Gabriel Heimberg

Gabriel Heimberg

Photo Journal for Geography 5 Lab Class

In Transit Photos

Rancho Cucamonga Alluvial Fan

California Aqueduct

This picture shows the California

Aqueduct.

Three Tiers of California Desert Vegetation

This picture shows the three

tiers of vegetation in a

California Desert

1. The Joshua Tree (In red) is

the top tier.

2. The creosote (In blue) is

the middle tier. This is the

shrubs.

3. The burroweed grass (In

violet) is the bottom tier.

Solar Power Plant

This picture shows the solar

power plant at the intersection of

the 395 Highway and the 58

Highway in California.

Doppler Radar Station

The Doppler Radar Station is

used for weather prediction from

Satellite Imagery.

Mine Tailings

These piles of debris are formed

from mining near Red Mountain

by the Rand Mining District.

Harper Dry Lake

Dry river beds in the Mojave

Desert.

Garlock Fault

Fault in the Mojave Desert.

SETI Towers

The SETI Towers are satellite

dishes that are searching for

messages from space. SETI

stands for Search for

ExtraTerrestrial Life.

Stratus and Nimbus Clouds

The weather was changing while

were at Mono Lake. This is

seem by the Stratus clouds

(Circled in blue) and the Nimbus

clouds. (Circled in red)

Geese in Bishop

For a stop in Bishop, we parked

near a park with a stream that

had geese and Mallards in it.

Mallards in Bishop

Here is a better picture of the

stream in Bishop, with only

Mallards.

1st Field Trip

Mormon Rocks

Mormon Rocks Formation

Mormon Rocks Structure

The granular structure of the

Mormon Rocks sandstone shows

that it is comprised of

sedimentary rock over time.

Mormon Rocks Stream Bed

This stream bed, in Mormon Rocks, is part of the San Andreas Rift Zone that separates the Pacific plate and the North American plate.

Cinder Hill

Cinder Hill

Cinder Hill is a cinder cone volcano.

Lava Flow

The black rock is basalt. These formations are from lava cooling quickly as it flowed out of a volcano.

Fossil Falls

Owens Riverbed

Owens River is a dry riverbed near fossil falls.

Fossil Falls

Fossil Falls is a dry waterfall that was part of the Owens River.

Metate Holes

Metate Holes are holes in the large rocks near waterfalls and rapids. They are created by small pebbles revolving very fast in the same place from running water.

Obsidian Flakes

These Obsidian Flakes were put here by Native Americans for the making of arrowheads and other tools. They would travel to nearby volcanoes to collect large pieces of obsidian and then shape the obsidian nearer to home.

Petroglyph

Drawn by Native Americans on rocks

House Ring

This ring of rocks is a house ring. The Native Americans would move seasonally. They would leave rings of rocks to mark the place they dwelt, so when they moved back, they could reestablish the same spot.

2nd Field Trip

Diaz Lake

Lone Pine Fault

The Lone Pine Fault is next to Diaz Lake. The hills in the background are the Alabama Hills of California.

Diaz Lake

Diaz Lake is a sag pond. It was created from the shifts of the tectonic plates from the nearby Lone Pine Fault. Earthquakes made the ground uneven and the water settled to the lowest point in the area.

Mount Whitney

Mount Whitney

This is Mount Whitney. We did not go to the Mt. Whitney Interagency Visitor’s Center.

Keoughs Hot Springs

Keoughs Hot Springs

Keoughs Hot Springs are hot springs created from seismic activity. Earthquakes cause cracks in the Earth’s surface that water seeps through until it gets hot. Heat rises bringing warm water up to the surface.

Keoughs Hot Springs

This is as close as I could get to the actual spring from the ground.

Glaciated Valleys

These glaciated valleys were created from glaciers sliding down the Mountains. The low Hills are the sediments that the glaciers pushed down. These are called moraines.

Mono Lake

Nearby Forest Fire

At Mono Lake, we saw smoke from a nearby forest fire. It is unclear if it was a controlled blaze or a wild fire.

Volcanoes Near Mono Lake

The mountains around Mono Lake are actually volcanoes that have not recently erupted.

Neget and Pehoa

The island circled in red is Pehoa. The one in blue is Neget. They are both volcanoes form in the center of the Mono Lake.

Tufa Formations

Formed where freshwater streams empties into a saltwater lake, these mineral formations, called tufa grow upward from the bottom of the lake. In most cases the tufa stays underwater, but because of Mono Lakes receding shoreline, these formations become completely exposed.

Current Shoreline

The Current Shoreline of Mono Lake.

1963 Shoreline Marker

Still hundreds of feet from the current shoreline of Mono Lake, is this marker showing the shoreline in 1963. Receding waters from the nearby Los Angeles aqueduct avert tributary streams away from Mono Lake causing the lake to shrink.

Old Mono Lake Size

Lines on the nearby hills, show the shoreline of Mono Lake hundreds of years ago.

Duck in Mono Lake

Wood ducks feed on brine Shrimp in Mono Lake.

Whigens in Mono Lake

Whigens are another bird species that feed on brine Shrimp in Mono Lake.

Cormorant in Mono Lake

Cormorants are another bird species that feed on brine Shrimp in Mono Lake.

Panum Crater

Panum Crater

Panum Crater is a Volcano that has a smaller volcano inside of it.This is the valley of Panum Crater.

1981 Burn Area

In 1981 there was a wildfire that swept the area near Panum Crater. The lighter vegetation is were plants have grown back since the fire.

New Burn Area

A more recent wild fire shows the charred remains of native plants

June Lake Loop

Grant Lake

Grant Lake is a man made lake, red by Rush Creek. When the Los Angeles aqueduct was being built, a dam was built to control water flow into the aqueduct. This dam caused water to gather, causing this lake to form.

Lateral Moraines

Across Grant Lake you can see lateral moraines caused from the glacial settlement.

Waterfall

Waterfall near silver lake.

Silver Lake

Silver Lake

Mallard in Silver Lake

This mallard was found swimming in Silver Lake.

Convict Lake

Convict Lake is a cirque, which is a lake caused by glaciers

Sevehah Cliffs

The Sevehah Cliffs are the Oldest Rocks in North America.

Bird Near Convict Lake

This bird in flight is probably a male Phainopepla. I tried to get a picture walking in the parking lot, but the bird was skittish.

Eastern Sierra Museum

Old Map of Bishop Area

At the Eastern Sierra Museum, I saw this map the museum was trying to preserve. It was displayed in the local drugstore in the 1950s. I am amazed at the pictures in the map. It was probably for tourists to see nearby interesting places to visit.

Manzanar

Manzanar

Manzanar was a relocation camp that the United States used to keep Japanese Americans in, during World War II. Now there is barely anything left, except rocks and foundations of old buildings. After the war, people used the wood and other materials to build buildings in nearby towns.

Plaques

The Japanese had to build their own buildings at the camp. Many would put there names in the concrete foundations or like this in what was probably a fountain in the main square.

Field Question 1Mormon Rocks is a tilted fault block. As the Pacific Plate pushes against the North American Plate

at the San Andreas Fault the rocks break and the rocks jut upward. In this instant Geologists can determine important information through the layers of rock exposed through the fault line. Some of the information that can be determined are annual rainfall averages, seismic activity and biome information.

Mormon Rocks is sedimentary rock around the San Andreas Fault. The San Andreas is the key point to the seismic activity in Southern California, and the pressure is building in this area. It is also were we can see information to the Earth beneath us through the Layers exposed.

Field Question 2At Cinder Hill, I saw a cinder cone, lava flows, alluvial fans and other

volcanoes. Cinder Hill is a cinder cone type volcano. In the picture on the next page, the lava flow is the darker area at the side of the mountain, circled in red. The alluvial fan is circled in blue. The volcano is circled in green.

Near Fossil Falls, there were three evidences of former Native American habitation. First was the chips of obsidian on the ground. Native Americans would travel to volcanoes and collect obsidian, so they could make arrowheads and other tools. Second are the house rings. Native Americans would mark the spot of their homes, so when they returned from seasonal migration, they could resettle in the same spot. The third evidence is the petroglyphs drawn on the rocks.

3

Landforms Near Fossil Falls

The Volcano is green, the Lava Flow is red and the Alluvial Fan is blue.

Field Question 3The Sierra Nevada Mountains and the White Inyo Mountains look very different. The Sierra Nevada

Mountains are larger and have step U shaped valleys. The White Inyo Mountains are smaller and have more rolling V shaped mountains.

The Sierra Nevada Mountains are an older mountain range with moraines. The U shaped valleys are caused by the glaciers that weathered the mountains. The glaciers carved the valleys taking sediment down with them and the piles of sediment are the small rolling hills at the bottom of the mountains called moraines.

The White Inyo Mountains are younger and shorter than the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The White Inyo Mountains do not have as much glacier weathering, so the valleys have more of the V shape. There are also no real moraines where we were looking at them.

Field Questions 4Using the Analema on November 6, 2010, as we were visiting Mono Lake, the Subsolar Point

(Where the sun is directly 90 degrees overhead.) was at the latitude of about 16 degrees south. The Subsolar Point was in the Southern Hemisphere. Mono Lake is at a latitude of 38 degrees north. Therefore, adding the two latitudes together, because the latitudes are in separate hemispheres, the arc distance is 54 degrees. Subtracted from 90 the solar angle of the Sun at Lee Vining is 36 degrees. This means at the highest point of the day (the Zenith Point) the Sun is only 36 degrees up from the horizon in the south.

We also know from the Analema, on November 6 th, the Zenith Point is sixteen minutes fast. In other words the Sun hits it’s Zenith Angle of 36 degrees above the horizon at 11:44 AM.

Field Question 5At Panum Crater there are many landforms to see. Panum Crater itself is a composite volcano with a cinder cone

volcano inside. Neget and Pehoa are also small volcanoes inside Mono Lake. There are nearby mountains with moraines at the feet of them. In Mono Lake, you can see the tufa from Panum Crater.

Three evidences of former lake levels are first the lines on the nearby hills. This is seen in slide 48. The second evidence of former lake levels are the tufa. The are naturally formed underwater and only exposed by the receding shoreline. The third evidence is the sign put out of the 1963 shoreline.