South Lake Tahoe environment

1. South Lake Tahoe
Lucia Munoz
Geology 103

2. Table of contents
Ponderosa Pine Tree………………………………….3
Rocky Mountain Mule Deer ………………………4
Snow Plant ……………………………………………….5
Types of Rocks
Granite Rocks …………………………………………..6
Slate………………………………………………………….7
Marble Rocks…………………………………………….9
Principle of Horizontality …………………………11
Types of Unconformities………………………….13
Words Cited…………………………………………….16
References………………………………………………17

3. Ponderosa Pine Tree
Ponderosa pines have needles from 3 to 5 in. long in groups of
2 or 3. Each tree
produces both male and female reproductive structures. Seeds
are moderate in for a tree seed weight, and may be widely
dispersed by wind. Ponderosa pine has long been an
important tree for timber and is a long-lived species. The oldest
known ponderosa pines are more than 700 years old. Its
vertical range depends on two factors: at least 25 in. of annual
precipitation at the lower limit and prolonged winter freezing
at the upper. According to the USDA Forest Service, during the
last ice age, as the ice sheet advanced, the tree was forced
either South into Mexico or to the Pacific Coast to find warmer
climates. Gradually, the trees evolved independently and
differentiated into subspecies. When the ponderosa pine is
young, its bark is brownish black and the tree is sometimes
called “bull pine”. When the tree grows older the bark changes
to a yellowish color and develops a plate like structure. This is a
very valuable tree because it is used to make paper, build
houses, and artificial vanilla is made from the old bark of a
ponderosa pine.

4. Rocky Mountain Mule Deer. (Odocoileus
hemionus)
I was lucky to see a Deer on my way home. It gets its name for its
large mule-like ears. Some deer live yearlong in the foothills and
lower forest. Many migrate upslope with advancing spring greenery
and later a few continue almost to the crest. As soon as snow
started, they returned near the lower border of ponderosa pine
forest where the snow is only 18 in. deep or less. Many Mule Deer
are killed along highways, people legally shoot them, and some die
of starvation interrupting their traditional migration routes between
the high and low country. In the early 1860's the first Estes Valley
Settlers found a moderately abundant mule deer numbers. A
growing population of people, predators and the often harsh
elements took huge numbers of the animals. In 1895, according to
one report, very few mule deer were seen in the Estes Park region
and continued into the beginning of the twentieth century. Mule
deer became so scarce throughout Colorado that in 1913, a
statewide hunting ban was put into effect. The dedication of Rocky
Mountain National Park in 1915 and subsequent removal of wolves
resulted in a dramatic increase in the mule deer population. in 1930,
an estimated 2,500 roamed the park. (1)

5. The common name of this plant is considerably less grotesque than its scientific name, given it by John
Torrey, a famous New York botanist of the 19th Century. It translates roughly to "the bloody flesh-like
thing," an allusion to the bright red color of the plant – the entire plant, not just the flowers. It belongs to
the Monotropaceae, or Indian-pipe family, a family closely related to the Ericaceae, or heath family: snow
plant is the unlikely relation of such shrubs as manzanita, madroño, laurel, and azalea. The aboveground
portion begins to grow in late spring, as the snow melts, and presents a dramatic contrast with the snow.
This plant has no chlorophyll and cannot photosynthesize. (2)

6. Types of RocksGranite Rocks
• Its name is Latin for "granum," or "grain”
• Consist of mineral quartz and feldspar
• Is an igneous rock.
• Granite is found in large plutons on the
continent and must form by the melting of
continental rocks.
“Granite represents the way the continents
maintain themselves. The minerals in granitic rocks
break down into clay and sand and are carried to
the sea. Plate tectonics returns these materials
through seafloor spreading and subduction,
sweeping them beneath the edges of the
continents. There they are rendered back into
feldspar and quartz, ready to rise again to form new
granite when and where the conditions are right. It
is all part of the never-ending rock cycle”. (3)

7. Slate
. Is a metamorphic rock
• Is created by the alteration of shale or mudstone by low-grade regional
metamorphism.
• Is composed mainly of clay minerals or micas
• Slate is usually a former sedimentary basin that becomes involved in a convergent
plate boundary.
• In the 1800s, elementary school students used a small piece of slate mounted in a
wooden frame for writing practice.
• Most of the slate mined throughout the world is used to produce roofing slates.
• Slate is also used for interior flooring, exterior paving, dimension stone, and
decorative aggregate. Small pieces of slate are also used to make turkey calls. (4)

8. Slate siding: Slate is sometimes
used as facing stone on building
exteriors. Image © iStockphoto /
John Bloor.

9. Marble Rock
• Is a Metamorphic rock
• It forms when limestone is subjected to the heat and
pressure of metamorphism.
• Is primarily composed by the mineral calcite
“Most marble forms at convergent plate boundaries where
large areas of Earth's crust are exposed to regional
metamorphism. Some marble also forms by contact
metamorphism when a hot magma body heats adjacent
limestone or dolostone”. Marble is usually a light-colored
rock. When it is formed from a limestone with very few
impurities, it will be white in color. Marble that contains
impurities such as clay minerals, iron oxides, or bituminous
material can be bluish, gray, pink, yellow, or black in color.

10. Being composed of calcium carbonate, marble will react
in contact with many acids, neutralizing the acid. It is
one of the most effective acid neutralization materials.
Marble is often crushed and used for acid neutralization
in carbonate medicines: is composed of calcium
carbonate that makes it very effective at neutralizing
acids. Highest purity marble is often crushed to a
powder, processed to remove impurities, and then used
to make products such as Tums and Alka-Seltzer that are
used for the treatment of acid indigestion. Crushed
marble is also used to reduce the acid content of soils,
the acid levels of streams, and as an acid-neutralizing
material in the chemical industry.

11. Principle of original horizontality
The Permian through Jurassic stratigraphy of the Colorado
Plateau area of southeastern Utah is a great example of
Original Horizontality. These strata make up much of the
famous prominent rock formations in widely spaced protected
areas such as Capitol Reef National Park and Canyonlands
National Park. From top to bottom: Rounded tan domes of the
Navajo Sandstone, layered red Kayenta Formation, cliff-
forming, vertically jointed, red Wingate Sandstone, slope-
forming, purplish Chinle Formation, layered, lighter-red
Moenkopi Formation, and white, layered Cutler Formation
sandstone. Picture from Glen Canyon National Recreation Area,
Utah. (6)
• It was first proposed by the Danish geological pioneer
Nicholas Steno (1638–1686).
• states that layers of sediment are originally deposited
horizontally under the action of gravity
• Is important to the analysis of folded strata
• It is because of this principle that can be concluded that the
Earth has not been static and that great forces have been at
work over long periods of time. (7)

13. Types of Unconformities
Angular Unconformity
THE ROCK FORMATION BELOW SHOWS AN ANGULAR
UNCONFORMITY FOUND ON THE COAST OF PORTUGAL AT
TELHEIRO BEACH, COPYRIGHT BY: GABRIEL GUTIERREZ-
ALONSO. HTTP://WWW.GEOLOGYIN.COM/2015/10/TYPES-OF-
UNCONFORMITIES.HTML
“In an angular unconformity, younger sediments
rest upon the eroded surface of tilted or folded
older rocks. Angular unconformities result when
horizontally parallel strata of sedimentary rock are
deposited on tilted and eroded layers, which may
be vertical or at an angle to the overlying horizontal
layers. The entire sequence may later be deformed
and tilted by later orogenic activity.”. (8)

14. A NONCONFORMITY BETWEEN SEDIMENTARY ROCKS AND
METAMORPHIC OR IGNEOUS ROCKS OCCURS WHEN
SEDIMENTARY ROCK HAS BEEN DEPOSITED ABOVE PRE-
EXISTING (ERODED) METAMORPHIC OR IGNEOUS ROCK,
INDICATING AN ENVIRONMENTAL ALTERATION IN MODE OF
FORMATION OF STRATA. (8)
Nonconformity Unconformity
Nonconformity between Cambrian Potsdam Fm. and
Proterozoic Gneiss, Alexandria Bay, NY
http://www.pbase.com/image/93924210

15. Disconformity
This picture shows a disconformity in Capitol Reef National Park, Utah. The Chinle Formation
(Triassic), the slope forming unit in the central portion of the picture, has a very sharp contact
(black line) with the overlying Wingate Sandstone (uppermost Triassic, forms steep cliff). This
contact is considered a disconformity.
http://www.indiana.edu/~geol105b/images/gaia_chapter_6/unconformities.htm
According to Wikipedia, A disconformity is an
unconformity between parallel layers of
sedimentary rocks which represents a period
of erosion or non-deposition. Disconformities
are marked by features of subaerial erosion.
This type of erosion can leave channels and
paleosols in the rock record

16. Works cited.
1. National Park Service. Mule Deer. (n.d.) Retrieved by
https://www.nps.gov/romo/learn/nature/mule_deer.htm
2. Gauna, J. Snow Plant . (n.d.) Retrieved by
http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/plant-of-the-week/sarcodes_sanguinea.shtml
3. Alden, A. What is Granite? (n.d.) Retrieved by
http://geology.about.com/od/more_igrocks/a/granite.htm
4. (n.d.) What is Slate? Retrieved by http://geology.com/rocks/slate.shtml
5. (n.d.) What is Marble? Retrieved by
http://geology.com/rocks/marble.shtml
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principle_of_original_horizontality
7. Principle of Horizontality. March 12, 2014. Retrieved by
http://www.geologyin.com/2014/03/principle-of-original-horizontality.html
8. Geology: Unconformity. April 11, 2016. Retrieved by http://bio-geo-
terms.blogspot.com/2006/04/unconformity.html

17. References
1. Symes, R.F. Rocks & Minerals. New York, NY. Dorling
Kindersley. 2008. Print.
2. Laws, John Muir. The Laws Field Guide to the Sierra
Nevada. San Francisco, CA: California Academy of Sciences,
2007. Print.
3. Storer, T. Robert L. Usinger, David Lukas. California
Natural History Guides. Sierra Nevada Natural History. History.
Berkeley: U of California, 2004. Print.
4. Graf, Michael. Plants of the Tahoe Basin: Flowering
Plants, Trees, and Ferns: A Photographic Guide. Sacramento,
CA: California Native Plant Society, 1999. Print.