Science on Screen at the State! Whale Rider, Sunday January 12 at 3:00 PM

For my Modesto area readers: I've been involved for the last 18 months with an innovative program at the State Theatre called Science on Screen. The program offers movies with science themes and speakers who can offer additional perspective (and sometimes "constructive" criticism) of Hollywood's version of science. I want to invite you to attend tomorrow's event, a screening of the movie Whale Rider, and a presentation by Kimberly Stevenot.

Read below for more information (from the State Theatre Facebook page):

Topic: Does Saving a Culture Sometimes Rely on Challenging its Traditions?
 
Science On Screen begins the New Year with Whale Rider, a magical film about a 12-year-old Maori girl who dares to defy tradition and challenge her family, only to bravely fulfill her destiny as the leader of her village. This family-friendly film is rich in its imagery, its depictions of the Maori tribe, and in its own bravery in seeing the need for cultures to change, possibly in order to save them. The speaker is Kimberly Stevenot, a noted Miwuk traditionalist, basket weaver, artist and teacher who will discuss tribal customs and cultures, and will also have native regalia, jewelry and baskets on display in the lobby. The Miwuk are native Americans who have long lived in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys, and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

Science On Screen at The State Theatre is made possible through a grant by the Coolidge Corner Theatre, with support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. This pioneering program creatively pairs Hollywood films with notable experts from the world of science, technology, mathematics and medicine. Interactive activities and displays in the lobby from 2 to 3 p.m.; Ms. Stevenot, who will speak at 3, will return for a Q&A following the screening of the film.

Doors and interactive activities at 2; presentation and film at 3 p.m.; Q&A to follow film
 
Admission: $8 or $6 for student with ID
 
Group discounts are available for classes and organizations (comprised of 10 or more) wishing to attend films in the Science On Screen series. For more information please call State GM Sue Richardson at 209-527-4697.

On the Most Inaccessible Mountain Range on the Planet: Walking the Mid-Ocean Ridge in the Marin Headlands

What is the most inaccessible mountain range on planet Earth? The Himalaya? The southern Andes? Some mountain range in the Antarctic wastes? Nah. The most inaccessible mountain range is so difficult to visit that only a handful of humans have ever even laid eyes on it. It lies at the bottom of the sea, and is called the Mid-ocean ridge. It dwarfs the other major mountain ranges around the planet, extending for around 45,000 miles, enough to nearly circle the planet twice.

The Mid-ocean Ridge is not a high mountain range, maybe 5,000-10,000 feet high, but it lies thousands of feet beneath sea level except in extraordinary places like Iceland. Iceland is part of the Mid-ocean Ridge, but probably also includes magmas rising from a hot spot, giving it the extra elevation to rise above the waves.

So mountaineering on the Mid-ocean Ridge is beyond most mortal folk, but you can explore the surface of the ridge in a few places around the world where oceanic crust has been scraped off the sea-floor and accreted to the edge of a continent. One such place is on the Marin Headlands just north of San Francisco (I noticed in the geoblogosphere that Chuck Bailey at W&M Blogs has recently described another such spot in the somewhat more exotic Wadi Jezzi in Oman - Check it out!).

Some of the most spectacular scenery along the most beautiful coastline in the world can be found on the Marin Headlands (this post is actually a continuation of a blog series I started before the Christmas holidays). When you cross the Golden Gate Bridge headed north, take the Alexander Avenue offramp and follow Conzelman Road onto the headlands. Immediately you are treated with a gorgeous view of the Golden Gate Bridge, but the real story is behind you in the roadcuts. There are ribbon cherts (a form of deep ocean sediment derived from myriads of one-celled creatures called diatoms) lying directly on ocean-floor basalt. Lay your hands on the contact between the two and you are touching the surface of what once was part of the greatest mountain range on planet Earth!

The Marin Headlands don't lack for inaccessibility themselves. The coastline through this region is exceptionally rugged, with steep cliffs that slope directly into the surf. San Francisco Bay lies hidden behind the peninsula, and the ruggedness of the region prevented its discovery for many years (nearby Monterey Bay was visited as early as 1542, but San Francisco Bay was not discovered until 1769).

The odd looking cement structures found around the Marin Headlands are kind of a jarring reminder that the history of this region is not that of long-protected wilderness sanctuary. When World War II was being fought, San Francisco Bay was one of the most important strategic strongholds for the entire Pacific Theater of operations. There was the harbor itself through which much of the fleet operated, factories and ammunition depots, and the inland agricultural areas. That and a huge civilian population. The hills above the Golden Gate were studded with huge cannons and guns that could wreak devastation on any enemy flotilla that tried to enter the harbor. Below is Battery Mendell, just north of the Point Bonita Lighthouse.

The Marin Headlands region is a stunningly beautiful place with a fascinating geological story. The area is protected as part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, which is a level of protection that is more or less equivalent to a national park. It is certainly a popular destination, but it's usually possible to find some quiet corners, especially if you are willing to hike a little. While in the area, don't pass up Muir Woods National Monument. It's one of the most-visited monuments in the country, but wandering through the Redwood forest, it's not hard to see why.

Science Education Leaps Forward in California's Great Valley: Want to be involved?

I announced this opening on Geotripper yesterday, but I thought that this press release would provide some more detailed information about the position. This is an exciting time for science education in our valley, despite the disturbing anti-science currents across our country. If you want to be involved in one of the most dynamic science education efforts in California, think about applying for this position:

Press Release:
The Great Valley Museum of Natural History at Modesto Junior College seeks a new Director to oversee all day-to-day and fundraising operations. 

Visit https://yosemite.peopleadmin.com/postings/991 to apply!

Situated in the heart of California’s Central Valley, the Great Valley Museum (GVM) serves to educate and promote the study of science and nature throughout our service area of approximately 500,000 people.  The GVM serves as the community education arm of the Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Division of Modesto Junior College, providing educational programs for children grades Pre-K through 12 both on-site at the GVM and at area schools through our extremely popular Traveling Teacher program.

The GVM offers Central Valley ecosystem displays, a California Natives exhibit, a live animal vivarium, the Discovery Room full of hands-on materials, a backyard exhibit, and full-body taxidermy of animals from around the world.  The GVM has a long history of assisting classroom teachers. Our expertise is in bringing science and nature to students throughout the community.  Using the California Science Standards as a guide, we offer a multitude of programs on science and nature topics.  Tours of the Museum showcase our many exhibits and displays. We are flexible and mobile and we will provide these programs at our Museum, parks, classrooms or other educational sites.

In April, 2014, the GVM will move into its new home on the ground floor of the brand-new Science Community Center on MJC’s West Campus.  This location will provide immediate access for MJC’s science students to study the flora, fauna, and ecosystems of our area, from the Sierras to the valley floor, and to utilize the Science-on-a-Sphere display (from the NOAA) for the study of Earth and space sciences.  Operated in concert with the GVM, and also overseen by the GVM Director, is our brand new, state-of-the-art planetarium with 107 seats below a 40-foot dome housing both a Zeiss ZKP-4 LED/fiber-optic star projector and the Zeiss Velvet Digital Projection system with Uniview software.  The MJC Planetarium will be a sought-after destination for teachers and their classes from throughout our community and within the college itself, and for families and groups seeking exciting science learning opportunities and events.

Adjacent to the GVM (currently in design) will be an outdoor education area with native plants, an aquatic ecosystem, geology specimens, a greenhouse, and a shaded gathering area.

The Director of the Great Valley Museum will supervise all GVM staff, currently consisting of two full-time employees, a dozen traveling teachers, and a cadre of volunteer docents and helpers.  In addition, the Director serves ex-oficio as a member of the Great Valley Museum Foundation Board and is charged with oversight of all fundraising activities.  With the new facilities, the GVM is perched to take off to great heights and expand its staffing accordingly, based on vastly increased visitation, on-site classes and planetarium shows, and increased donations from the community and corporate sponsors.  The GVM seeks a leader with the skills and vision to fully realize this next phase of growth in its new home.  The ideal candidate will couple a background in science, education, and/or museum studies, with success in fundraising and collaborative leadership of a diverse staff of dedicated employees and volunteers.

Details of the position, including minimum qualifications and application procedures, can be found at https://yosemite.peopleadmin.com/postings/991.  Interested applicants must create an account and submit their applications electronically. 

Closing date = February 10, 2014, 11:59 pm.

For additional information about the Great Valley Museum, visit our website at http://www.mjc.edu/community/resources/gvm/index.html.  Also visit the Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Division website at http://www.mjc.edu/prospective/programs/sme/ for more information and a photo of the beautiful new Science Community Center.

Questions can also be directed to museum staff members Molly Flemate (flematem@mjc.edu, 209-575-6674) and Tana Dennen (dennent@mjc.edu, 209-575-6196) or to Brian Sanders, Acting GVM Director, as shown below.

The Finest Science Center in the Great Valley Needs a Museum Director

If you follow this blog at all (and many thanks if you do!) then you know that we recently occupied what I think may be the finest teaching facility of its kind in the Great Valley of California, and maybe in the entire state. The Science Community Center at Modesto Junior College is a monument to the importance of science education, with state-of-the-art labs and classrooms for biology, astronomy, chemistry, physics, and the earth sciences, as well as a fully equipped observatory, and the most technically advanced planetarium projector in the United States (seriously, it's the newest generation, and we were the first to have it installed). And very soon we will open the Great Valley Museum and Outdoor Education Laboratory. The museum will have exhibits emphasizing the unique biology, paleontology and geology of the Great Valley, and will include the unique teaching tool called Science on a Sphere.

And we need a museum director.

The position announcement was posted this morning, and can be found here: https://yosemite.peopleadmin.com/postings/987. If you are a talented person who knows and loves science, but can also navigate the depths and passages of a college and state bureaucracy as well as excelling at fundraising, you may be the person we need to lead our school and our valley into a new era of science excellence. Contact me or the Human Resources office at Yosemite Community College District if you have questions.

Birds of My Neighborhood: Geotripper Explores the Home Base on National Bird Day

Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum)

I'm told that today is National Bird Day (thanks, Randall), which was convenient to today's post since I was already collecting pictures of birds from my last two days of neighborhood exploration. It was meant to be an addition to my post several days ago describing the surprising diversity of birds in my home town, despite the winter chill. The Great Valley of California turns out to be quite the refuge for winter survival of a great many avian species. We are far enough south to avoid the frigid chill of arctic storms, and most of our storms are gentle compared to the blizzards experienced in other parts of the country (with the occasional exception, of course).

Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum)

But really, birds in a geology blog? What connection could there possibly be with the study of rocks, minerals, and fossils? Oh, yeah, fossils. Birds have been an important part of the web of life on this planet for more than 100 million years, and were the last of the major families of terrestrial creatures to emerge. They are literally the last dinosaurs, but as such they are particularly successful and diverse dinosaurs, and most certainly not a failing evolutionary dead end. And they apparently almost displaced mammals as the apex predators in the terrestrial environment several tens of millions of years ago.

American Robin (Turdus migratorius)

After the "regular" dinosaurs met their demise at the end of the Cretaceous Period (possibly as a result of an asteroid impact), the subset of feathered avian dinosaurs were some of the survivors that expanded and evolved to fill a world with many empty environmental niches. Mammals were quickly evolving to fill those same niches, and for a while there were some gigantic land birds that were the top predators of their time. Eventually their places were taken by large mammals and crocodile-type reptiles, but the birds mostly took to the air and became one of the most diverse vertebrate animal groups in the world today.

Yes, you "mock" me now, but imagine me being 10 feet tall. That would change your tone in a hurry...

Today, birds are an integral part of any terrestrial ecosystem, and their relative health is a barometer for all life on our planet. There is a great joy in observing the incredible diversity of these fascinating creatures, but the diversity and future survival of these animals is threatened from habitat destruction and hunting. That's probably more true in the Great Valley of California than for about any other place on the planet.

Western Bluebird (Sialia mexicana)

The Central Valley (the term is interchangeable with Great Valley) is one of the world's great savanna-grassland-riparian habitats and was once a paradise for numerous bird species and other animals. The vast wetlands were historically a critical stop on the migratory flyway for hundreds of species. Unfortunately for the birds, the rich soils and ample water supply from Sierra Nevada rivers have meant that most of the valley has been co-opted by humans for agricultural development. Only 5% of the original habitat still exists. This has meant huge changes in the ecosystem, with many species that have disappeared, and others that have prospered. 

Oak Titmouse (Baeolophus inornatus)

Humans added all kinds of mayhem by introducing new bird species for spurious and stupid reasons. One of the worst: a man in the 1890s who resolved to introduce to the New World all the birds mentioned in the works of Shakespeare. He arranged for the release of several hundred European Starlings in Central Park. They have since spread across the continent like a plague, displacing dozens if not hundreds of species of native songbirds. Other birds arrived as pets which subsequently escaped (flocks of parrots live in the LA Basin, for instance).

Black Phoebe (Sayornis nigricans). Identification thanks to Callan Bentley (Mountain Beltway) and his friend Seth.

Despite the horrific pressure brought to bear on the native species of California, there are many bird varieties still to be seen in the Great Valley. I have become aware of this delightful fact over the last few weeks as I explored my own local neighborhood with a new camera with a nice optical zoom. We've always had a feeder in the backyard, which caused me to think that the only local birds were goldfinches, house finches, scrub jays, and mockingbirds. A new habit of walking around the nearby cow pasture has revealed a real menagerie of beautiful and interesting species.

Scrub Jay (Aphelocoma californica)

So today's post (and my post from several days ago) is a celebration of National Bird Day, with fifteen species that I was able to photograph in just two days of strolling around my neighborhood. Some I've seen before, and many I have never noticed. I never would have guessed that two, and maybe three species of woodpecker live on my block!

Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos)

Some of the birds are skittish and shy, and others look at you and don't give a rat's posterior that you are standing there photographing them. And then there are the crows and ravens. You look at them and you can see them thinking and hear them talking about you...they are said to be the smartest of all birds, and I pretty much accept that way of thinking.

Nuttall's Woodpecker (Picoides nuttallii)

And never forget: these little fellows are dinosaurs. Only they're smarter...

The Stacks are Odded Against Us! Subduction's Gift in Southern Oregon and Northern California

Sea stacks on Highway 1 near Elk, in Northern California

Sea stacks are isolated rocky islands found along rugged coasts where wave erosion is intense. They form for a variety of reasons (from glaciers in places like Maine, for instance, or from lava flows in Hawaii). If the rocks vary in composition over short distances, some outcrops will be more resistant to erosion and may last longer against the onslaught of the breakers. This is the gift of subduction in areas like Oregon and Northern California. Rocks exposed along the coast tend to include a hodge-podge of ocean-related rocks, including graywacke sandstone, shale, basaltic ocean crust, limestone, chert, and the occasional seamount (seafloor volcano). Some are really tough, and others are easily eroded.

Sea stacks at Point Orford in Oregon

Subduction happens when a thick slab of oceanic crust and upper mantle (the lithosphere) sinks beneath another slab of lithosphere. The crustal material is drawn into the mantle where some of the rock may melt, producing volcanic activity at the surface above. In Oregon and Northern California the oceanic lithosphere is sinking beneath the edge of the North American continent along what is known as the Cascadia Subduction Zone. The volcanoes of the Cascades Range are the very visible evidence of this intense geologic activity.

Subduction zones produce some of the worst of geologic disasters, including massive earthquakes and devastating tsunamis. But the deformation of the Earth's crust also causes the formation of mountains and rugged coast lines that make some of the world's most beautiful scenery. And that is where today's post originates. I had the privilege of spending a few days making my way south along Oregon 101 and Highway 1 in Northern California on my way home from Christmas visits, and we saw a stunning variety of shoreline features including the sea stacks that I am emphasizing today.

Sea stacks near Brookings, Oregon, I think. Anyone recognize them?

The Cascadia Subduction Zone has also collected bits and pieces of continents from elsewhere (called exotic terranes) and mashed them into the edge of the continent. The rocks of the Klamath Mountains in southern Oregon and Northern California originated in this fashion. These metamorphic rocks contribute to the extreme variety of rocks found along the coast.

Restless seas in the morning at Fort Bragg in Northern California

The weather was supremely perfect for viewing the scenery (if not an utter disaster in the making for water-planners; the ongoing drought is the worst ever). There are storms out there somewhere because the waves were quite large at times.

At the mouth of the Navarro River just south of Mendocino in Northern California

This isn't the first time I've used the dumb pun above; I put up a series of sea stack pictures last year when I made my first journey down the Oregon coast in many years. The thing is, these stacks are completely different. There is a lot of very spectacular scenery, and every trip along that route will be a different experience.

Sea arch in a stack at Navarro Beach in Northern California near Mendocino.

Navarro Beach was our last long stop. We actually had to get home at some point after two weeks on the road. It was a truly beautiful day. Happy New Year to all!

Sea stacks at Navarro Beach on the Northern California coast.

Happy New Year From Geotripper! A Resolution: Follow Those Dreams!

I've never been one for resolutions. Changes in my life tend to happen at the various times when the need for change becomes apparent and I try acting on them as a result. That being said, the new year began a few moments ago, and a few things occurred to me.

First off, go and check out Andrew Alden's blog post on geological resolutions (click here). There is some great advice there.

And then consider Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss. Never heard of it? That's a shame, because it was a gem of a movie, written by Jean Shepherd, who also wrote "Christmas Story", the classic tale of Ralphy and his quest to get hold of a Red Ryder BB Rifle ("You'll shoot your eye out!"). "Ollie Hopnoodle" follows the same characters a few years later as they take their family vacation. The thing is, they always went to Haven of Bliss, a fishing lake up in Minnesota somewhere. Year and after year. The story was great, but don't do that! Don't get caught up in sameness and habit!

The world is so big and there are so many wonderful things out there to explore. Some are far away, but some as as close as your own backyard. Resolve to try something new, and to see someplace new. This has been one of the greatest years in my life. I was given the precious opportunity to float down the Colorado River with my brother and his family, and every minute of each of the 17 days was a gift that I can never forget. There were moments of unspeakable terror, but hours and days of bliss as well, as I finally achieved one of the great dreams of my life.

But here's the thing: the second great discovery of my past year was a big surprise, because it was literally in my backyard. I've always kind of liked birds, but never really learned much about them, and knew little of the species that live in my area.

A new camera with a pretty good zoom lens has taught me that there are many discoveries to be made just outside your door. I've been amazed at the variety of birds that live where I do. It's a new favorite activity these days, photographing the little avian dinosaurs.

So the thing is, if you think in terms of resolutions, I say try something new and different. It can be one of the big dreams you've always had, but never believed it could be achieved; you can start right now to make it happen. Or make a small change and discover something new about where you live, whether it's to learn something geological, or ornithological, or biological. Your life will be richer either way.