1. Helen Montes
North Shore---Lake Tahoe
My son Eric---waiting for the trolley at Eagle Falls
2. Table of Contents
Myself with two llamas
• More facts about llamas
Lave flow over street in Hawaii
• Kilauea Volcano---Hawaii
Path from Vikingsholm to Eagle Falls, S. Lake Tahoe
• Lost Ecosystem of Eagle Falls
• Geologic History of Tahoe
Gold from Sutter Creek, CA
• General Geology and Interesting Facts
References
3. Walking up Lodi Street in South Lake Tahoe, I came across these two llamas.
There is an evolutionary
relationship between llamas
and camels. In fact they
evolved from a common
ancestor. Camels and llamas
are said to be cousins. These
species have padded feet
rather than hoofs, and two
toe-nails on each foot.
They have a split upper lip to
help sift through grass or hay
while eating.
5. Lava flow across road in Hawaii
This lava covered almost 7 miles, closing
the highway. Notice the height of the lava?
Most of Hawaii is derived from lava.
I chose this picture from one of my trips Lava is not metamorphic, it is an
because you don’t see this everyday. extrusive igneous rock as it is
formed from the cooling of molten
rock.
6. Kilauea Volcano---Hawaii
Two types of Volcanos
The slopes of a Sheild Volcano are long
and broad
Strato Volcano is more tall and cone
shaped.
All Volcanoes in Hawaii are Sheild Volcanoes.
“Only 4,091 feet from Sea level, Kilauea is
nestled into the side of Mauna Loa, on the
South east side of the Big Island.” (Kilauea, Hawaii--
-Helicopter Tours, March 2012, personal trip.)
Kilauea is currently the most active volcano in
the world.
Lava flows through lave tubes to the ocean.
Some areas are between 2-40 feet thick.
(hvo.wr.usgs.gov/volcanowatch/archive
David@bigisland-bigisland.com Aloha, Feb. 2008)
7. Path from Vikingsholm to Eagle Falls, South Lake Tahoe
These two trees seem to be growing into
one another, but in fact have two
separate root systems. Growing closely
together, it is as if they are hugging one
another.
8. On the West Shore, biologists say
wolverines (Gulo luscus) were once a big part of
the ecosystem. Wolverines are considered quite
rare in the Sierra Nevada now, victims of
poaching and the encroachment of
civilization. (Longstreet Highroad Guide to the California Sierra
Nevada, by Mark Grossi, Published (print): 2000, Published (Web):
September 2000, Revised (Web): November 2002, ISBN: 1-56352-592-5)
Like the grizzly bear, which disappeared
completely from the Sierra in the 1920s,
wolverines created a balance in the ecosystem by
staking out territory that mountain lions and
coyotes would routinely avoid. Grizzlies and
wolverines had a habit of taking kills from the
lions and coyotes.
9. The creation of the Sierra batholith
and the metamorphic rock on top of
it was just the first part of this saga.
Next, about 20 million years ago,
mountains of fire, ash and lava
formed along the eastern side of the
Sierra layering down hundreds of
feet of ash, glassy lava rock, and
mixed up breccia.
10. Soils of the basin come
primarily
from andesidic volcanic rocks
and granodiorite, with minor
areas of metamorphic rock.
“Some of the valley bottoms and lower hill
slopes are mantled with glacial moraines,
or glacial outwash material derived from the
parent rock. Cryopsamments, Cryumbrepts,
rockland, rock outcrops and rubble and
stony colluvium account for over 70% of the
land area in the basin.” (Lake Tahoe Facts and Info , The
Geological History of the Lake Tahoe Basin)
12. “The high mountains and broad valleys we
see today were created over long periods of
time by geologic processes such as fault
movement, volcanism, sea level change,
erosion and sedimentation.”
“Both the highest and lowest elevations in
the 48 contiguous states are in California,
only 80 miles apart. The tallest mountain
peak is Mt. Whitney at 14,496 feet; the
lowest elevation in California and North
America is in Death Valley at 282 feet
below sea level.” (CA Geologic Survey, General Geology
and Landforms, 150 facts.)
