Carson RiverField Assignment

GEL 103Professor Mark Lawler

Amanda CraftJuly 27, 2012

Content

• Background of the Carson River• Map of the Carson River• Brief Geological History

– River rock example– Rock example– Plant example– Animal example– Tree example

• Work Cited

Background of the Carson River

• Northwestern Nevada river that empties into the Carson Sink, an endorheic basin. The main stem of the river is 131 miles (211 km) long.

• It rises in two forks in the Sierra Nevada of northern California. The 68-mile-long (109 km) East Fork rises in southern Alpine County, southeast of Markleeville in the Carson-Iceberg Wilderness. The 40-mile-long (64 km) West Fork rises in the Sierras near Carson Pass and flows northeast into Nevada, joining the East Fork.

Map of the Carson River

Brief Geological History

• In the 1850s and 1860s, the river was used as the route of the Carson Trail, a branch of the California Trail that allowed access to the California gods fields, as well as by the Pony Express.

• The 1868 Virginia and Truckee Railroad transported ore to the quartz reduction mines along the river. In the early 20th century, the Newlands prohect was formed to bring irrigation water into the region for agriculture.

Granite

Granite

• It is a common widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock which is granular and crystalline in texture.

• This rock consists mainly of quartz, mica, and feldspar.

• Granites can be pink to gray in color, depending on their chemistry and mineralogy.

Lahar Deposits

lahar deposits

Lahar

• As you drive along side the Carson river you can see lahar deposits.

• "Lahar" is an Indonesian word that describes volcanic mudflows or debris flows.

• Composed of a slurry of pyroclastic material, rocky debris, and water.

• This happens when you have a mudslide.

Aspin tree

Aspen tree

• In this area there all lots a Aspens and they are best to look at in the fall.

• The aspens are all native to cold regions with cool summers, in the north of the Northern Hemisphere, extending south at high altitudes in the mountains.

• All of the aspens typically grow in large clonal colonies, derived from a single seedling, and spread by means of root suckers.

Eschscholzia californica

Eschscholzia californica

• I love this flower and see it everywere.

• Eschscholzia californica, commonly called the California poppy or golden poppy, is a perennial and annual plant, native to the United States, and the official state flower of California.

• It grows well in disturbed areas. It often colonizes along roadsides and other disturbed areas.

• It is drought-tolerant, self-seeding, and easy to grow in gardens.

North American Beaver

North American Beaver

• I did not see a beaver when I was doing this assignment but I have seen them before.

• North American beaver (Castor canadensis) were re-introduced to the Carson River watershed around 1940 and populations have thrived since.

• There are eyewitness accounts of beaver in the upper Carson River through 1892.

• The Washo people who lived in the eastern Sierra with hunting grounds extending as far west as Calaveras County.

Work Cited

• http://cwsd.org/Books/Overview3.pdf

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_beaver

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carson_River

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Carsonrivermap.png

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Carsonriversouth.jpg

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granite

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lahar

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspen