![]() ![]() Image 1: Two contrasting images: Top photo of Grand Tetons. This huge weather difference is discussed in the textbook-Death Valley is warmed by tropical sunshine, set loose by redwoods rain. Link: At about the same latitude as the sequoias and redwoods, and with the same sunshine above the clouds, is Death Valley and the rest of the Great Basin. Image 10: Topographical map showing Coast Redwood range with arrow pointing to Death Valley behind the mountain range. At about the same latitude as the sequoias and redwoods, and with the same sunshine above the clouds, is Death Valley and the rest of the Great Basin. The trees need fire to clear out faster-growing trees so young sequoias have room to grow, and to trigger sprouting of those young sequoias. The thick bark of the sequoias is nearly fireproof. Image 8: Close-up of man standing next to Sequoia tree, showing thick bark. Although not as tall as the redwoods, these trees are more massive-generally considered the largest living things on Earth-and live more than a millennium longer. ![]() Up the mountains from the redwoods are the giant sequoias of Yosemite, Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks. Image 7: Giant Sequoias representative of those found in Yosemite, Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks. The redwood coast is rainy and foggy the huge trees couldn’t exist in a drier environment. Image 6: Ocean view at the Redwood coast. Reaching heights of more than 370 feet (well more than a football-field standing on end), the redwoods are the world’s tallest trees. Image 5: Sequoia tree standing more than 370 feet tall. The acids in redwood needles help produce soils that favor rhododendron (shown here) and ferns, as well as more redwoods. The redwood forest, with ferns, rhododendron and azaleas in the understory, look like a magnified version of an eastern hemlock forest. Image 3: Redwood forest, with ferns, rhododendron and azaleas in the understory. Sequoia sempervirens, the ever-living sequoia, will live for two millennia, and then sprout new trees from its fallen trunk. Redwood National Park is another of the parks established primarily for biological reasons. Image 2: Close-up of Sequoia trees in Redwood National Park. A Contrast in Weather… Redwoods and Death Valley. Top photo of Redwoods, bottom photo of Death Valley. Virtual Field Trip #2: The Redwoods and Death Valley The rock is in the deposits from about 1850, and most of its surrounding rocks have not been split, giving some insight to the rate of weathering. And in a very different environment, in the remoteness of the coast of Greenland, frost growth in a crack has split this rock in two. ![]() Image 9: Rock split in two as a result of frost grown in crack. As in the previous picture, the thousand-year-old artwork of Ancestral Puebloan people has been damaged a little by fall of rock, showing that rocks do change, but slowly. Image 8: Ancestral Puebloan rock carving damaged by fall of rock. A little of the rock surface has flaked off since then the artists did not carve a half-spiral on the left (arrow added). Ancestral Puebloan people carved this rock in Petrified Forest National Park almost a millennium ago. Image 7: Ancestral Puebloan rock carving showing surface flaking. The very soft, steep rocks here have eroded by more than a foot in the few decades of this tree’s life. This tree, on the rim of Bryce Canyon, started with its roots covered by soil, but the soil has eroded away. Image 6: Tree roots in Bryce Canyon exposed by soil erosion. Together, weathering and transport make erosion. ![]() Movement of these smaller pieces is called transport. Breakdown of rocks to make smaller pieces and new types such as clay minerals is called weathering. Image 5: Large weathered rocks in Badlands. Flat areas maintain vegetation, but steep areas are mostly bare sediment. The clays of Badlands soils expand and contract as they wet and dry, tearing out plant roots. All of these materials were made by the breakdown of older rocks in the Rockies. The badlands are muds and sand beds put down by ancient rivers draining the Rockies, together with volcanic ashes blown in on the wind. Most folks who drive to the Badlands are enticed by the seemingly endless signs for a particularly well-known tourist trap, shown here. Image 2: Children sitting on jackalope statue at Wall Drug tourist area in Badlands. A first look at breaking rocks to make sediment, and transporting that sediment to make beautiful and informative places. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |