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El Capitan Granite


El Capitan Granite is a type of granite (also see granodiorite), in a large area near El Capitan, in Yosemite National Park, California, United States. The granite forms part of the Tuolumne Intrusive Suite (aka Tuolumne Batholith), one of the four major intrusive suites within the Sierra Nevada.

El Capitan granite is mostly unjointed.

The granite has abundant quartz, plagioclase, crystals of orthoclase, and both feldsparsorthoclase and plagioclase — are white. Hornblende is rare, compared to other Yosemite granites. Most black minerals are biotite.

It is found west of Half Dome Granodiorite, both north and south, to a western limit near Cookie Cliffs.

All of Turtleback Dome, El Capitan, The Three Brothers, and Cathedral Rocks are made of El Capitan Granite as is Elephant Rock.

El Capitan Granite makes up most the granite found in the west half of the Yosemite Valley area.

El Capitan Granite intruded older plutonic rocks about 103 Ma.


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