What do cumulus clouds and rock sculptures carved from water, ice, extreme temperatures and underground salt movement have in common?



While driving through Utah, we came upon Arches National Park. Over 2000 arches along with spires(tapering features such as the continuation of a tree trunk above the point where branching begins), pinnacles (high, pointed pieces of rock) and balanced rocks can be seen here.
The park sits on top of an underground salt bed that was left millions of years ago when a sea eventually evaporated.
Over time debris from floods, wind and the oceans blanketed the salt bed. The debris compressed into rock.
Salt under pressure is unstable and could not hold up the rock, so over time it has sunk, buckled, shifted and liquefied forming the formations we saw. The formations are made of salmon colored sandstone and Navajo sandstone which is white or yellow.
The arches have formed by water seeping into the cracks and joints, freezing, expanding and then pressuring the rock to break off in pieces. Wind cleaned out loose sand particles leaving freestanding "fins". Wind and water than eroded the insides of these "fins" leaving arches. 
Pinyon and Juniper trees pop up throughout the stone environment as well as wildflowers.
This is a fragile desert environment. Though baron looking, I have learned that the sands and minimal plant life work together to form "soil crusts" that prevent erosion, absorb water and provide minerals and nutrients to all that live there. Residents of this park are mule deer, fox, jack rabbits and cotton tails, kangaroo rats. Blue Pinyon Jays, Mountain Bluebirds and Golden Eagles also frequent here.

Another gem in our beautiful country! If you are ever in Utah, take the time to stop at this amazing place. I cant wait to create and teach a desert unit to our second graders. The sandstone arches fit right in with our earth materials and land form curriculum!

So.....what do clouds and sandstone rocks have in common?  If you look at them with an open mind, they begin to look like things that are familiar to you.
See is the rocks in these pictures form images in your mind. 

David is living life elevated!

The Wiseman

beautiful habitat

Paint brushes

cupcake

layered sandstone

Mama with babies

cactus and sage brush

beached ship

On Shaky Ground...

"San Andreas fault

Moved its fingers through the ground

Earth divide an' plates collided

Such an awful sound"

I don't know about you but I am intrigued by the Earths fault lines. 

So when I discovered that I was going to a place where I could stand on one, I was very excited! 

Along the Pacific shoreline just  out of San Francisco, there is a place called the Point Reyes National Seashore. This place has a trail called the Earthquake Trail.

The San Andreas Fault Zone is present at Point Reyes National Seashore and separates the Pacific plate from the North American plate. The Pacific plate is estimated to move northwestward about two inches a year. The most dramatic displacement of this fault happened in 1906 when the Point Reyes Peninsula jumped 20 feet northwestward.  We saw the evidence of this on the Earthquake Trail.  The moving of the fence is noted by blue poles that show where the fence moved. 

I must admit walking on the trail made me a little nervous but a lot intrigued. The signage along the way is very informative especially for children. Earthquakes are not something we worry about in Wisconsin so the constant tsunami hazard zone and earthquake-think tsunami signs were a little un-nerving at times. 

David did ask me if school kids in California have earthquake and tsunami drills like we have tornado drills.

Check out how many earthquakes California has had by clicking this link:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_earthquakes_in_California

Here is another interesting article about Wisconsin and earthquakes:

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/states/wisconsin/history.php

When I teach my second graders about landforms and earth materials this coming school year, I am excited to add earthquakes to the lesson and show them the picture of my feet standing on the San Andreas fault line.

Pt. Reyes National SeaShore

creatures you might see on the seashore

A beautiful trail

blue pole shows where the fence jumped

Standing on shaky ground

I thought this was cute....

In the tide pools

More tide pool creatures

growing right out of the sand

In the land of the giants!
Watch this video clip to get an idea of what the Redwood forest looks like. This scene from Star Wars was filmed right here in the Redwood Forest!

May the forest be with you

Guess which tree seeds this tiny pine cone holds??

The pine cone are getting smaller and the trees are getting bigger.

This tiny pine cone holds the seeds to the some of the biggest trees on the Earth, the giant Redwoods! I cried when I stood among these wonders of nature and I cry every time I think about them. Walking on the trails in these ancient forests made me feel like an ant in the grass or a spec of dust on a rug. Humbled and reminded that I am just at a visitor for a short time on this Earth. That it was here long before I was and will be here long after I am gone.
The ancient forests we walked in were 2000 years old. Many of the tallest Redwoods have had their canopies hit by lightening but they simply begin to repair themselves.  In the words of environmentalist John Muir, "as soon as any accident happens to the crown, the branches beneath the wound seem to be excited, like a colony of
bees that have lost their queen, and become anxious to repair the damage. Limbs that have grown out for centuries at right angles to the trunk begin to turn upward to assist in making a new crown."
An ancient Redwoods bark can be 2 feet thick. They reproduce by seed and by sprout unlike the Giant Sequoia which reproduces by seed only.

trunk with new sprouts

Thick Bark

       

While driving at night, we did have an owl swoop in front of our car. In my heart, I  hope I it was a Northern Spotted Owl. This owl lives ONLY in the old growth forest of Northern California. Before the late 1960's and early 1970's, these forests were being cut down at an alarming rate.

I try to wrap my head around what the mindset of a person was who took a chainsaw to these groves. I can only think that this was their job, their bread and butter. They couldn't have been really thinking about what they were doing. The Spotted Owl is endangered and only still in existence today because of brave people who stood up and asked the difficult questions about what we were doing to our planet. I thank GOD for those voices just as I am thankful for today's Earth advocates. I teach my second graders to be "wildlife warriors" and advocates for people, animals and the natural world that cannot speak for themselves. Instead of telling people to stop, explain why it is important that they do. Teach by doing, by explaining. Educate! Knowledge is power!

I am a fern lover.....I get delight in watching them curl upward in the spring to greet the warmer weather. The floor of the Redwood forest is covered....I mean covered in ferns, big ferns, small ferns, tall ferns and short ferns.

I will leave you with more of John Muir's eloquent words and some beautiful pictures.
"There is no absolute limit to the existence of any tree. Death is due to accidents, not as that of an animal, to the wearing out of organs. Only the leaves die of old age. Their fall is foretold in their structure; but the leaves are renewed every year and so are the essential organs, wood, roots, bark and buds. Barring accidents or human intervention the big trees seem to be immortal."
If you haven't been to see these trees, put it on your bucket list...

For now... revere the trees in your yard, your neighborhood, your town....

red wood

ferns....ferns....ferns

they covered 1/3 of the trunk

 tree canopy

very dense foilage

standing inside of what was a trunk