This is a Research Presentation for a Geology course. It focuses on the animals, rocks, and minerals found within Sunny Jim's cave in La Jolla.

2. Table of Contents
3. Formation of Sea Caves
4. Sunny Jim History
5. Location
6. The Current Landmark
7-12. Rocks and Minerals
13. La Jolla Climate
14-20. Animal Life

3. The Formation of Sea
Caves
The ocean water will attack the weaker areas of coastal cliffs.
Once there is even just a small crack along the cliff, the weight
of water and the compression of air will crack the rock more
form within. The cave walls will experience even more erosion
through rock particles being carried by the ocean
current.(Bunnell, 2013).

4. La Jolla Cave History
 In total, there are seven sister caves that have been
weathered away into the 75 million year old cliff of La
Jolla(Newell, 2012).
 Newell states in his article about the caves that back in the day
these caves provided shelter for ‘profiteering pirates’.
 There is evidence from fossilized shells and water level marks
then Sunny Jim’s cave
formed after about
200,000 years of
erosion (Cave Store,
N/A).

5. Location 1325 Coast Blvd,
La Jolla, CA
92037
The Cave Store holds the access to the hand-dug tunnel that
leads to the bottom of the cave. For only $5 anyone can make
the trip down the 145, usually damp steps to the the only sea
cave on the California coast that is accessible by land.

6. Sunny Jim’s Landmark
 Gustauf Schultz wanted to be
able to see the rare view from
inside the cave so decided to
build the tunnel.
 The tunnel was built in 1902
and then was completed 1
year later.
 Originally there was only a
rope to help people down, but
it has been replaced by stairs.
 This landmark was named by
Frank Baum who believed the
view looked like a British
cartoon mascot with the same
name.
(Cave Store, N/A)

7. Rocks &
Minerals

8. Stalagmites
 To the right of the stair entrance of the cave floor is dripping stalagmites.
 Stalagmites result from water dripping from the ceiling due to precipitation
and then calcite building up on the floor (Monroe & Wicander, 2012).
 As you see to the right, there is still a lot of precipitation in this section of
the cave and so new stalagmites are still in the process of forming.
(Newell, 2012)

9. Sandstone
 Sandstone are primarily quartz
minerals that are loosely
cemented together by calcite
and iron oxides
(StoneForensics.com, 2004-
2014).
 Sand particles between 1/16
and 2 mm can be found in
sandstone (Monroe &
Wicander, 2012).
 Sandstone is very rough from
its structure and is very
abrasive. It is also very porous
(StoneForensics.com, 2004-
2014).

10.  The purpled colored rocks have
formed from the pinkish purple of
iodine in the kelp (Cave Store,
N/A).
 Iodine has a relatively high atomic
number and easily attaches to
organic compounds (Wikipedia,
2014).
 It is found in oceans and brine
pools as highly water-soluble,
which is why the rocks on the cave
floor are purple. You can find kelp
among the rocks and the rocks are
constantly being covered by the
ocean current that flows into the
cave (Monroe & Wicander, 2012).
Purple Rocks

11. Red Rocks
 The red-colored rocks found in the cave have been colored from
the red of Iron Oxide (Cave Store, N/A).
 Iron Oxides are known for being inorganic chemicals that are
used as colorants.
 Continental red beds or stained red sandstone had first appeared
1.8 billion years ago and became more common during the
Proterozoic. For the right chemically oxidizing conditions free
oxygen must be present. This means the rocks on the cave floor
could have been stained at any point after the caves existence
(Monroe & Wicander, 2012).

12. Limestone/Dolostone
 In order to figure which type of rock
the darker region of this picture is,
one could use an acid test. If you
were to drip hydrochloric acid on the
rock and there was a lot of fizz it is
limestone. If there is a very weak fizz
it is Dolostone. One could also use
acetic acid or household vinegar
instead of hydrochloric acid.
 Limestone is made almost entirely of
calcite, while Dolostone is made of
dolomite.
 Limestone is more commonly found
in shallow waters of the sea shelf
and usually contain fossils and shell
fragments
(StoneForensics.com, 2004-2014)

13. La Jolla’s
Climate
 La Jolla is known for generally having warm weather and sunny
days the majority of the year.
 The amount of humidity in the air is very minimal.
 During the summer, the ocean temperatures are generally in the
upper sixties and then drop to the mid fifties in the winter.
(La Jolla Village Merchants Association, 2013)

14. Cave Creatures & Animals

15. Seals
 Just outside the cave you can watch dark brown seals swimming
through the water or lying on the outer edges of the cave, relaxing.
They spend about half their time on land and the other half in the water.
 As long as those who visit La Jolla do not get too close, the seals will
stay where they are.
 These creatures will eat sole, flounder, sculpin, hake, cod, herring,
octopus, and squid; they are known as opportunistic features.
(The Marine Mammal Center, 2000)

16. Evolution of Seals
 Their animal classification is Phoca citulina. These animals will
reach 5 or 6 ft. in length and can weigh up to 300 pounds (The
Marine Mammal Center, 2000).
 There are around 500,000 of them in the world wide seal
population. In California alone, it was estimated in 2009 that
34,000 of them live in California (The Marine Mammal Center,
2000).
 Evidence has made scientists believe that seals evolved from
land animals and have been on Earth for 15 million years.
Overtime their appendages evolved to flippers; if this adaption
didn’t occur seals would have most likely been extinct (Seals-
World, 2014).
 Seals today still share many characteristics with their ancestors.
They had long periods of time when no adaption was needed and
then sometimes it seemed like they needed to adapt in a very
short amount of time(Seals-World, 2014).

17. Ground
Squirrels
 These little brown animals
live all over the cliffs in La
Jolla. They snack on roots
and ice plants, but will hide
in their burrows if anyone or
anything gets too close
(Stewart, 2012) .
 They have a network of
burrows within their colony,
but do not travel far from
home(Stewart, 2012) .
 The squirrels brain is the
size of a walnut(The Squirrel
Place, 1995-2014).
 On average, adult squirrels
will eat a pound of food a
week (The Squirrel Place,
1995-2014).

18. Evolution of Ground Squirrels
 Ground squirrels are related to chipmunks, groundhogs, and prairie
dogs (Stewart, 2012).
 The squirrels of La Jolla are fairly tamed because they are most likely
fed by people (this is very discouraged). It is common for squirrels to
have adapted to living with humans.
 Ground squirrels are apart of the Rodentia order which includes 1,650
different species; the largest group of living mammals. It has 7 different
families, including the ground squirrel; each of which have 365 species.
 Squirrels evolved around 36 million years ago from another primitive
rodents. At this time the Earth was much warmer than it is now.
 Because they are constantly snacking, squirrels have adapted teeth
that constantly grow. They grow about 6 inches each year, but will stay
about the same length because of the constant wear they receive.
(The Squirrel Place, 1995-2014).

19. Purple Shore Crabs
 The Purple Shore Crabs are also
known as the Naked Shore
Crabs. You can see the tiny black,
hairy shore crabs mostly in
between the rocks of the cave
grounds, but sometimes are
rested on the top of the purple
iodine rocks.
 They can be as small as a
fingertip and as big as the size of
a half-dollar. Most of the time you
will find these small creatures
feeding on the tide pools inside
the cave.
(Washington Department of
Fish and Wildlife, 2014).

20. Evolution of Purple
Shore Crabs
 Shore crabs are formally apart of the Hemigrapsus nudus species.
A similar species is the Hemigrapsus oregonensis (H. nudus do
not have olive-colored hairs on the legs like the H. oregonensis).
 The evolution of crabs in general is a mystery for scientists, but
there are other details on their preferred habitats. They are found
along the Pacific coast from Alaska to Baja California. They are
generally less common in southern California because they live
near rocky shores. Their chelae allows them to scrape from the
rocks diatoms, desmids, and green algae.
 Between November and April female crabs will , on average, lay
13,000 eggs a year; depends on the size of the females carapace.
(Oliver & Schmelter, N/A).

21. References
 Monroe ,J. & Wicander, R. (2012). The changing earth: Exploring
geology and evolution. Belmont, Ca: Brooks/Cole, Cengage
Learning.
 La Jolla Village Merchants Association.(2013). Weather. Retrieved
from http://www.lajollabythesea.com/visitor-resources/
weather
 Gore, P. J. W. (2004). Relative dating: Laboratory. Clarkston, GA:
Pamela J.W. Gore.
 Newell, R. ( 2012, April). La jolla sea caves. Retrieved from http://
www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2012/apr/18/travel-la-jolla- sea-
caves-history/#
 Cave Store. (N/A). Sunny jim cave store. Retrieved from http://
www.cavestore.com/about.php
 Bunnell, D. (2013). Sea caves. Retrieved from http://
www.goodearthgraphics.com/virtcave/seacaves/seacaves.html

22. References
 StoneForensics.com(2004-2014). Geology and stone identification.
Retrieved from http://www.marble.com/articles/geology- and-
stone-identification/
 Wikipedia. (2014). Iodine. Retrieved from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iodine
 Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. (2014). Crab
identification and biology. Retrieved from http://wdfw.wa.gov/
fishing/shellfish/crab/identification.html
 Oliver, J. & Schmelter, A. ( N/A). Life history of hemigrapsus
oregonensis and hemigrapsus nudus. Retrieved from
http://people.oregonstate.edu/~yamadas/crab/ ch5.htm
 The Marine Mammal Center (2000). Pacific harbor seal. Retrieved
from http://www.marinemammalcenter.org/education/ marine-
mammal-information/pinnipeds/pacific-harbor-seal/

23. References
 Seals-World. (2014). Seal evolution. Retrieved from
http://www.seals-world.com/seal-evolution/
 Stewart, K. (2012). Ground squirrels become more active on
the coastal bluffs. Retrieved from http://
www.lajollalight.com/2012/03/14/ground-squirrels-
become-more-active-on-the-coastal-bluffs/
 The Squirrel Place. (1995-2014). History. Retrieved from
http://www.squirrels.org/history.html