s first national park and the sixth of the United States.

How Was Crater lake Formed? Mount Mazama was a volcano that had been active for a very long time. Eventually the lava began to exhaust the top of the volcano. When the top of the volcano became weaker the heavy lava, rock and ash was able to cave the volcano in. When it caved in it became even more weaker and it collapsed. Over a long period of time the crater in the ground filled with rain, snow, hail and other forms of water. As the amount and level of the water raised it formed a lake.

What Types of Rocks are in Crater Lake? Rocks that are usually found in Crater Lake are mostly volcanic and granite. The reason why these types of rocks are found in Crater Lake is because volcanic rock and granite are both a type of igneous rock. Igneous rock is formed from the molten inside the earth. When the lava came up from Mt. Mazama (today Crater Lake) it was cooled because of the water in the caving in volcano. Depending on how fast or slow the lava cooled made the different types and sizes of rock. If the lava cooled slowly than it had time to move and spread out before it completely hardened and be a bigger size. If the lava cooled fast than it has less time to move and would be a smaller size.

What Are Special Landforms of Features of Crater Lake? Crater Lake has very special geography. Since Crater Lake was formed by a collapsed volcano its edges are steep, rough and ridged. While the volcano fell it was still active and the hardened lava created small islands all over the lake. Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States with a depth of 1,932 feet. Also it is known for its extremely natural and very blue waters. It is a huge, deep and pure lake that is surrounded by cliffs that are almost two thousand feet high. Crater Lakes violent volcanic past helped sculpt the beauty of it today.

How is the Land in Crater Lake Currently Changing? Since parts of Crater Lake are still active the land is always changing. When parts of the lake erupt it will change elevation the lake floor. Since Crater Lake is filled with water the magma will only come through cracks in the lake floor and in parts of the island in the middle. When the island in the lake erupts it will expand and become more and more ridged and bumpy. Each time it erupts it will expand little by little because it is a very slow process. Lava will harden in any size or shape so you can never really tell what it will end up looking like.

What Environment Issues are Affecting Crater Lake? Waste, pollution and global warming are the three biggest offenders to Crater Lake now. Waste is big because when people visit Crater Lake they will leave trash from a lunch or picnic. This is harmful because it will scare away small animals and make it hard for them to find food. But when people leave behind trash it is very harmful to the park. Also when trash is left behind it becomes gross and takes away the natural beauty. Pollution is also a problem because if you ride a boat or other things that run on gasoline it will end up in the water. All of the gasoline and pollution is not only bad for the creatures living in it but it is also bad because it takes way some of the pure, natural blue color of the water. Global warming is bad because when the weather heats or cools than it will effect the plant and animal life in and around the water.

How Does Technology Help Preserve and Maintain Crater Lake? Over the many years that Crater Lake has been a national park it has changed a lot. All this information is very helpful and important to maintain the park. But how do we keep track of all the information? To take care and maintain Crater Lake we use GIAs or Geographic Information Systems. The GIAs help keep track of the different elevation and if they are changing, high quality digital maps to make sure that everything is alive and healthy. All of this helps maintain Crater Lake because if the elevation levels in Crater Lake suddenly change from erosion that it will effect the wildlife, plants and the overall park. If we can keep track of this and estimate when it happens than we can prevent bad things from happening. Also if we always know what its going on in and around the park than we will keep it alive and help it keep its natural beauty.

Bibliography Websites: nps.gov/crla/ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crater_Lake vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/CraterLake/.../framework.html oregonexplorer.info/craterlake/geology.html craterlaketrust.org/science-and-discovery/facts-and-figures