Humboldt, CA Nicole Moore

Humboldt County, CA Three weeks ago, I visited my

boyfriend’s hometown of Arcata, CA, which is located in Humboldt County.

Despite its rampant hippy culture, Humboldt is best known from its beautiful and lush environment.

Species of plants and animals seen in this presentation are from Fern Canyon and Arcata’s coastline.

Roosevelt Elk

Roosevelt Elk Part of the deer family Second largest animal of the deer family Only a few hundred left Active during the colder hours of the day Males weigh 740-1100 pounds and females

weigh 380-640 pounds. Males (bulls) have antlers, females (cows) do not. Autumn is their breeding season. Live in dense coastal brush Diet consists of grassy clearings(Roosevelt Elk)

Evolution of Roosevelt Elk“Kingdom- Animalia, Phylum- Chordata, Class- Mammalia, Order- Artiodactyla, Family- Cervidae, Genus- Cervus, Species: Canadensis” (Hanson) They began to evolve about 400,000 years ago during the Cenozoic Era. Elks are closely related to Moose and deer. There has been transitional fossils found These fossils from Brush Antlered Deer. It should be noted Elk’s have stronger bones, but weaker antlers than the Brush

Antlered Deer. The traits seen in the modern day Roosevelt Elk were adopted and developed

through natural selection. The ancestors of the Roosevelt Elk had shorter tails. The reason for this, is their tails are a vestigial structure, and therefore, are not

needed, like they once were for their ancestors. The embryos of Roosevelt Elk and Deer are very similar and only have slight

differences.

(Hanson, Jessica)

Coastal Redwoods

Coastal Redwoods

Sequoia sempervirens Lifespan: 2,000 years Height: 373 feet Located on the coast of Northern

California and Southern Oregon. Named after the color of its bark Arranged in circular formations called

“Fairy Rings”(Guynup, Sharon)

Evolution of Coastal Redwoods DNAs shows the Coastal Redwood is a hexaploid, meaning there

is six sets of chromosomes in each of its cells While this trait is not uncommon in plants, it is in trees. In fact, most other types of redwoods are diploids. The genes of the Coastal Redwood most resemble lawn grass. Being a hexaploid maybe the reason the Coastal Redwoods have

such a long lifespan. This would also explain as to why, while this species of tree is one

of the oldest, it appears to be virtually immune to disease. There has been arguments throughout the scientific community

over whether the Coastal redwood emerged as a hexaploid during “Paleocene epoch (65 to 54 million years ago), or he Eocene epoch (54 to 38 million years ago)”

(Guynup, Sharon)

Wall of Fern

Wall of Fern Fun fact: This was the location of

Jurassic Park II Located in a 50-80 feet canyon There are five different types of Fern on

the vertical walls of this canyon Water is constantly dipping off the fern

walls(Fern Canyon in Prairie Creek Redwoods SP)

Evolution of Fern An early fernlike plant was the Rhacophyton condrusorum. The fossils of the Rhacophyton condrusorum were found in

Belgium. The evolution of ferns began with their complex branching and

webbing, which had not been seen in their ancestors. In 1930, Zimmerman presented a theory which was called

planation. Essentially, this states the branching on ferns helps the plants

capture more light and that the fern’s webbing connects the cell tissue.

Modern day ferns began to appear at the end of the Devonian (340 million years ago).

(Where do the ferns come from?)

Silt and Sandstone

Silt and Sandstone Along the steams and rivers located in Humboldt's

Fern Canyon, there are various smooth, medium-sized, glossy rocks. Due to the fact these rocks were found near and on the riverbed, most likely they were made up of compressed sand and pebbles. Therefore, these rocks found in Fern Canyon can probably be best classified as a clastic sedimentary rocks. Due to the smooth texture and the fact the these rocks were found in the stilt and sand, I believe the rocks I encountered at Fern Canyon consisted of both silt and sandstone.

(Clastic Sedimentary Rocks)

Conglomerate Rocks

Conglomerate Rocks Furthermore, I went to the beach in

Humboldt and encounter rocks beside the tide pools. I would also classify these rocks as clastic sedimentary rocks, so they were also more than likely made out of compressed sand and parts of other rocks. However, due to the rock's rough, sharp surface, I would say these rocks are conglomerates. (Clastic Sedimentary Rocks)

Phosphorite Rocks

Phosphorite

These rocks were located on along Arcata’s coastline. Like the conglomerate rocks, these were also very close to the tide pool. Due to the surface of the rock which was rough and showed the material of what appeared to be other rocks, pebbles, phosphate material, as well as what my naked eye looked like dead sea life, I would classify this rock as a sediment, phosphorite.

(Rock Types)

The Principle of Inclusions Due to the fact all of the rocks I have observed

appeared to be sedimentary, one can assume that they are made up of other, older, condensed rock.

The Principle of Inclusion states that the rock formations (or inclusions) are older than the rock that contains them.

Therefore, pieces of other rock that can be viewed in the sedimentary rocks, are in fact older than the rock, itself.

(Principle of Inclusions)

Angular Unconformities Additionally, due to the fact all the rocks

provided as examples appear to be sedimentary, it would be likely that angular unconformities would be found near these rocks.

Angular Unconformities occur when horizontal layers of sedimentary rock lay on the tilted layers of sedimentary rock.

(Unconformity-Angular Unconformities, Disconformity, Nonconformities, An Ongoing Process)

Work Cited Clastic Sedimentary Rocks. (n.d.). Retrieved July 30, 2015.

Fern Canyon in Prairie Creek Redwoods SP. (n.d.). Retrieved July 28, 2015, from http://www.redwoods.info/showrecord.asp?id=476

Guynup, S. (n.d.). The Redwood Genome. Retrieved July 21, 2015, from http://www.genomenewsnetwork.org/articles/08_00/redwood_genome.shtm

Hanson, Jessica. "Elk Evolution Project." Web. July 30, 2015. <https://www.storehouse.co/stories/y9tg-elk-evolution-project>.

Principle of Inclusions. (n.d.). Retrieved July 28, 2015, from http://www.sandatlas.org/principle-of-inclusions/

Rock Types. (n.d.). Retrieved July 28, 2015, from http://www.sandatlas.org/rock-types/

Roosevelt Elk. (n.d.). Retrieved July 30, 2015, from http://www.redwoods.info/showrecord.asp?id=481

Unconformity-Angular Unconformities, Disconformity, Nonconformities, An Ongoing Process. (n.d.). . Retrieved July 30, 2015, from http://science.jrank.org/pages/7092/Unconformity.html

Where do the ferns come from? (n.d.). Retrieved July 29, 2015, from http://steurh.home.xs4all.nl/engevovar/eevovar.html