Key facts
- Elevation
- 8,846 ft (2,696 m) NAVD 88
- Prominence
- 1,360 ft (410 m)
- Parent peak
- Clouds Rest
- Listing
- Highest mountains of Yosemite NP
- Country
- United States
- State
- California
- County
- Mariposa
- Parent range
- Sierra Nevada
- Topo map
- USGS Half Dome
- Rock age s
- Cretaceous , 93 Myr
- Mountain type
- Quartz monzonite batholith
- First ascent
- 1875 by George Anderson
- Easiest route
- Cable route
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Elevation
- 2693
- Image
- Yosemite 20 bg 090404.jpg
Show 4 more facts
- Commons category
- Half Dome
- Commons gallery
- Half Dome
- topographic prominence
- 1360
- described at URL
- openbeta.io/crag/458a683c-0b65-57d7-a46e-226e748ec5f5
Sources (7)
via Wikidata · CC0
~12 min read
Article
Half Dome is a quartz monzonite batholith at the eastern end of Yosemite Valley in Yosemite National Park, California. It is a well-known rock formation in the park, named for its distinct shape. One side is a sheer face while the other three sides are smooth and round, making it appear like a dome cut in half. It stands at over 8,800 feet above sea level and is composed of quartz monzonite, an igneous rock that solidified several thousand feet within the Earth. At its core are the remains of a magma chamber that cooled slowly and crystallized beneath the Earth's surface. The solidified magma chamber was then exposed and cut in half by erosion, therefore leading to the geographic name Half Dome.
Geology