Mother & Destroyer

The Sea is the mother of all life on Earth, which first evolved in her realm about 3.6 billion years ago.  It would not be until 450 million years ago that some species became terrestrial but a fabulous diversity of life still inhabits Mother Sea, much of which has yet to be discovered by humans.

Nourishing and sculpting terrestrial ecosystems with her weather systems, she also destroys habitats and human developments with coastal hurricanes, severe inland storms and flooding rains.  Indeed, as our climate warms, these destructive events will intensify.

Furthermore, as her component oceans open and close, earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanism alter terrestrial landscapes and destroy regional life; the recent earthquakes in Venezuela demonstrate a risk that stretches across the globe.  The Sea, an essential component of Life on Earth is both generous and destructive; we could not live without her but often succumb to her power.  

Venezuela's Earthquakes

A magnitude 7.2 foreshock and a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck northern Venezuela yesterday; many aftershocks have followed.  At least 164 persons were killed and close to 1000 were injured; unfortunately, these early counts are almost certain to rise.

A complex band of faults between the Caribbean Plate and the South American Plate runs across northern Venezuela.  As the Atlantic Ocean continues to open, a process that began during the Jurassic Period, about 150 million years ago, the North and South America Plates have been moving westward.  Eventually, the much smaller Caribbean Plate became wedged between them, setting the stage for earthquakes when pressure between the plates is released.  These major events trigger pressure release in numerous side faults, producing aftershocks throughout the region.

The primary magnitude 7.5 quake was the second strongest ever recorded in Venezuela, weaker only than a magnitude 7.7 earthquake in 1900.  Hopefully, it will retain that title for many years to come; then again, a more powerful quake could occur tomorrow as the geologic map of Planet Earth continues to evolve.

The St. Francois Mountains

Over the next few days, my wife and I will explore the St. Francois Mountains, in southeast Missouri, eroded from an ancient Precambrian dome of volcanic and intrusive rocks.  Almost 1.5 billion years old, this dome pushed up through the strata of the Ozark Plateau during the Ouachita Orogeny (about 300 million years ago). 

Known for their scenic outcrops of granite and for their rich supply of lead, these Mountains host five Missouri State Parks and are drained by the St. Francis River and its tributaries; this river flows southward into northeast Arkansas before joining the Mississippi north of Helena.  Taum Sauk Mountain, elevation 1772 feet, is both the highest peak in the St. Francois Mountains and the highest point in Missouri.

We will be staying in Ste. Genevieve on the Mississippi River and our adventures will be documented in the next few blog posts.  Hopefully, the weather will cooperate.

Trusting our Intelligence

Were it not for our large brains, we humans would surely have died out long ago.  Not physically equipped to match the speed and strength of African predators, we would never have left that Continent.

As it turned out, our large brains came to the rescue and we eventually spread across the globe.  In concert, the sophistication of our varied cultures increased and the Industrial and Technological Revolutions assured that we would take control of the planet, leading to both good and bad consequences.  Indeed, we may yet facilitate our own extinction.

Throughout this history, intellectual endeavors were challenged by mysticism and political expediency in their various forms.  It is imperative that we trust our intelligence and the scientific method that we learned to utilize in order to survive and thrive.  Modern efforts to ignore or debase science will hasten our demise; unfortunately, we will take most other species with us.

The Dolomites

Those watching the Winter Olympics from Italy, may have heard that the skiing events are being held in The Dolomites.  This range, in northeast Italy, lies within the Southern Limestone Region of the Alps.

Most of the land that is now Italy became part of Northern Africa when the Tethys Sea opened, some 200 million years ago, separating Europe and Africa.  When that Sea closed, beginning 50 million years ago, Italy was Africa's leading point as it drifted northward and rammed into Europe, lifting the Alps and associated ranges in the process; marine sediments from the Tethys thus form the southern edge of the Alps.  In areas where the sediments were rich in magnesium, the limestone took the form of dolomite (calcium-magnesium-carbonate).

Dolomite is found in many limestone formations across the globe.  Of interest to those of us in Missouri, it is widespread in the Ordovician limestone of the Ozarks.

See also: Italy and Africa and Oil and the Tethys Sea

Flashback Post LXX

Today's magnitude 7.0 earthquake along the coast of southeast Alaska (Northwest of Juneau) reflects the complex geology of that State, a subject discussed back in August of 2012.

See: Alaska's Collage of Terranes 

A Losing Battle in NC

The Outer Banks of North Carolina were created by the sea and are now being recalled.  While the State has escaped any direct hurricane landfalls this year (at least to date), several potent storms have passed offshore and another is due this coming weekend.

Waves and wind produced by these storms have been eroding the beaches and flooding coastal homes.  Man-made dunes, created to protect those properties have been pulled out to sea or shoved into the houses.  At times, water and sand have closed the main highway.

Climate change will significantly increase these erosive forces and, over the next few decades, one suspects that the Outer Banks may disappear altogether.  Rising sea levels and stronger storms will reclaim this scenic landscape.

Toward the Hunter's Moon

Continuing my journey across the Great Plains this morning, I was heading toward the Hunter's Moon; our large, bright satellite was gleaming from the clear, western sky.  Its title, of course, reflects the season in which it appears, highlighting the vital importance of hunting in our evolutionary past, in preparation for the lean, harsh months of winter.  By contrast, hunting is now more of a leisure activity than a necessary one across most regions of our planet.

A half hour after my initial sighting, the moon disappeared behind a cloud bank that stretched across the western horizon.  Within another hour, I was beneath that gray, rumpled overcast, enveloped in chilly air.  It seemed as if the transition from bright sunshine to relative gloom reinforced the message of the Hunter's Moon.

While many of us enjoy winter, we evolved in the Tropics and our collective memory has instilled some trepidation as we face the coming cold and darkness.  We also "know" that it is the culling season, when the old, the infirm and the very young have long been potential victims; we acknowledge that fact in our observation of nature but prefer to think we humans are immune.  

Saugatuck Dunes State Park

Stretching along 2.5 miles of secluded, Lake Michigan shoreline, this 1000 acre State Park is north of the city of Saugatuck.  Trail loops take visitors from the parking lot across forested, freshwater dunes (some of which rise 200 feet above the lake level) and out to the wide beach.

The southern portion of the refuge, accessed by a 5.5 mile trail loop, is protected as a Natural Area and harbors several endangered plant species.

Visiting the Park, one is struck by the large trees that now rise above the dunes, knowing that they took root well after the last Pleistocene glaciers retreated into Canada (some 12,000 years ago) and have managed to survive the massive waves that lash the shoreline (and that produced the the dunes themselves).  

Conservation & Extinction

Ignoring the central message of the Jurassic Park films, some "enterprising" scientists are focusing on efforts to bring back extinct species.  In my opinion, this is an unwise and inappropriate endeavor, whether the extinction occurred at the hands of humans or not.

Once we gave up our nomadic lifestyle and turned to cultivation and domestication (both about 10,000 years ago), humans have had a significant effect on the health of other animal populations.  Of course, this negative impact greatly increased during the Industrial and Technologic Revolutions as pollution and widespread development destroyed ecosystems.  Rather than reversing extinction, a natural component of evolution, we should concentrate on protecting those species that still exist; reducing our population, cutting back on personal consumption, greatly limiting pollution and protecting natural habitat are the primary tools.  Nature will heal herself if we get out of her way.

Then again, we have an American President and Administration who are anti-science; they deny climate change, are cutting back (if not eliminating) federal support for green energy industries and even talk of renewing the use of coal in power plants.  Unless we reverse the political climate, the extinction of our own species will be greatly accelerated.

Flashback Post LXVII

Mt. Etna is erupting once again and will continue to do so in the future.  A post from August of 2011 discusses the volcano's geology.

See: Geology of Mt. Etna

The Stone Wall

Giant City State Park is about 8 miles south of Carbondale, Illinois.  This large, attractive Park harbors the same sandstone outcrops that characterize most of the Shawnee Hills but it also protects a Stone Wall (see photo).

Not just something a farmer left behind, the Wall, likely part of a fort, was constructed by members of the Late Woodland culture, which occupied the area from 600-900 AD; excavation of the site began in 2000.  Amidst all the natural beauty, it reminds us that we humans have always been part of nature, whether we now live in big cities or out in the forest.

All of the Illinois State Parks are free to the public and I certainly recommend a visit to this one.  If you go, spend some time at the Stone Wall and connect with humans who had a deeper appreciation of our dependence on the natural world.

Trees Native to Hawaii

Watching a PGA tournament from Oahu this afternoon, I began to wonder how many trees are native to that remote Pacific archipelago.  I thus consulted Common Forest Trees of Hawaii by Elbert L. Little and Roger G. Skolmen of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (available online).

Before reading the article, I assumed that few of Hawaii's trees are native to the islands due to their remote location and relatively young age (10 million years or so); I was wrong.  In fact, Hawaii leads all U.S. States in its number of native tree species.  At least 300 grace the islands, thought to have evolved from 78 unique species that arrived over the years; genetic testing suggests that 45 arrived from the West or Southwest (Indo-Pacific region), 16 from the South Pacific and 7 from North America.

The seeds are thought to have arrived on floating vegetation, via seabird droppings or on the winds of powerful hurricanes.  Of course, the lush vegetation of present-day Hawaii also includes a large number of trees introduced by early Polynesian settlers, by European explorers and by modern-day humans.  Of note, 18 of the many palm species found today are native to Hawaii.

Flashback Post LX

Over the 18 years of writing this Blog, I have written many posts for Thanksgiving.  Perhaps the most succinct yet meaningful of all was published on Thanksgiving Day of 2009.  Happy Thanksgiving to all!

See: Thanks to Nature 

The Erosive Force of Water

Beyond their stark beauty, the Faroe Islands demonstrate the erosive force of flowing water.  Since rifting from Greenland, 55 million years ago, this volcanic terrane has been molded by glacial ice, torrential rain, pounding waves, strong currents and numerous streams.  Due to their northern latitude, freeze-thaw cycles have also played a significant role in sculpting the islands.

Of course, most of this erosive activity persists today and is readily evident to the visitor.  Landslide scars are observed, frequent rain drenches the highlands, currents alter the course of boat transportation and powerful waves lash the rocky headlands.  Sheep and hares, both introduced by humans, are the only mammals that inhabit the steep, grass-covered slopes and countless waterfalls adorn the ridges.

This is a country of rock and water.  Though man has managed to settle along its coasts and fjords, water will eventually erode these scenic islands into the sea. 

Visiting Roskilde

Roskilde, Denmark, WSW of Copenhagen, was the original Capital of the country.  Long before that, it was a Viking settlement.

Today, Roskilde is renowned for its large cathedral, the burial site of Denmark's kings and queens, and for its Viking Museum, which houses the remnants of five Viking ships, dating back to the late 11th Century.  These ships were first located in the Roskilde Fjord in 1962 and are still being pieced together today.  An associated Viking village allows visitors to engage in activities that characterized Viking culture.

The Viking civilization first arose in Scandinavia in the 8th Century AD and endured until the early 11th Century; by then they had merged with the regional Christian society.  Though known as ruthless raiders across the North Atlantic, the Vikings developed prowess in many areas of Nordic life and established trade routes that extended as far south as the Mediterranean Sea.  

In a Foreign Land

My wife and I are spending a few days in Copenhagen, Denmark, before heading up to the Faroe Islands, in the North Atlantic.  The site of established communities since the 11th Century, Copenhagen sits along a strait between the North and Baltic Seas.

Not a world traveler by nature, Denmark is only the fifth foreign country that I have visited over the course of my long tenure on this planet (not counting my many excursions into Canada).  While that fact might place me in the minority among jet-setting Americans, it is safe to say that most humans never leave their home country and I am certainly fortunate to have this opportunity.

Known for its harbor, bridges, canals, historic architecture and cultural amenities, Copenhagen is a vibrant city; cyclists dominate the urban center.  Yet, away from the historic buildings and tourist zones, it is like most cities, replete with industrial areas and modern construction.  More importantly, one notes that, despite our cultural differences, we humans have the same goals and concerns, especially related to our personal and family needs.  Too often, that fact is obscured by the trappings of tourism. 

Flashback Post LVI

Yesterday's hydrothermal explosion at Yellowstone National Park, while a threat to nearby humans and wildlife, does not begin to match the eventual volcanic eruption that threatens the region and, potentially, the planet.

See: The Yellowstone Time Bomb

Crossing Glacial Landscapes

Returning to Missouri from Northeast Ohio, we crossed a series of glacial landscapes.  While the term "glacial terrain" brings to mind rivers of ice, carving mountains or calving into the sea, past glacial effects are not as evident to the casual traveler.

Having spent a week atop the glaciated region of the Appalachian Plateau, we initially dropped onto the vast Lake Plain of Northern Ohio, the product of Pleistocene glacial erosion and a post-glacial meltwater lake (Lake Warren, the much larger predecessor of Lake Erie).  Angling southwestward  through Northeast Indiana, we soon passed the site of The Maumee Torrent, which marked the birth of the Wabash River Valley.

The remainder of our journey was across the Glaciated Plain of the Midwest, where the Pleistocene glaciers pushed southward, flattening the terrain.  As they retreated, they enriched the soil with glacial till, setting the stage for prairie ecosystems that have since given way to crop fields and cattle ranches.  Of course, the massive sheets of ice also determined the course of the Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, which now drain the central U.S., from the Rockies to the Appalachians.

 

Fooled by our Brains

We humans, endowed with a large brain, dominate the planet.  Unfortunately, that dominance has threatened the welfare of all natural ecosystems and their component species.

Since our brain power has also fueled an active imagination, we have concluded that we are the chosen species, created by a god and entrusted with the stewardship of Earth.  Such beliefs have led to our divorce from nature and to its gradual destruction.  Polluted air and water, ecologic disruption and climate change are some of the more significant consequences.

In reality, our planet's ecosystems would thrive in our absence.  Despite what we imagine, we are the most expendable species on Earth.  Accepting that truth and acknowledging the impact of our large brains are the keys to saving our planet.