FIELD STUDY #2

Clayton AhumadaGeology 1

MY EXPLORATIONS…

My photos come from several drives that my family and I took this year. We took a long drive along Highway 198, going west of Coalinga to Parkfield Grade. From there we went over the grade to Highway 41, near Cholame. Then we went on a big loop along Bitterwater Road to Annette Road, and then back to Highway 41 on Davis Road. We ended our trip on Highway 41 coming back to Lemoore. On another trip we went to San Francisco and ended up by the Golden Gate Bridge.

FAULTS

These are pictures of the San Andreas Fault in California. It is a slip fault where two plates, the North American and the Pacific rubs against each other. At one time, over 30 million years ago, the Pacific plate subducted under the North American. Most of these pictures are from the Parkfield area.

The Picture on the right was taken on Bitterwater Road.

The two pictures below were taken on Highway 41 near Cottonwood Pass.

WEATHERING PROCESS - MECHANICAL

Mechanical weathering is a weathering process caused by physical forces that break up the rocks without changing them. An example of this how the roots of trees and plants force their way down into cracks in the rocks looking for water. The roots break up the rocks.

WEATHERING PROCESSES - CHEMICAL

Chemical weathering is a weathering process caused by chemical reactions in the rock which change them. The 3 types of change are dissolution, oxidation and hydrolysis. Water plays a part in all three. The following pictures are examples of dissolution. They were taken at the Parkfield Cemetery.

MASS WASTING

Mass wasting is the downward movement of rock, soil and regolith because of gravity. Common names for it are landslides and mudslides. The following pictures were take along Highway 198 outside of Coalinga.

EROSION

Erosion is the physical removal of soil and rocks by wind, water, or ice. The following Pictures were taken on Parkfield Grade.

SEDIMENTARY ENVIRONMENTS- CONTINENTAL

A continental sedimentary environment is a place where sediment is accumulating due to erosion and steam movement. This picture was taken on the Parkfield Grade. There are three streams that cut across the road on the Parkfield Grade.

SEDIMENTARY ENVIRONMENTS - MARINE

A marine sedimentary environment is a place where sediment is deposited in the ocean. It is divided by depth into shallow environments and deep environments. Shallow environments go along all of the continents and deep environments include all of the deep sea floor. This picture was taken near San Francisco.

SEDIMENTARY ENVIRONMENTS - TRANSITIONAL

Transitional sedimentary environments are a transitional zone between the continental and marine environments. It includes the shoreline where we have beaches and tidal flats and barrier islands and bars. Deltas are also at type of transitional environment. This picture was taken near San Francisco.

PRACTICAL USE OF GEOLOGYThis is a picture of a Parshall flume near Coalinga on Highway 198. Parshall flumes were invented by Ralph L Parshall in 1922, and were used to measure the amount of water going over the flume. Parshall flumes have been very important to equally distribute and manage irrigation water in the Valley.