Geology

• Study of rocks, minerals
• Geological time scale, gradualism
• Basic components of earth’s crust:
  • 46.6%: Oxygen
  • 27.7%: Silica
    • Beaches
  • 8.1%: Aluminum
    • Most abundant mineral
  • 5.0%: Iron
• Others:
  • 3.6%: Calcium
  • 2.8%: Sodium
  • 2.6%: Potassium
  • 2.1%: Magnesium
  • Other elements are found at lower percentages: precious metals, etc.

Minerals

• Element: One molecule composed of specific atomic units
• Mineral: One compound composed of one or more elements
  • Nutrients necessary for organisms to process for survival
  • Rocks release minerals through weathering and erosion

Weathering

• Chemical process of releasing minerals
• Affected by several agents

Water

• Chemical acidity
• Lattice structure of water → expansion when changing forms → surface tension
  • Expansion when freezing breaks down chunks of rocks

Chemical Weathering

• Gases: CO₂, Carbonic Acid
  • Carbonic acid breaks down marble, limestone, rocks, etc. via acidity
• Chemical reactions dissolve rock

Rainwater

• Effective weathering agent
• Normal rainwater, not acid rain; is slightly acidic
  • Mixes with CO2 to form Carbonic Acid
  • Mixes with decaying material to form Carbonic Acid and Nitric Acid (stronger acid)

Acid Rain

• Severe acidity
• Sulfur dioxide released in the atmosphere
  • Volcanoes, coal burning
• Sulfur dioxide and water forms sulfuric acid (battery acid)
• Nitrogen Oxide from cars and water forms Nitric Acid

Erosion

• Physical processes
• Physically breaking apart/away sediments
• The faster water flows (higher velocity, higher energy) the more material it can carry; slower water releases materials
  • Sierra Nevada wears down by 1” every thousand years

Water Erosion

• Hurling particles causing breakdown
• Carving and altering land shapes

Splash Erosion

• The impact of water drops (raindrops) on bare ground dislodges portions of the ground

Sheet Erosion

• Water on a mostly flat, inclined area gathers volume and velocity, eroding land under it

Gully Erosion

• Advanced sheet erosion
• Greater velocity

Wind Erosion

• Geological pressures
• Tornadoes and hurricanes are extreme wind erosion

Santa Ana Winds

• High wind pressure
• Altitude in air
• High pressure in Nevada, low in Southern California; vacuum-like position of pressure on ground level
• Wind flows down into ground that is being pulled upwards: wind travels faster to try to replace volume
• Wind picks up sand/sediment and blows it into objects
• Santa Rosa firestorms
• The stronger the difference between air pressures, the stronger the wind/breeze that fills in

Glacial Ice Erosion

• Glaciers in CA (~100), up to 1km
• Snow that does not melt fully, leaving behind an ice layer; some is left as runoff
• Glacier: Large block of ice pulled downwards with gravity
• Last ice age had glaciers on Sierra Nevada, Klamath, Cascade 10000 yrs ago; Yosemite carved valleys
• Sierra, Mt. Shasta, Trinity Alps
• Glacier depletion in CA, Alaska, etc. in retreat: extensive erosion/exposure of soils causing positive loop of melting

Gravitational Erosion

Rock Sediments

• Different subsections of three major types
• Sedimentary rock, igneous rock, metamorphic rock

Sedimentary Rock

• Secondary rock
• Particles from weathering and erosion reform/compress into a new rock
• Sandstone
• Makes up ¾ of rocks found on surface and only 5% of those in crust
• Large amounts of sedimentary rock in CA as a result of exposure and covering by water through Ice Age and tectonic events from rising oceans/coasts
  • Central Valley: Water washed out, 1000ft sediments
  • Mountains have been uplifted and wearing down for millions of years; sediments end in Central Valley

Sierra Nevada Sedimentary Rock

• Many exposed rocks are igneous; sedimentary rock has eroded
• Still visible in areas of low rainfall: “spine”/crest at high elevation is present
  • Fossils, Trilobytes

Igneous Rock

• Volcanic/plutonic rock
• Primary rocks formed from basal materials of magma and lava
• Formed above and under ground; many of it is underground
• Granite, basalt, pumice, obsidian
• Examples
  • Sierra Nevada granite batholith
    • batholith: large intrusion of igneous rock that cools over time; uplifted and eroded
  • Mount Lassen, Mount Shasta, Devil’s Postpile, Modoc Plateau, Sutter Buttes
    • Active cascading volcanoes
    • Basalt cooling

Slow-Cooling

• “Salt and pepper” look in granite
• “Coarse-grained”
• Larger crystals formed in rocks

Rapid-Cooling

• Some small or no crystals at all
• “Fine-grained”
• Pumice: Air bubbles
• Basalt
• Gaseous; dissolved gases inside and high pressure
  • “Bubbling out” and rapidly cooling
• Obsidian: black glass with no gas inside

Metamorphic Rock

• Secondary rock
• Begins as igneous or sedimentary; tectonic activity causes them to be shoved underground towards heat sources and they change forms/characteristics
• Limestone → Marble; Shale → Slate
• Partially remelted and changed
• Mountainous areas common

Rock Cycle

• Igneous → Metamorphic → Sedimentary
• Weathering agents/Exogenous forces act on igneous rocks and break them into sedimentary minerals
• Sediment is compressed into sedimentary rocks: Lithification
• Sedimentary rocks exposed to high heat from tectonic convergence, friction, and pressure bakes and changes into metamorphic rocks
• Exogenous forces can break all rocks into sediment
• Mantle through subduction → Igneous and metamorphic rocks

Plate Tectonics

• Three plates: Juan de Fuca, Pacific, North American
  • Pacific moves west; Juan de Fuca moves east
• Grinding/friction; rocks melt
  • Volcanoes: Lassen, Shasta, Plateau
• San Andreas Fault
• Pacific Plate has a ring that intersects with various other intercontinental plates: Ring of Fire
  • High earthquake zones and volcanic activity on plate faults
• Devil’s hole

Faults

• Foot-walls and hanging walls
• Ridge collapses
• Various deep faults under South California
  • San Andreas Fault
  • Fracture zones
  • Base of transverse range
  • Faults are unknown forms; large cause of urban destruction and utility risk

Normal Fault

• Foot-wall is higher than hanging wall

Reverse Fault

• Hanging wall is higher than foot-wall
• Overhang

Strike-Slip Fault

• Foot-wall and hanging wall move horizontally away from each other
• 1906 earthquake

Weather and Climate

• Weather: Daily, present variations in temperature, precipitation, winds, etc.
• Climate: Long-term and annual patterns in temperature, precipitation, winds, etc. in a region
• Climate is affected by:
  • Air masses moving across and around counties/locations; density of air masses and variables of air masses
  • Oceans and ocean currents; temperature, moisture, density
  • Topography and movement around topography
  • Latitude and angles of sunlight
    • Hemispheric seasons and angles

Adiabatic Cooling

• Altitude is not elevational movement; altitude regards atmosphere
• Warm air rises; warm air molecules are lighter and less dense, less close
• Ground warms accepting heat
  • Directly above ground level is the warmest
• Air gets denser as it cools and enlarges
• Adiabatic cooling is present most in areas of rainfall, adiabatic warming is present in areas of desert

Ocean Currents and Maritime Climate

• Cool water is bordered by denser air that is not heated by it and less moisture
  • California maritime climate
• Warm water is bordered by less dense air and more moisture
  • Florida thunderstorms
  • Sierra Nevada, especially at night
• Atmospheric effect

Mediterranean Climate

• Seasonality of warm dry summers and cool wet winters
• Created by cold water current off coast and air masses moving from coast onto land alongside mountainous topography
• Mediterranean, California coast, North Africa, Chile, Southern and West Australia
• Close to 40*N and S

Orographic Precipitation

• Rain shadows
• Orographic effect
• Topographical
• Mountain ranges force air up which causes adiabatic cooling → rainfall
  • West side of mountain ranges:
    • Air rises
    • Adiabatic cooling
    • Condensation and precipitation
  • East side:
    • Adiabatic warming
    • Desert
      • Peninsular Range
      • Transverse Range
      • Southern Sierra Nevada
      • Sierra Nevada
      • Cascade Range
      • Big Sur area in Bakersfield
    • Rain shadow effect
    • Evaporation from compression and warming
    • Air expands and dries; less relative humidity
    • No condensation or precipitation

Coastal Regions

Waves

• Rogue waves
  • Intersection points of different waves exponentially increase wave energy
  • Non-sequential
  • High waves
• Massive gradualist coastal erosion
  • Cliffs; Pacifica, CA
    • Riff-raff armored to prevent further erosion
• Breaker waves
• Coastal deposition: large amounts of sediment displaced and deposited by incoming waves downstream from inland river sediment
  • Creates beaches
  • Prohibited by damming; cleans sediments in water
  • Lack of beach development; Huntington Beach
    • Contracted cargo bay dredging and shipping

Tides

• Coastal erosion
• Gravitational pull of Moon (2/3), spinning inertia, and Sun (1/3)
  • Moon is much closer than Sun
• Tidal bulges rotate around Earth
• Two low tides and two high tides experienced every lunar day; one lunar day is 24 hours, 50 minutes
  • Peak highs experienced approximately every 6 hours
• Spring and neap tides occur every fourteen days per; monthly, not seasonal

High Tides

• Gravity is significantly greater or less than the center of the Earth

Low Tides

• Gravity is equal to the center of the Earth

Spring Tides

• Moon and sun are parallel to each other to Earth
• New and full moons
• Most maximal tides

Neap Tides

• Moon and sun are perpendicular with regard to Earth as the origin
• Quarter moon phases
• Most minimal tides

Upwelling

• Winds push warm surface water away from the coast
• Deep cold water rises on continental coast and displaces surface water
  • Nutrient-rich
  • Pulls to surface
• Aids in phytoplankton production and biodiversity
• Four major upwelling zones
  • Two in Atlantic
    • Off coast of Western Africa
    • Off coast of Southern Africa
  • Two in Eastern side of Pacific
    • Off coast of California
    • Off coast of Peru
  • Produces 20% of fishery catch worldwide

Tidal Zonation

Supertidal Zone

Upper Intertidal/Littorina Zone

• Encompasses supertidal and part of intertidal
• High tide occurs in middle of littorina
• 7 to 2.5 ft above sea level
• “Supralittoral fringe”

Intertidal Zone

• 2.5 to 0 ft above sea level
• “Midlittoral zone”

Middle Intertidal Zone

• Majority of Intertidal Zone
• Barnacles, rockweed, mussels
• Low tide occurs at end of zone
• “Infralittoral fringe”

Subtidal Zone

• 0 to -1.6 ft below sea level

Lower Intertidal Zone

• Variable populations
• Partial intertidal, all of subtidal

Biodiversity

Deep Sea Organisms

• Aphotic adaptations
  • Anglerfish, Pacific Black Dragon
  • Cnidarians; Blood Belly Comb Jelly
  • Fangtooth
  • Red Mysid
• Bioluminescence
  • Attracting prey
  • Dispelling/blinding predators
• Red fully dispelled underwater; blood belly comb jelly is hidden underwater
• Air-filled compressible bladder in water column; distended at higher sea levels
• Anglerfish males are parasitic; chew into females and grow into respiratory system and release sperm
• Monterey canyon

Kelp Forests

• Over 220 species depend on kelp in California
• Require upwelling conditions
• Large seawater filtration
  • Water brings in nutrients and displaces waste products
  • Cold water allows higher levels of oxygen to dissolve
  • Spores
  • Water motion rips exposed kelp pieces and pulls upward holdfasts; creates kelp shape
• Macrocystis grows best in well-mixed waters on coastlines that experience wave action vs. bays
  • East coast of pacific
  • South America
  • Australia
  • New Zealand
  • South Africa
• Similarities to terrestrial forests
  • Canopic and floor structures
  • Three-dimensional weightless state in kelp forests
  • Kelp can grow quickly with nutrients; foot and a half a day

Coastal Organisms

Mammals

• Harbor Seals, Sea Lions

Orcas

• Transient
  • Follows and predates whales
  • Migrates from Alaska to Baja California
• Native
  • Territorial pods on West Coast
  • Predate fish, sometimes larger mammals, otters
    • Otter diet caused by overfishing

Sea Otters

• Recolonizing
  • Abundant until 1700s: Japan, Alaska, Baja California, British Columbia, West Coast
  • 300,000+ animals; 20,000 in California
  • 1741: Russian, colonial fur trade
  • 150 years of fur trade
    • Aleut/Inuit enslavement in Russians
    • Peaked in California: 500-600 in one week in San Francisco Bay
  • 1911: International Fur Seal Treaty
    • Only 1,000-2,000 left
    • One colony in Alaska and one in Big Sur
      • ~50 in B.S.
      • Discovered in 1938; Highway 1
  • 1970s: Gill netting bycatch
    • 1,980 animals
  • Modern California sea otter population has low genetic diversity
• Dependent on kelp forests
• Shelter, Cover, Food, Loafing, Grooming
• Californian and Alaskan otters
• Fur has heavy insulative properties
  • Velvety
  • 1m follicles per square inch
• Vulnerable to oil pollution and oil spills
  • Federal Oil Pollution Acts
• Cat poop: Leptospirosis
  • Flu-like symptoms
  • Exacerbated by stress
• Shooting
  • Predate abalone, urchins
• Monterey Bay, Newport Bay, Vancouver Aquariums
  • Non-releasable otters

Vertebrates

• Wolf Eel
• Shiner Surf Perch

Sharks

• Great White is offshore
• Coastal: Leopard, Horn Sharks
  • Bay sharks

Invertebrates

• Bat Star
• Brittle Star
• Sea Anemone
• Sand Dollars
• Mussels
• Crabs
• Cuttlefish
  • Chromatophores in pigmented sacs in radial muscles
• Jellyfish
  • 85-95% composition water
    • Bioaccumulated plastic
  • Nematocysts
• Nudibranchs
• Vampire Squid
• Pigbutt Worm

Octopuses

• Pacific Giant Octopus
• Dumbo Octopus
  • Monterey coast
• Flapjack Octopus
  • MBARI
  • Benthic
  • Photophores

Mudflats and Marshes

• Eelgrass
  • Submerged marshplants
  • Rock crevices in rocky environments
  • Mudflats
  • Pipefish camouflaged in grass
• Flat Innkeeper Worm
• Long-billed curlew
• Killdeer

Elkhorn Slough

• Monterey Bay
• Estuary systems
• Species richness and biodiversity
  • Keystone species
• Surrounded by farms
  • Salinas Valley
  • High pollution; fertilizer runoff/eutrophication
    • Algal blooms and decomposition die-off → anoxic ecosystems
    • Coats eelgrass and prevents photosynthesis
      • Death prevented by various organisms
        • Dungeness crabs
        • Sea hares (Giant seaslugs); Aplesia
          • Photophore appendages
        • Sea otters
• Algae and Eelgrass → Aplesia → Dungeness crabs → Sea otters

Coastal Forests

Coastal Interface

• Inward loses influence of salt spray and erosion; forested environments
  • inward after McClure’s Beach on Point Reyes
• Westernmost extension of coastal forest

Oak Woodland

• Easternmost extension of coastal forest
• Past top/over Coast Ranges
• Oak range, dry conditions
• Adiabatic cooling, orthographic precipitation form deep-rooted plants and grassland
  • Valley oak
  • Kellogg Creek, Livermore; Brushy Peak
• Oaks range towards mountains because they accumulate more water

Coastal Scrub

• Southern environment
• Sandy, but out from coast; drier conditions
  • Sand does not retain water in shallow column; percolates deeper
• Coastal Scrub plants vs. trees; not enough water
• Dennery Canyon, Otay Mesa, near San Diego (150m)

Chaparral

• Coastal chaparral
• Northern environment
• Airmass causes adiabatic warming over Napa Valley slopes onwards
• Drought-adapted
• Mount George east of Napa Valley (500m)

Coastal Prairie

• Vast grassland with forested trees; conifers on edges
• Mendocino
• Volcanic activity caused ashflow that pooled in prairie areas and solidified into hard, concrete-like layers beneath surface
  • Trees unable to root

Coastal Redwood Forest

• Margin of coast with high rainfall
• Redwoods need 80m+ rainfall
  • Jedediah Smith Redwoods Smith Park
• Coast Redwoods are some of oldest sp. in age and evolution; tallest species
  • 700-3000 yrs
• Fog reliance
  • Ground level condensation and redwood interception on leaf interface
  • Low taproots that do not rely on ground water
  • Fog drip
• Secondary/third growth of redwoods
• 200-240ft tall; tallest 370
  • thin, small foliage and cones
    • 14-24 seeds in each cone
• Pyrophytic
  • Older redwoods are fire-resistant; fire-retardant, thick bark
  • Shredded bark used as insulation
  • Stump sprouting; root remains and small trees grow via secondary growth
    • Trunks grow into each other; crown shapes
      • Cathedrals
• Flood-adapted
  • Lateral upwards branching of roots
  • Roots develop upwards towards soil surface and prevent asphyxiation
• Tree ring data of fire (fire scarring) and age

Closed-Cone Forests

• Closed-cone pines
• Glue pitch holds together
• Fires dry out pitch and cause brittleness
• Cone scales burst apart and eject seeds

Biodiversity

Tanoaks

• Lithocarpus densiflorus: Tanoak
• Acorns
• Coastal endemic
  • Native American dumpsites in villages in Nevada and Arizona; trading

Douglas-fir

• Pseudotsuga menziesii: Douglas-fir
• Lumber/logging
• 25-35 years of growth → Harvest
• Industrial building
• Mousebutt cones; seed bracts
• Wind pollination

Rhododendron

• Low sunlight; high shades, buildings, high irrigation
• Base of mountains

Roosevelt Elk

• Largest elk ssp. in North America
  • up to 1200 lbs
• Northwestern portion endemic; Oregon, British Columbia
• Antlers
  • Yearly shed, vs. horns

Banana Slug

• Ariolimax columbianus
• Muir Woods
• Large
• Emblem mascot for UCSC
• Moist forest environments
• Deaden tongue; analgesic/Novocaine
  • Predatory defense

Central Valley

• Tilt Block
  • Large flat valley in majority of CA
  • Northern portion is Sacramento Valley, southern is San Joaquin
• Known for high agriculture
  • ¼ food in US grown in Central Valley
  • $40b, 15% CA jobs, 30% economy
  • Tulare Lake shrunk
• Signature riparian forests
  • Large trees
• Freshwater marshes
  • No large trees; inundation by water
  • Tules
  • Used to extend by 2 million+ acres
  • Levee draining, agriculture
• Foothill belt
  • Chaparral

Vernal Pools

• Hard pan layer
• Spring pools
• Mediterranean climate
• Specific ancient soil foundations in Baja California and California, esp. Central Valley
• Pools only drained by evaporation and transpiration; perched water

Small Flora

• Valley Downingia (Downingia pulchella)
• Pink onions (Allium hyalinum)
• Goldfields (Lasthenia sp.)
  • Contra Costa goldfields (Lasthenia conjugens)
• Meadow foam (Limnathes douglasii)
  • Slightly larger
• Pincushion Navarettia (Navarretia myersii)
  • Endemic
• Tricolor monkeyflower (Mimulus tricolor)
• Sand spurrey (Spergularia macrotheca)
  • Alkali pools
  • Endemic
    • ~80% flowers endemic
• Alkali Milkvetch (Astragalus tener var. tener)
• Succulent Owl’s Clover (Castilleja campestris ssp. succulentus)
  • Threatened
• Chinese Camp Brodiaea (Brodiaea pallida)
  • Onion family
• Colusa grass (Neostapfia colusana)
  • Endangered
• Slender Orcutt grass (Orcuttia tenuis)
  • State endangered/federally threatened

Animals

• Tadpole Shrimp (Lepidurus packardii)
  • Federally endangered
  • Encysted
• Vernal Pool Fairy Shrimp (Branchinecta lynchi)
  • Threatened
• California Linderiella (Linderiella occidentalis)
• California Tiger Salamander (Ambystoma californiense)
  • Eggs laid
  • Burrows, estivation
• Great Egret, Great Blue Heron, Mallard
  • Wading birds and waterfowl
  • Crustaceans
• Tule Elk
  • Low genetic diversity
  • From ranch

Examples

• Jepson Prairie
  • Vacaville
  • Vernal pool complex
  • 15-20 acre pools
• Mather Vernal Pools
  • Mather field; Sunrise, Douglas Blvds.
• Phoenix Field
  • Fair Oaks; Hazel Ave.
  • 25 acres
  • ½ myo