Field JournalBy: Edward Espinoza

Geography-5Professor SchmidtFridays 1:00-2:50 PM

*This is a Sun Dog or a Parhelion. Can be seen when the sun is lowest in the sky. Edward

Espinoza

The First Field Trip• Date: October 6, 2012

• Mormon Rocks, Cinder Hill, and Fossil Falls

Mormon Rocks were formed by the movement of the San Andreas Fault which separates the Pacific Plate and the North American plate and these rocks are located on a river bed

that has long been dry. Thousands of years of wind and water, combined, have caused these rocks to erode. Along with the water and wind, heating and cooling also have made the

holes on the rock formation that you see here.

Edward Espinoza

Mormon Rocks

Mormon Rocks Granular StructureAs you can see the Granular structure resembles that of sedimentary

rock. In fact, Mormon rocks is made up of sandstone and the layers that are highlighted by the arrows show the eroding of the rock from the water

that use to run here.

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The Yellow Arrow is pointing to the stream bed that dumped the sediments for Mormon rocks to get its granular structure. The White arrow shows the San Andreas fault, which is a transform right lateral strike slip fault, and it is located by the San Gabriel and San Bernardino Mountains.

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The Stream Bed and the San Andreas Rift Zone

Cinder Hill

Cinder Hill is a Cinder Volcano, which is one of the smallest out of the three types of volcanos. Cinder Hill eruption was not a violent one despite all the basaltic material that lies

around the area.

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Cinder Hill

This Lava Flow that once poured through this mountain is made up of extrusive rock. This lava flow is, specifically, made of basaltic rock, which is also found deepest parts of the

ocean near oceanic ridges. Extrusive rock is one of two types of Igneous rock.

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Lava Flow

Fossil Falls

Fossil Falls is just a beautiful sight. The rocks in this fall are made of basalt and were formed got its smooth looking features when water ran over the basaltic rock. The lava flow that once ran through this place was over run

with water.

Fossil Falls Edward Espinoza

The holes you see here are Metate Holes. These were formed when the river went over the same basaltic rocks in Fossil Falls and dumped little rocks or sediment and creating a circular motion until you get the hole you see here. The holes are

very smooth .

Metate Holes

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These black flakes in this picture are actually pieces of obsidian that the local indigenous tribes used to create

tools such as arrow heads. Since many of these flakes litter the Owens river valley, it is safe to say that the tools the

natives became dull relatively quickly.

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Obsidian Flakes

These Petroglyphs are signs that Native Americans did inhabit the Owens River valley. No one knows exactly

what these pictures tell but you can see that they resemble the big horn sheep that once roamed this area.

Maybe they used to hunt these sheep?

Native American Petroglyphs

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These are house rings used by the Native Americans that lived in this area. These were used as a foundation for their small houses and also served as markers to remind them where they were set up. The reason is that they migrated to the sierras to live during the hot weather of summer.

Native American House Rings

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The Second Trip• Date: November 16-18, 2012

• Mt. Whitney Interagency Visitors Center, Diaz Lake, Manzanar, Convict Lake, Keoughs Hot Springs, The June Lake Loop, Owens River Stop, and the Eastern California Museum.

Mt. Whitney Interagency Visitors Center

Located on the Sierra Nevada mountain range, Mt. Whitney is the tallest mountain in the lower forty-eight states with an

elevation of 14,494 ft. Mt. McKinley is the tallest mountain in the U.S, and in North America, at 20,320ft.

Mt. WhitneyEdward Espinoza

The red circle highlights the orographic effect occurring on the Sierra Nevada mountains. The sierra’s closer to the coast which allows the wind to carry a lot of moisture and in effect when the air moves up and over the mountains, a lot of moisture, due to high elevations in the form of snow or rain, can be dumped on top of them. The valley will not see any of this moisture.

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Inyo-white mountains and the Alluvial fan. Edward Espinoza

This is Diaz Lake and it was formed in 1872 when a massive earthquake made the land into a sag-pond. Diaz lake is located on the down sag-pond which means that the ground dropped lower then

the Alabama Hills.

Diaz Lake

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Lone Pine Fault caused a major earthquake in 1872. The earthquake caused the area to create a sag pond, which means that the area where Diaz lake is dropped a significant amount of feet.

Also the Lone Pine fault is rocks pushing the rocks up which is making the Alabama Hills.

Lone Pine FaultEdward Espinoza

Keoughs Hot Springs

Keoughs Hot springs is just outside Big Pine. This water was warm to the touch but some hot springs can get really hot. Keoughs is warmed by the water running underground and the water

then flows close to magma and returns back to the surface.

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Keoughs Hot Springs

Mono Lake

This is Mono Lake. I did not photograph the two islands, but Mono Lake has two islands in the middle of it and one is a volcano because you can see the black rock.

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Mono Lake

Mono Lake has dried up considerably since 1941. Here you can see the former shoreline and the current shoreline. The Former shoreline illustrates just how big this lake was prior to 1962 or 1964,

when the lake began to really show the receding shoreline. The foliage in the foreground is also evidence of just how much the shoreline receded. The current shoreline exemplifies the harsh consequences in the span of about twenty years since 1941 of how much water has dried up.

Former ShorelineCurrent ShorelineEdward

Espinoza

This Tufa tower shows the markings as the water level went down over the years. Tufa towers that are exposed were created underwater in miniature volcano spouts that usually spew chemicals and

calcium which then hardens just keeps piling on top of the already hardened calcium.

Tufa Formation Edward Espinoza

Although we did not get to go to the top of Panum Crater , you can still see it from the beach of Mono Lake. The plug is made out of ash and obsidian.

Panum Crater

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Convict Lake

In the foreground is Convict lake which has an interesting story on how it got its name. The lake was created from glacier water which is some of the freshest water you can actually drink on the spot. In

the background, are the oldest rock formations in the Sierras. These are known as the Sevehah Cliffs.

Oldest Rock Formations

CONVICT LAKE

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June Lake Loop

Grant Lake

Lateral Moraines

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Silver Lake

Frozen Waterfall

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Owens River Stop

Owens River Stop was an interesting.

Owens River Benchmark

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Edward Espinoza

Owens River stretches about 183 miles all through this region. This particular stop is located next to some land that is used for pasteurizing.

Swallow’s Nest

Owens River

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The Bristlecone trees are some of the oldest living trees due to their durability. They live right where the clouds are formed and it is evident from the tree line that can be seen on the mountain. You can see where the tree line starts and then you can see the desert vegetation that hardly gets any rain.

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Bristlecone trees

Eastern California Museum

When I entered the Eastern California Museum, I found a lot of things interesting. The first display I found interesting was the Manzanar exhibit. I got to see the photographs of the Japanese-American citizens that were held captive in this camp. Each photograph displayed a day in the life of these prisoners and showed how they coped with being wrongfully imprisoned, in my opinion. The exhibit also displayed furniture and radios that these American citizens used everyday. Some of the chairs are about 70 years old. It is amazing that they actually sat on one of these chairs on a hot summer day trying to cool off in the shade of their barracks.

Edward Espinoza

Edward Espinoza

Wondering through the Eastern California Museum, I found a display of this magnificent gun collection from the 1800’s to about the early 1900’s. It was extraordinary to see these guns up close. Although I couldn’t shoot them looking at them from this close of distance was good enough for me. They even had one of my favorite guns from the late 1800’s which is the 1873 Winchester Repeater. This display really reminded me of the Wild West. While the gun collection was behind a glass frame, the music box on the right was something that could be examined a bit more close. The music box was in excellent condition and on of the curators at the museum actually turned it on. The sound that proceeded was vintage and I was really glad I got to hear it in action. These were the first record players, in a sense, before vinyl.

Manzanar Internment Camp- Manzanar was an internment camp set up to house about 10,000 Japanese-American citizens during World War II.

Guard Shacks

Edward EspinozaEdward Espinoza

Most of the Japanese that built the area around them left their names, initials, dates, or even a message in cement like this one here. The area where this photograph was taken used to be a community center of some sort. There is nothing left except rocks in what

appears to be in formations to signal that buildings once stood there.

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Extras and the In Transit-Optional

This is the

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These Doppler radar towers are used to forecast weather in the area. There a lot of these throughout the area because of the open space and since they operate using the wind to make the forecasting, the desert is a perfect place to not have obstructions.

Doppler Radar Tower

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The area near Red Mountain is a place called Rand Mining District and you drive you can see a lot of these piles. These piles are actually precious metals that were mined in the area. Some are different colors showing the different kinds of metals that they are. They can be anything from iron to tin.

Mine Tailings

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Believe or not there is actually a fault line here. The Garlock fault is significant because it is the second largest fault in California and is a left-lateral strike slip fault. It is also located on the North American plate.

Garlock Fault

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Joshua Trees

Burroweed

Creosote Bush

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This is the California Aqueduct.

California Aqueduct

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This is just a little glimpse of Owens Lake. It used to be the biggest lake in California, but in the early 1900’s Los Angeles needed to sustain a growing population and used all the water in this lake. Within a few decades, the lake became dry and other problems arose. One problem was the loose sediment at the lake bed that causes severe and even toxic dust storms which led to a lawsuit.

Owens Dry Lake

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These are the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Towers and they are used to look out for communications from outer space, preferably aliens.

SETI Towers

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