American greats and great Americana To say that the United States have received a lot of criticism in the past few years, is putting it mildly. America's reputation has crashed in the public opinion. American politicians have turned from liberators into warmongers, American society from a shining example into a cradle of violence, and American culture from cool to commercial. Still the “greatest country on earth” has a lot to offer: wonderful national parks, great music, entertaining movies, cutting-edge science and technology, etc. Here's a selection by the students and teacher of the 6th year of English at the CVO Waregem Anzegem Tielt of Waregem, Belgium. The texts have been written or compiled by the students between April and June 2008.
14-07-2008
Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park is located in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho. Its name refers to the splendid yellow colour of the rocks along the canyon cutting through the park. The park is filled with an astonishing collection of geological wonders: geysers, hotsprings, fumaroles, canyons and waterfalls. Yellowstone is also a remarkable wildlife sanctuary, home to bisons, elk, moose, mountain lions, eagles, trumpeter swans and a host of other protected animals.
The 810,000 hectares of wilderness now constituting Yellowstone National Park have been left virtually unchanged in the past 8,000 years. The influence of man affects only 1 percent of the vast area.
The park is known for its various hydrothermal geological wonders, resulting from water leaking through cracks in the crustal rocks and being heated by a large body of magma which comes up close to the surface. Thermometers lowered into wells indicate that the average temperature at a depth of 170 to 200 meter is above 700 degrees celsius.
The heat causes the water to return to the surface. If there is only a small route available, it will spill out as a 'constant gusher'. If it surfaces in a pool, it creates a 'hot spring'. When the water does nog have enough energy to lift itself all the way up, steam and other gases emerge through openings, creating 'fumaroles'. If however there are cavities in the underground plumbing system, a 'geyser' will result, which erupts at regual intervals as the cavities in the system need to fill up before enough pressure is created to cause another eruption.
