South Lake Tahoe

Lucia Munoz Geology 103

Table of contents

Ponderosa Pine Tree………………………………….3

Rocky Mountain Mule Deer ………………………4

Snow Plant ……………………………………………….5

Types of Rocks

Granite Rocks …………………………………………..6

Slate………………………………………………………….7

Marble Rocks…………………………………………….9

Principle of Horizontality …………………………11

Types of Unconformities………………………….13

Words Cited…………………………………………….16

References………………………………………………17

Ponderosa Pine Tree

Ponderosa pines have needles from 3 to 5 in. long in groups of 2 or 3. Each treeproduces both male and female reproductive structures. Seeds are moderate in for a tree seed weight, and may be widely dispersed by wind. Ponderosa pine has long been animportant tree for timber and is a long-lived species. The oldest known ponderosa pines are more than 700 years old. Its vertical range depends on two factors: at least 25 in. of annual precipitation at the lower limit and prolonged winter freezing at the upper. According to the USDA Forest Service, during the last ice age, as the ice sheet advanced, the tree was forced either South into Mexico or to the Pacific Coast to find warmer climates. Gradually, the trees evolved independently and differentiated into subspecies. When the ponderosa pine is young, its bark is brownish black and the tree is sometimes called “bull pine”. When the tree grows older the bark changes to a yellowish color and develops a plate like structure. This is a very valuable tree because it is used to make paper, build houses, and artificial vanilla is made from the old bark of a ponderosa pine.

Rocky Mountain Mule Deer. (Odocoileus hemionus) I was lucky to see a Deer on my way home. It gets its name for its large mule-like ears. Some deer live yearlong in the foothills and lower forest. Many migrate upslope with advancing spring greenery and later a few continue almost to the crest. As soon as snow started, they returned near the lower border of ponderosa pine forest where the snow is only 18 in. deep or less. Many Mule Deer are killed along highways, people legally shoot them, and some die of starvation interrupting their traditional migration routes between the high and low country. In the early 1860's the first Estes Valley Settlers found a moderately abundant mule deer numbers. A growing population of people, predators and the often harsh elements took huge numbers of the animals. In 1895, according to one report, very few mule deer were seen in the Estes Park region and continued into the beginning of the twentieth century. Mule deer became so scarce throughout Colorado that in 1913, a statewide hunting ban was put into effect. The dedication of Rocky Mountain National Park in 1915 and subsequent removal of wolves resulted in a dramatic increase in the mule deer population. in 1930, an estimated 2,500 roamed the park. (1)

The common name of this plant is considerably less grotesque than its scientific name, given it by John Torrey, a famous New York botanist of the 19th Century. It translates roughly to "the bloody flesh-like thing," an allusion to the bright red color of the plant – the entire plant, not just the flowers. It belongs to the Monotropaceae, or Indian-pipe family, a family closely related to the Ericaceae, or heath family: snow plant is the unlikely relation of such shrubs as manzanita, madroño, laurel, and azalea. The aboveground portion begins to grow in late spring, as the snow melts, and presents a dramatic contrast with the snow. This plant has no chlorophyll and cannot photosynthesize. (2)

Types of Rocks Granite Rocks• Its name is Latin for "granum," or "grain”

• Consist of mineral quartz and feldspar

• Is an igneous rock.

• Granite is found in large plutons on the continent and must form by the melting of continental rocks.

“Granite represents the way the continents maintain themselves. The minerals in granitic rocks break down into clay and sand and are carried to the sea. Plate tectonics returns these materials through seafloor spreading and subduction, sweeping them beneath the edges of the continents. There they are rendered back into feldspar and quartz, ready to rise again to form new granite when and where the conditions are right. It is all part of the never-ending rock cycle”. (3)

Slate . Is a metamorphic rock

• Is created by the alteration of shale or mudstone by low-grade regional metamorphism.

• Is composed mainly of clay minerals or micas

• Slate is usually a former sedimentary basin that becomes involved in a convergent plate boundary.

• In the 1800s, elementary school students used a small piece of slate mounted in a wooden frame for writing practice.

• Most of the slate mined throughout the world is used to produce roofing slates.

• Slate is also used for interior flooring, exterior paving, dimension stone, and decorative aggregate. Small pieces of slate are also used to make turkey calls. (4)

Slate siding: Slate is sometimes used as facing stone on building exteriors. Image © iStockphoto / John Bloor.

Marble Rock • Is a Metamorphic rock

• It forms when limestone is subjected to the heat and pressure of metamorphism.

• Is primarily composed by the mineral calcite “Most marble forms at convergent plate boundaries where large areas of Earth's crust are exposed to regional metamorphism. Some marble also forms by contact metamorphism when a hot magma body heats adjacent limestone or dolostone”. Marble is usually a light-colored rock. When it is formed from a limestone with very few impurities, it will be white in color. Marble that contains impurities such as clay minerals, iron oxides, or bituminous material can be bluish, gray, pink, yellow, or black in color.

Being composed of calcium carbonate, marble will react in contact with many acids, neutralizing the acid. It is one of the most effective acid neutralization materials. Marble is often crushed and used for acid neutralization in carbonate medicines: is composed of calcium carbonate that makes it very effective at neutralizing acids. Highest purity marble is often crushed to a powder, processed to remove impurities, and then used to make products such as Tums and Alka-Seltzer that are used for the treatment of acid indigestion. Crushed marble is also used to reduce the acid content of soils, the acid levels of streams, and as an acid-neutralizing material in the chemical industry.

Principle of original horizontalityThe Permian through Jurassic stratigraphy of the Colorado Plateau area of southeastern Utah is a great example of Original Horizontality. These strata make up much of the famous prominent rock formations in widely spaced protected areas such as Capitol Reef National Park and Canyonlands National Park. From top to bottom: Rounded tan domes of the Navajo Sandstone, layered red Kayenta Formation, cliff-forming, vertically jointed, red Wingate Sandstone, slope-forming, purplish Chinle Formation, layered, lighter-red Moenkopi Formation, and white, layered Cutler Formation sandstone. Picture from Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Utah. (6)

• It was first proposed by the Danish geological pioneer Nicholas Steno (1638–1686).• states that layers of sediment are originally deposited horizontally under the action of gravity• Is important to the analysis of folded strata• It is because of this principle that can be concluded that the Earth has not been static and that great forces have been at work over long periods of time. (7)

Types of Unconformities

Angular Unconformity

THE ROCK FORMATION BELOW SHOWS AN ANGULAR UNCONFORMITY FOUND ON THE COAST OF PORTUGAL AT TELHEIRO BEACH, COPYRIGHT BY: GABRIEL GUTIERREZ-ALONSO. HTTP://WWW.GEOLOGYIN.COM/2015/10/TYPES-OF-UNCONFORMITIES.HTML

“In an angular unconformity, younger sediments rest upon the eroded surface of tilted or folded older rocks. Angular unconformities result when horizontally parallel strata of sedimentary rock are deposited on tilted and eroded layers, which may be vertical or at an angle to the overlying horizontal layers. The entire sequence may later be deformed and tilted by later orogenic activity.”. (8)

A NONCONFORMITY BETWEEN SEDIMENTARY ROCKS AND METAMORPHIC OR IGNEOUS ROCKS OCCURS WHEN SEDIMENTARY ROCK HAS BEEN DEPOSITED ABOVE PRE-EXISTING (ERODED) METAMORPHIC OR IGNEOUS ROCK, INDICATING AN ENVIRONMENTAL ALTERATION IN MODE OF FORMATION OF STRATA. (8)

Nonconformity Unconformity

Nonconformity between Cambrian Potsdam Fm. and Proterozoic Gneiss, Alexandria Bay, NYhttp://www.pbase.com/image/93924210

Disconformity

This picture shows a disconformity in Capitol Reef National Park, Utah. The Chinle Formation (Triassic), the slope forming unit in the central portion of the picture, has a very sharp contact (black line) with the overlying Wingate Sandstone (uppermost Triassic, forms steep cliff). This contact is considered a disconformity. http://www.indiana.edu/~geol105b/images/gaia_chapter_6/unconformities.htm

According to Wikipedia, A disconformity is an unconformity between parallel layers of sedimentary rocks which represents a period of erosion or non-deposition. Disconformities are marked by features of subaerial erosion. This type of erosion can leave channels and paleosols in the rock record

Works cited.

1. National Park Service. Mule Deer. (n.d.) Retrieved by https://www.nps.gov/romo/learn/nature/mule_deer.htm

2. Gauna, J. Snow Plant . (n.d.) Retrieved by http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/plant-of-the-week/sarcodes_sanguinea.shtml

3. Alden, A. What is Granite? (n.d.) Retrieved by http://geology.about.com/od/more_igrocks/a/granite.htm

4. (n.d.) What is Slate? Retrieved by http://geology.com/rocks/slate.shtml

5. (n.d.) What is Marble? Retrieved by http://geology.com/rocks/marble.shtml

6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principle_of_original_horizontality

7. Principle of Horizontality. March 12, 2014. Retrieved by http://www.geologyin.com/2014/03/principle-of-original-horizontality.html

8. Geology: Unconformity. April 11, 2016. Retrieved by http://bio-geo-terms.blogspot.com/2006/04/unconformity.html

References

1. Symes, R.F. Rocks & Minerals. New York, NY. Dorling Kindersley. 2008. Print.

2. Laws, John Muir. The Laws Field Guide to the Sierra Nevada. San Francisco, CA: California Academy of Sciences, 2007. Print.

3. Storer, T. Robert L. Usinger, David Lukas. California Natural History Guides. Sierra Nevada Natural History. History. Berkeley: U of California, 2004. Print.

4. Graf, Michael. Plants of the Tahoe Basin: Flowering Plants, Trees, and Ferns: A Photographic Guide. Sacramento, CA: California Native Plant Society, 1999. Print.