3. Introduction
For this assignment I went out to hiking trail near my home in Simi Valley, California. I
walked around and looked at the many plants and animals that came across me. For the most part it was
just trees with a lot of black mustard growing all over the trails. I came across many squirrels and lizards
but I did hear a few rattlesnakes. I went out and looked at various rocks and took a few home to be able
to classify them better. I went out looking for the principle of inclusion specifically because it was the one
I understood the bets and was not able to find and unconformities around where I went. I also went on a
bike trail and found some ducks and more black mustard which I also used in this presentation.
4. Simi Valley, Ca.
● Simi Valley is in the southeast corner of Ventura County in Southern California.
● Simi Valley is in the western part of the region called the Transverse Ranges.
● It has the Santa Susana mountains to the north and the Simi Hills to the west and south.
● Simi Valley owes its existence and shape to the faulting and folding of the rocks. It is essentially a
structural valley and not wholly the work of erosion.
7. Mallard Evolution
Mallards are considered anseriformes, in the
family including ducks, geese, swans. The
evolution of these present day waterflow animals
began in tropical swamps before the Eocene age
more than 50 million years ago. The earliest
fossils come from the latter part of the Eocene
epoch discovered in sediments in Colorado, Utah,
and France (Mallard Life History).
HABITAT: Mallards can be found in wetlands,
including marshes, bogs, riverine floodplains,
beaver ponds, lakes, reservoirs, ponds, city parks,
farms, and estuaries. They will nest on dryland
close to water (Britannica 2016).
FOOD: Mallards are foragers and will eat a large
variety of food. They will dip their heads into the
water to get food out of water and also will roam
around on land looking for food. They eat many
insects and insect larvae as well as snails and
worms; they will also eat agriculture grain and
seeds (Britannica 2016).
9. BLACK MUSTARD EVOLUTION
Black mustard is a annual growing herb with small
yellow flowers, it belongs to the mustard family
(Brassicaceae). It typically grows around the
months of June through September in rubbish
tips, harbours, loading areas, mustard processing
plants, wastelands, and sometimes
gardens.(Luontoportti.) Black mustard is believed
to be native to the Eastern Mediterranean, it now
grows all over Europe. It is also found in
Argentina, Chile, the US, and European countries.
(illinois wildflowers n.d.)
Black mustard is a seed plant; seed plants evolved
during the late Devonian Epoch. The black
mustard plant contains pollen chambers which
the earliest seed plants did not, therefore black
mustard was probably not an early seed plant and
was a later evolved seed plant (could not find
fossil record) (Seed Plants n.d.).
11. Shale - Sedimentary Rock
Found on a hiking trail (Flanagan Trail) in Simi
Valley, CA.
12. Shale - Sedimentary Rock
● Shale is a fine grained sedimentary rock formed from compacted silt and clay-sized mineral
particles called mud.
● Shale is a part of the the category of mudstones within the category of sedimentary rocks.
● Shale is fissile meaning the rock easily splits into thin pieces along the laminations.
● Typically forms in environments where mu, slits, and sediments were deposited by transported
currents.
● I found this rock on a hiking trail in Simi Valley, there is stream of water that runs through the
hiking trail it use to be much higher which is why I believe this rock could be shale because the
watercurrents pushing the mud in the area.
(Shale n.d.) (Britannica 2016)
14. Sandstone - Sedimentary Rock
● Sandstone is made up of sand size grains of minerals, rocks, and other organic materials.
● It also contains silt or clay sized particles that act as cement and fill in the spaces between the
grains.
● Sandstone is one of the most common sedimentary rocks found around the world, it is found is
sedimentary basins all around the world.
● I believe that this rock is sandstone because it looks to made up of many very tiny particles that
look like sand. (Sandstone n.d.)
15. Granite - Igneous Rock
Found on a hiking trail (Flanagan Trail) in Simi
Valley, CA.
16. Granite - Igneous Rock
● This rock has has many little grains that are different colors.
● Granite is mainly made up of quartz and feldspar and other minerals.
● Granite forms from the slow crystallization of magma and minerals below the earth’s surface.
● I think this is a granite rock because of al the different grains the rock contains. (Granite n.d.)
19. Principle of Inclusions
Principle of inclusions is the principle holding that
inclusions or fragments in a rock are older than
the rock unit itself (Monroe, 685).
I think that this rock shows the principle of
inclusions because it is one big rock containing
many other rocks within it. The rocks within the
big rock must have been formed previous to the
larger rock forming.
20. Nonconformity
I found this photo online because I could not find
any examples on my several hiking trips and walks
around my town.
21. Nonconformity
An unconformity in which stratified sedimentary
rocks overlie and erosion surface cut into igneous
or metamorphic rocks. (Monroe, 683)
I thought this was a good example of a
nonconformity unconformity because you can see
the sedimentary rock overlying the metamorphic
rocks,
22. References
(n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/weeds/plants/black_mustard.htm
"Anseriformes (Ducks, G., & Screamers)." (2019). Anseriformes (Ducks, Geese, Swans, and Screamers). Retrieved
from https://www.encyclopedia.com/environment/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/anseriformes-
ducks-geese-swans-and-screamers
Britannica, T. E. (2016, September 19). Shale. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/science/shale
Granite. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://geology.com/rocks/granite.shtml
Luontoportti. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.luontoportti.com/suomi/en/kukkakasvit/black-mustard
Mallard Life History, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Mallard/lifehistory
23. References
Monroe, J. S., & Wicander, R. (2012). The changing Earth: Exploring geology and evolution. Belmont, CA:
Brooks/Cole.
Sandstone. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://geology.com/rocks/sandstone.shtml
Seed plants: Fossil Record. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://ucmp.berkeley.edu/seedplants/seedplantsfr.html
Shale. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://geology.com/rocks/shale.shtml
All photos taken by me except for the last one which was found on google.
