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Climate & Geology of the Puget Sound Region

Climate & Geology of the Puget Sound Region. aka It always rains here and we’re waiting for “The Big One”. In a beaked hazelnut shell…. ch - ch - ch -changes. One of the most important concepts we will cover in this course is that there is no “steady state” in ecology.

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Climate & Geology of the Puget Sound Region

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  1. Climate & Geology of the Puget Sound Region aka It always rains here and we’re waiting for “The Big One”

  2. In a beaked hazelnut shell… ch-ch-ch-changes One of the most important concepts we will cover in this course is that there is no “steady state” in ecology. Nature is dynamic and constantly changing, which leads us to the following: There is no “balance of nature”.

  3. Today is a reminder that this is true for other natural phenomena as well. The landscape of the earth changes, but at a very slow scale (most of the time). The weather also changes, but- as you will soon notice- at a much faster scale .

  4. Reminders from a Restless Planethttp://www.burkemuseum.org/static/geo_history_wa/ • “We live in one of the most geologically active regions of the Earth. • Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and rising young mountains all remind us that Washington State is situated along the violent boundary between ocean and continent.  As the Pacific Northwest shudders with earthquakes and erupts with volcanoes, we directly experience the powerful geologic forces that have built our land over hundreds of millions of years.  • The geologic evolution of Washington State is one of the most fascinating geologic stories ever told.  It is a tale of the breakup of ancient giant continents, the birth and death of great ocean basins, the collision of exotic islands, the uplift and wearing away of generations of mountain ranges, enormous floods of molten lava and great continental glaciers of the Ice Ages. Washington’s geologic history stretches back in time more than a billion years, and it continues to unfold around us every day.

  5. Volcanoes & Earthquakes The Cascadia Subduction Zone • Interaction between: • Pacific plate • Juan De Fuca Plate • North American Plate

  6. Plate Tectonics or “Shifts Happen” “Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution”. -Theodosius Dobzhansky “There is very little in geologic history that makes sense except in the light of plate tectonics.” -Townsend & Figge (Burke Museum)

  7. Cascadia Subduction Zone

  8. Plains, Terranes & Continental Drift

  9. a distant shoreline… From Natural History of Puget Sound Country, Kruckeberg

  10. Volcanic Islands approach the Northwest Coast

  11. Land

  12. Land

  13. For any of this to really make sense, you have to ask yourself the following question:

  14. Where were you on February 28, 2001? • Nisqually Earthquake- 6.8

  15. Field Trip! • We going to divide our group into five teams to go gather the info from the Great Hall, Dining Hall, Bird’s Nest Lodge, Mammals Den, and Invertebrate Inn fireplaces • Come back in 20 minutes and present a synopsis of your findings

  16. The Pleistocene and Glaciation • Key Points: • Many advances and Retreats of Ice sheet • 3,000’ Thick • Advancing and retreating were major sculptors of the land • Advanced 200-500’ a year • Species composition has changed

  17. The Thunderbird and the Whale

  18. LIDAR Image of South Bainbridge • LIDAR: Light Distance and Ranging • “Virtual Deforestation” • 1100 ybp estimated 7.4 shallow earthquake • 25’ uplift evident in tidal areas around Restoration Point • Shoreline shell midden on campus

  19. And now for the weather… or “Just add water”

  20. 23.5° Tilt Winter Summer 47.6 47.6 23.523.5 71.1° 24.1°

  21. http://www.learner.org/jnorth/tm/mclass/season_simulator.htmlhttp://www.learner.org/jnorth/tm/mclass/season_simulator.html

  22. Dominant Patterns Cool Wet Winters Period of Drought July –September Aleutian Low generates Winter Storms Orographic Precipitation Dominant Weather Patterns Jetstream Aleutian Low

  23. Pineapple Express

  24. http://hint.fm/wind/

  25. Rain Shadow Effect

  26. Orographic Precipitation

  27. Rainshadows

  28. We’re NOT number 1!, We’re NOT number 1! just <100 cm

  29. Global Patterns of Rainfall

  30. Wheels of Fortune El Niño/La Niña (Southern Oscillation) • 3-5 year cycles • Influences weather throughout much of the western hemisphere

  31. What this looks like here • El Niño in the PNW • winters warmer + drier • = Bad skiing • La Niña in the PNW • colder winters + more precipitation = increased snowfall (good skiing) • Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO)- • Similar to ENSO, but much slower (patterns of warm/cold last decades)

  32. Pacific Decadal Oscillation Originally noted with respect to salmon fishery patterns warm phase cool phase

  33. Temps = 51.7 or 11° C

  34. Global Biomes Where on this graph, are we?

  35. Resources • Climate & Geology • Print • “The Weather of the Pacific Northwest” Cliff Mass • Web • http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsus/Maps/US10/42.52.-130.-120.php • NOAA: National Weather Service • PNSN; www.pnsn.org • http://cliffmass.blogspot.com/ • http://www.burkemuseum.org/static/geo_history_wa/

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