GEOLOGY---FIELD EXERCISE

Helen Montes

My son Eric---waiting for the trolley at Eagle FallsNorth Shore---Lake Tahoe

Table of Contents Myself with two llamas

• More facts about llamas Lave flow over street in Hawaii

• Kilauea Volcano---Hawaii Path from Vikingsholm to Eagle Falls, S. Lake

Tahoe• Lost Ecosystem of Eagle Falls• Geologic History of Tahoe

Gold from Sutter Creek, CA• General Geology and Interesting Facts

References

There is an evolutionary relationship between llamas and camels. In fact they evolved from a common ancestor. Camels and llamas are said to be cousins. These species have padded feet rather than hoofs, and two toe-nails on each foot.

They have a split upper lip to help sift through grass or hay while eating.

Walking up Lodi Street in South Lake Tahoe, I came across these two llamas.

More facts about llamas

• Originating in the Central Plains of North America about 10 million years ago, the llama predecessors migrated to South America around 2.5 million years ago.

• “Llamas can be anywhere from about five feet to six feet tall at the top of their head when fully grown, or between three and four years of age.  Llamas can weigh anywhere between 250 pounds and 500 pounds, and live between 15 and 25 years.” (Llama fact sheet, Copyright © 2006 Broken Windmill Ranch Inc.)

•  Llamas are pregnant about 10 days less than a year.

• Llamas are among the world's oldest domestic animals. Llamas are very much, herd animals.

Lava flow across road in Hawaii

This lava covered almost 7 miles, closing the highway. Notice the height of the lava?

Most of Hawaii is derived from lava.

I chose this picture from one of my trips because you don’t see

this everyday.

Lava is not metamorphic, it is an extrusive igneous rock as it is formed from the cooling of molten rock.

Kilauea Volcano---Hawaii Two types of Volcanos

The slopes of a Sheild Volcano are long and broad

Strato Volcano is more tall and cone shaped.

All Volcanoes in Hawaii are Sheild Volcanoes.

“Only 4,091 feet from Sea level, Kilauea is nestled into the side of Mauna Loa, on the South east side of the Big Island.” (Kilauea, Hawaii---Helicopter Tours, March 2012, personal trip.)  

Kilauea is currently the most active volcano in the world.

Lava flows through lave tubes to the ocean.

Some areas are between 2-40 feet thick. (hvo.wr.usgs.gov/volcanowatch/archiveDavid@bigisland-bigisland.com Aloha, Feb. 2008)

These two trees seem to be growing into one another, but in fact have two separate root systems. Growing closely together, it is as if they are hugging one another.

Path from Vikingsholm to Eagle Falls, South Lake Tahoe

Lost Ecosystem of Eagle Falls

On the West Shore, biologists say wolverines (Gulo luscus) were once a big part of the ecosystem. Wolverines are considered quite rare in the Sierra Nevada now, victims of poaching and the encroachment of civilization. (Longstreet Highroad Guide to the California Sierra Nevada, by Mark Grossi, Published (print): 2000, Published (Web): September 2000, Revised (Web): November 2002, ISBN: 1-56352-592-5)

Like the grizzly bear, which disappeared completely from the Sierra in the 1920s, wolverines created a balance in the ecosystem by staking out territory that mountain lions and coyotes  would routinely avoid. Grizzlies and wolverines had a habit of taking kills from the lions and coyotes.

Eagle FallsThe creation of the Sierra batholith and the metamorphic rock on top of it was just the first part of this saga. Next, about 20 million years ago, mountains of fire, ash and lava formed along the eastern side of the Sierra layering down hundreds of feet of ash, glassy lava rock, and mixed up breccia.

Geologic History of Tahoe

“Some of the valley bottoms and lower hill slopes are mantled with glacial moraines, or glacial outwash material derived from the parent rock. Cryopsamments, Cryumbrepts, rockland, rock outcrops and rubble and stony colluvium account for over 70% of the land area in the basin.” (Lake Tahoe Facts and Info , The Geological History of the Lake Tahoe Basin)

Soils of the basin come primarily from andesidic volcanic rocks and granodiorite, with minor areas of metamorphic rock.

Gold from Sutter Creek, CA

“State legislation signed on April 23,1965 designated native gold as California's official state mineral.” (State of CA Department of Concervation, CA Geological Survey, Copyright © 2007)

We had this nugget formed into a ring. Wow!

Gold is a heavy, sparkly metal. It is usually in metamorphic rock but sometimes is found in sedimentary ones.

Gold is an element in the Periodic Table of Elements. That means that it is pure with nothing else mixed in it.

CA: General Geology Interesting Facts

“The high mountains and broad valleys we see today were created over long periods of time by geologic processes such as fault movement, volcanism, sea level change, erosion and sedimentation.”

“Both the highest and lowest elevations in the 48 contiguous states are in California, only 80 miles apart. The tallest mountain peak is Mt. Whitney at 14,496 feet; the lowest elevation in California and North America is in Death Valley at 282 feet below sea level.” (CA Geologic Survey, General Geology and Landforms, 150 facts.)

References

Llama fact sheet, Copyright © 2006 Broken Windmill Ranch Inc., Retrieved from: www.brokenwindmill.com/llama_fact_sheet.htm

Kilauea, Hawaii---Helicopter Tours. Other facts retrieved from: hvo.wr.usgs.gov/volcanowatch/archiveDavid@bigisland-bigisland.com Aloha, Feb. 2008

Longstreet Highroad Guide to the California Sierra Nevada, by Mark Grossi, Published (print): 2000, Published (Web): September 2000, Revised (Web): November 2002, ISBN: 1-56352-592-5

Lake Tahoe Facts and Info , The Geological History of the Lake Tahoe Basin , Retrieved from: www.tahoecam.com/tahoefacts.html

(State of CA Department of Concervation, CA Geological Survey, Copyright © 2007) , Retrieved from: http://www.conservation.ca.gov/cgs/geologic_resources/gold/Pages/index.aspx)

(CA Geologic Survey, General Geology and Landforms, Retrieved from: http://www.sanandreasfault.org/CGS_Anniversary_Facts_150.pdf)