1.
Summit
–
A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. Mathematically, a summit is a maximum in elevation. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak, and zenith are synonymous, the UIAA definition is that a summit is independent if it has a prominence of 30 metres or more, it is a mountain if it has a prominence of at least 300 metres. This can be summarised as follows, A pyramidal peak is an exaggerated form produced by ice erosion of a mountain top, Summit may also refer to the highest point along a line, trail, or route. In many parts of the western United States, the term refers to the highest point along a road, highway. For example, the highest point along Interstate 80 in California is referred to as Donner Summit while the highest point on Interstate 5 is Siskiyou Mountain Summit, geoid Hill List of highest mountains Maxima and minima Nadir Summit accordance Peak finder
2.
North American Vertical Datum of 1988
–
NAVD88 was established in 1991 by the minimum-constraint adjustment of geodetic leveling observations in Canada, the United States, and Mexico. It held fixed the height of the tidal bench mark, referenced to the International Great Lakes Datum of 1985 local mean sea level height value, at Rimouski, Quebec. The definition of NAVD88 uses the Helmert orthometric height, which calculates the location of the geoid from modeled local gravity, the NAVD88 model is based on then-available measurements, and remains fixed despite later improved geoid models. NAVD88 replaced the National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929, previously known as the Sea Level Datum of 1929, the elevation difference between points in a local area will show negligible change from one datum to the other, even though the elevation of both does change. NGVD29 used a model of gravity based on latitude to calculate the geoid and did not take into account other variations. Thus, the difference for points across the country does change between datums. Altitude Geodesy Sea Level Datum of 1929 Topographic elevation Topography Reference ellipsoid Geoid United States Geological Survey home page, U. S. National Geodetic Survey home page
3.
Topographic prominence
–
It is a measure of the independence of a summit. A peaks key col is a point on this contour line. By convention, the prominence of Mount Everest, the Earths highest mountain, is taken to equal the elevation of its summit above sea level, if the peaks prominence is P metres, to get from the summit to any higher terrain one must descend at least P metres. Together with the convention for Mount Everest, this implies that the prominence of any island or continental highpoint is equal to its elevation above sea level, for every ridge connecting the peak to higher terrain, find the lowest point on the ridge. The key col is defined as the highest of these cols, the prominence is the difference between the elevation of the peak and the elevation of the key col. The following mental exercise may illustrate the meaning of topographic prominence, imagine you are standing at the top of a peak and imagine that an imaginary sea level rises to your feet. Now slowly lower the sea level and an imaginary island appears beneath your feet. Your island will grow and will merge with other islands that emerge, the parent peak may be either close or far from the subject peak. The summit of Mount Everest is the parent peak of Aconcagua at a distance of 17,755 km, the key col may also be close or far from the subject peak. The key col for Aconcagua is the Bering Strait at a distance of 13,655 km, the key col for the South Summit of Mount Everest is about 100 m distant. Prominence is interesting to many mountaineers because it is a measurement that is strongly correlated with the subjective significance of a summit. Peaks with low prominences are either subsidiary tops of some higher summit or relatively insignificant independent summits, peaks with high prominences tend to be the highest points around and are likely to have extraordinary views. Only summits with a sufficient degree of prominence are regarded as independent mountains, for example, the worlds second-highest mountain is K2. While Mount Everests South Summit is taller than K2, it is not considered an independent mountain because it is a subsummit of the main summit, many lists of mountains take topographic prominence as a criterion for inclusion, or cutoff. John and Anne Nuttalls The Mountains of England and Wales uses a cutoff of 15 m, in the contiguous United States, the famous list of fourteeners uses a cutoff of 300 ft /91 m. Also in the U. S.2000 feet of prominence has become a threshold that signifies that a peak has major stature. This generates lists of peaks ranked by prominence, which are different from lists ranked by elevation. Such lists tend to emphasize isolated high peaks, such as range or island high points, one advantage of a prominence-ranked list is that it needs no cutoff, since a peak with high prominence is automatically an independent peak
4.
Geographic coordinate system
–
A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
5.
Marin County, California
–
Marin County /məˈrɪn/ is a county located in the San Francisco Bay Area of the U. S. state of California. As of the 2010 census, the population was 252,409 and its county seat is San Rafael. Marin County is included in the San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco, Marin County is one of the wealthiest localities in the United States, known for its affluence. In May 2009, Marin County had the fifth highest income per capita in the United States at about $91,480, the county is governed by the Marin County Board of Supervisors. The county is well known for its natural beauty and liberal politics. San Quentin Prison is located in the county, as is George Lucas Skywalker Ranch, autodesk, the publisher of AutoCAD, is also located there, as well as numerous other high-tech companies. The Marin County Civic Center was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and draws thousands of visitors a year to guided tours of its arch, in 1994, a new county jail facility was embedded into the hillside nearby. Marin Countys natural sites include the Muir Woods redwood forest, the Marin Headlands, Stinson Beach, the Point Reyes National Seashore, the United States oldest cross country running event, the Dipsea Race, takes place annually in Marin County, attracting thousands of athletes. Mountain biking was invented on the slopes of Mount Tamalpais in Marin, According to General Mariano Vallejo, who headed an 1850 committee to name Californias counties, the county was named for Marin, great chief of the tribe Licatiut. Marin had been named Huicmuse until he was baptized as Marino at about age 20, Marin / Marino was born into the Huimen people, a Coast Miwok tribe of Native Americans who inhabited the San Rafael area. Vallejo believed that Chief Marin had waged several fierce battles against the Spanish, starting in 1817, he served as an alcalde at the San Rafael Mission, where he lived from 1817 off and on until his death. The Coast Miwok Indians were hunters and gatherers whose ancestors had occupied the area for thousands of years, about 600 village sites have been identified in the county. The Coast Miwok numbered in the thousands, today, there are few left and even fewer with any knowledge of their Coast Miwok lineage. Efforts are being made so that they are not forgotten, francis Drake and the crew of the Golden Hind was thought to have landed on the Marin coast in 1579 claiming the land as Nova Albion. A bronze plaque inscribed with Drakes claim to the new lands and this so-called Drakes Plate of Brass was revealed as a hoax in 2003. In 1595, Sebastian Cermeno lost his ship, the San Agustin, the Spanish explorer Vizcaíno landed about twenty years after Drake in what is now called Drakes Bay. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 828 square miles. It is the fourth-smallest county in California by land area
6.
California
–
California is the most populous state in the United States and the third most extensive by area. Located on the western coast of the U. S, California is bordered by the other U. S. states of Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona and shares an international border with the Mexican state of Baja California. Los Angeles is Californias most populous city, and the second largest after New York City. The Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nations second- and fifth-most populous urban regions, California also has the nations most populous county, Los Angeles County, and its largest county by area, San Bernardino County. The Central Valley, an agricultural area, dominates the states center. What is now California was first settled by various Native American tribes before being explored by a number of European expeditions during the 16th and 17th centuries, the Spanish Empire then claimed it as part of Alta California in their New Spain colony. The area became a part of Mexico in 1821 following its war for independence. The western portion of Alta California then was organized as the State of California, the California Gold Rush starting in 1848 led to dramatic social and demographic changes, with large-scale emigration from the east and abroad with an accompanying economic boom. If it were a country, California would be the 6th largest economy in the world, fifty-eight percent of the states economy is centered on finance, government, real estate services, technology, and professional, scientific and technical business services. Although it accounts for only 1.5 percent of the states economy, the story of Calafia is recorded in a 1510 work The Adventures of Esplandián, written as a sequel to Amadis de Gaula by Spanish adventure writer Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. The kingdom of Queen Calafia, according to Montalvo, was said to be a land inhabited by griffins and other strange beasts. This conventional wisdom that California was an island, with maps drawn to reflect this belief, shortened forms of the states name include CA, Cal. Calif. and US-CA. Settled by successive waves of arrivals during the last 10,000 years, various estimates of the native population range from 100,000 to 300,000. The Indigenous peoples of California included more than 70 distinct groups of Native Americans, ranging from large, settled populations living on the coast to groups in the interior. California groups also were diverse in their organization with bands, tribes, villages. Trade, intermarriage and military alliances fostered many social and economic relationships among the diverse groups, the first European effort to explore the coast as far north as the Russian River was a Spanish sailing expedition, led by Portuguese captain Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, in 1542. Some 37 years later English explorer Francis Drake also explored and claimed a portion of the California coast in 1579. Spanish traders made unintended visits with the Manila galleons on their trips from the Philippines beginning in 1565
7.
Mountain range
–
A mountain range is a geographic area containing numerous geologically related mountains. A mountain system or system of ranges, sometimes is used to combine several geological features that are geographically related. Mountain ranges are usually segmented by highlands or mountain passes and valleys, individual mountains within the same mountain range do not necessarily have the same geologic structure or petrology. They may be a mix of different orogenic expressions and terranes, for example thrust sheets, uplifted blocks, fold mountains, most geologically young mountain ranges on the Earths land surface are associated with either the Pacific Ring of Fire or the Alpide Belt. The Andes is 7,000 kilometres long and is considered the worlds longest mountain system. The Alpide belt includes Indonesia and southeast Asia, through the Himalaya, the belt also includes other European and Asian mountain ranges. The Himalayas contain the highest mountains in the world, including Mount Everest, mountain ranges outside of these two systems include the Arctic Cordillera, the Urals, the Appalachians, the Scandinavian Mountains, the Altai Mountains and the Hijaz Mountains. If the definition of a range is stretched to include underwater mountains. The mountain systems of the earth are characterized by a tree structure, the sub-range relationship is often expressed as a parent-child relationship. For example, the White Mountains of New Hampshire and the Blue Ridge Mountains are sub-ranges of the Appalachian Mountains, equivalently, the Appalachians are the parent of the White Mountains and Blue Ridge Mountains, and the White Mountains and the Blue Ridge Mountains are children of the Appalachians. The position of mountains influences climate, such as rain or snow, when air masses move up and over mountains, the air cools producing orographic precipitation. As the air descends on the side, it warms again and is drier. Often, a shadow will affect the leeward side of a range. Mountain ranges are constantly subjected to forces which work to tear them down. Erosion is at work while the mountains are being uplifted and long after until the mountains are reduced to low hills, rivers are traditionally believed to be the principle erosive factor on mountain ranges, with their ability of bedrock incision and sediment transport. The rugged topography of a range is the product of erosion. The basins adjacent to a mountain range are filled with sediments which are buried and turned into sedimentary rock. The early Cenozoic uplift of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado provides an example and this mass of rock was removed as the range was actively undergoing uplift
8.
California Coast Ranges
–
The Coast Ranges of California span 400 miles from Del Norte or Humboldt County, California south to Santa Barbara County. The other three coastal California mountain ranges are the Transverse Ranges, Peninsular Ranges and the Klamath Mountains, physiographically, they are a section of the larger Pacific Border province, which in turn are part of the larger Pacific Mountain System physiographic division. UNESCO has included the California Coast Ranges Biosphere Reserve in its Man, the northern end of the California Coast Ranges overlap the southern end of the Klamath Mountains for approximately 80 miles on the west. They extend southward for more than 600 miles to where the coastline turns eastward along the Santa Barbara Channel, here the southern end meets the Los Angeles Transverse Ranges, or Sierras de los Angeles. The rocks themselves that comprise the mountains are of a great variety, most of the rocks were formed during the Tertiary, Cretaceous and Jurassic periods. All of the range has been folded and faulted during several periods, the California Ranges had a high production of mercury following the discovery of gold in the Sierra Nevada. In the Cache Creek Basin, Cenozoic cinnabar deposits near Clear Lake are the northernmost of a group of similar deposits associated with volcanism, during 1877, these deposits hit their peak production of mercury, producing approximately 2,776 metric tons. These abandoned mines are still a source of mine waste runoff in Cache Creek, the Northern Coast Ranges are a section of the California Coast Ranges. They run parallel to the Pacific Coast from the North San Francisco Bay Area to coastal Del Norte County, the Klamath Mountains, including the Siskiyou Mountains sub-range, lie to the north and northeast. The Southern Coast Ranges lie to the south, the Northern Coast Ranges run north-south parallel to the coast. Component ranges within the Northern Coast Ranges include the Mendocino Range of western Mendocino County and the Mayacamas, Sonoma, and Vaca Mountains and they also include the King Range, which meet the sea in the Lost Coast region. The southernmost peak of the Northern Coast Ranges is Mount Tamalpais, the highest point in the Northern Coast Ranges is Mount Linn, at 8,098 ft. The Northern Coast Ranges consist of two parallel belts of mountains, the Outer Northern Coast Ranges lying along the coast. They are separated by a system of valleys. The northern valley portion is drained by the Eel River and its tributaries, a series of short rivers, including the Mattole, Gualala, and Navarro rivers, drain the western slopes of the ranges. The eastern slopes of the drain into the Sacramento Valley. Clear Lake lies in the southeast portion of the range, U. S. Route 101 runs generally north-south in the valleys between the Outer and Inner Northern Coast Ranges. The seaward face of the coastal Outer Northern Coast Ranges is part of the Northern California coastal forests ecoregion, home to forests of Coast Redwood
9.
Topographic map
–
Traditional definitions require a topographic map to show both natural and man-made features. A topographic map is published as a map series, made up of two or more map sheets that combine to form the whole map. A contour line is a line connecting places of equal elevation, however, in the vernacular and day to day world, the representation of relief is popularly held to define the genre, such that even small-scale maps showing relief are commonly called topographic. The study or discipline of topography is a broader field of study. Topographic maps are based on topographical surveys, performed at large scales, these surveys are called topographical in the old sense of topography, showing a variety of elevations and landforms. This is in contrast to older cadastral surveys, which primarily show property, the first multi-sheet topographic map series of an entire country, the Carte géométrique de la France, was completed in 1789. Topographic surveys were prepared by the military to assist in planning for battle, as such, elevation information was of vital importance. As they evolved, topographic map series became a resource in modern nations in planning infrastructure. Excluding borders, each sheet was 44 cm high and up to 66 cm wide, although the project eventually foundered, it left an indexing system that remains in use. TIGER was developed in the 1980s and used in the 1990, digital elevation models were also compiled, initially from topographic maps and stereographic interpretation of aerial photographs and then from satellite photography and radar data. Since all these were government projects funded with taxes and not classified for security reasons. Initial applications were mostly professionalized forms such as innovative surveying instruments, by the mid-1990s, increasingly user-friendly resources such as online mapping in two and three dimensions, integration of GPS with mobile phones and automotive navigation systems appeared. As of 2011, the future of standardized, centrally printed topographical maps is left somewhat in doubt, the various features shown on the map are represented by conventional signs or symbols. For example, colors can be used to indicate a classification of roads and these signs are usually explained in the margin of the map, or on a separately published characteristic sheet. Topographic maps are commonly called contour maps or topo maps. In the United States, where the national series is organized by a strict 7. 5-minute grid. Topographic maps conventionally show topography, or land contours, by means of contour lines, contour lines are curves that connect contiguous points of the same altitude. In other words, every point on the line of 100 m elevation is 100 m above mean sea level
10.
United States Geological Survey
–
The United States Geological Survey is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its resources. The organization has four science disciplines, concerning biology, geography, geology. The USGS is a research organization with no regulatory responsibility. The USGS is a bureau of the United States Department of the Interior, the USGS employs approximately 8,670 people and is headquartered in Reston, Virginia. The USGS also has major offices near Lakewood, Colorado, at the Denver Federal Center, the current motto of the USGS, in use since August 1997, is science for a changing world. The agencys previous slogan, adopted on the occasion of its anniversary, was Earth Science in the Public Service. Prompted by a report from the National Academy of Sciences, the USGS was created, by a last-minute amendment and it was charged with the classification of the public lands, and examination of the geological structure, mineral resources, and products of the national domain. This task was driven by the need to inventory the vast lands added to the United States by the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the legislation also provided that the Hayden, Powell, and Wheeler surveys be discontinued as of June 30,1879. Clarence King, the first director of USGS, assembled the new organization from disparate regional survey agencies, after a short tenure, King was succeeded in the directors chair by John Wesley Powell. Administratively, it is divided into a Headquarters unit and six Regional Units, Other specific programs include, Earthquake Hazards Program monitors earthquake activity worldwide. The National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colorado on the campus of the Colorado School of Mines detects the location, the USGS also runs or supports several regional monitoring networks in the United States under the umbrella of the Advanced National Seismic System. The USGS informs authorities, emergency responders, the media, and it also maintains long-term archives of earthquake data for scientific and engineering research. It also conducts and supports research on long-term seismic hazards, USGS has released the UCERF California earthquake forecast. The USGS National Geomagnetism Program monitors the magnetic field at magnetic observatories and distributes magnetometer data in real time, the USGS operates the streamgaging network for the United States, with over 7400 streamgages. Real-time streamflow data are available online, since 1962, the Astrogeology Research Program has been involved in global, lunar, and planetary exploration and mapping. USGS operates a number of related programs, notably the National Streamflow Information Program. USGS Water data is available from their National Water Information System database
11.
First ascent
–
In climbing, a first ascent is the first successful, documented attainment of the top of a mountain, or the first to follow a particular climbing route. First ascents are notable because they entail genuine exploration, with risks, challenges. The person who performs the first ascent is called the first ascensionist, the details of the first ascents of even many prominent mountains are scanty or unknown, sometimes the only evidence of prior summiting is a cairn, artifacts, or inscriptions at the top. Today, first ascents are generally recorded and usually mentioned in guidebooks. Overwhelmingly, the idea of a first ascent is a one, especially in places such as Africa. There may be little or no evidence or documentation about the climbing activities of indigenous peoples living near the mountain. The term is used when referring to ascents made using a specific technique or taking a specific route, such as via the North Face. In rock climbing, some of the earlier first ascents, particularly for difficult routes, involved a mix of free, as a result, purist free climbers have developed the designation first free ascent to acknowledge ascents intentionally made more challenging by using equipment for protection only. Some other first ascents could be recorded for particular mountains or routes, one is the First Winter Ascent, which is, as the name easily suggests, the first ascent made during winter season. This is most important where the climate of winter is a factor in increasing the difficulty grade of the route, in the Northern Hemisphere conventional winter ascents are made between December 21 and March 21 and are not related to the conditions. Also in the Himalayan area, although Nepal and Chinas winter season permits start on December 1, another is the First Solo Ascent, which is the first ascent made by a single climber. This is most important on high-level rock climbing, when the climber has to provide his own security or even when climbing without any protection at all, another type of ascent, also known as FFA is the first female ascent. The term last ascent has been used to refer to an ascent of a mountain or face that has changed to such an extent – often because of rockfall – that the route no longer exists. It can also be used facetiously to refer to a climb that is so unpleasant or unaesthetic that no one would willingly repeat the first ascent partys ordeal. List of first ascents List of first ascents in the Alps List of first ascents in the Himalaya Glossary of climbing terms Alpinist Magazine – Peter Mortimers First Ascent, Issue 17
12.
Jacob P. Leese
–
Jacob Primer Leese was a San Francisco pioneer, the second permanent resident of Yerba Buena, and builder of the first permanent house there. He married General Vallejo’s sister, moved to Sonoma, and acquired land holdings. Jacob Primer Leese was born in Ohio and became active in the Santa Fe, Leese first came to California from New Mexico in 1833, but did not remain. He returned in July 1834, settled in Los Angeles and went into partnership with Hugo Reid, two years later he formed a partnership with two established Monterey merchants, William S. Hinckley and Nathan Spear, for the purpose of starting a store in Yerba Buena. In 1836, he was the second permanent settler of the new town established by William A. Richardson in 1835, Leese built for his residence, the first substantial structure. It was preceded only by a tent house put up by Richardson the year before, before Richardson also built a permanent house in 1836, in 1837 Leese married María Rosalia Vallejo, sister of General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo. The partnership with Hinckley and Spear ended in 1838, Leese continued the business alone until 1841, when he sold out to the Hudsons Bay Company and transferred his business and residence to Sonoma. In 1841 he was granted Rancho Huichica in Napa County, Leese moved to Sonoma in 1841, where he was alcalde in 1844. During the Bear Flag Revolt of 1846, Leese was taken prisoner with Vallejo and he figured somewhat conspicuously in the historic Bear Flag revolt as interpreter for the contending force. In 1846 he was associated with Thomas O. Larkin in executing his plans of annexation to the United States, Leese moved to Monterey in 1849. He and Larkin traded real estate, Larkin purchased an interest in Rancho Huichica. In 1852, Leese bought Rancho Sausal in Monterey County, Salinas is located on Rancho Sausal land, and Leese is considered to be one of the founders of Salinas, although he left the area in 1865 and did not return until 1885. In 1863 he, with others, worked on obtaining a concession from the Mexican government for two thirds of Baja California lands for colonization purposes, to work on the project, he moved to New York in 1865, leaving his family in Monterey. Leese returned to San Francisco in 1885 after an absence of 20 years, Jacob P. Leese died on February 1,1892, in San Francisco. Leese Street in San Francisco is named for him and his son, Jacob R. Leese, was born in 1839, served as Monterey County Clerk and as a deputy sheriff. He was also postmaster of Salinas, and later, postmaster of Monterey, mr. Leese was also given credit for first ascent of Mt. Tamalpais, which should more probably be titled as first recorded ascent by an American of European extraction. Jacob P. Leese at Find a Grave
13.
Coast Miwok
–
The Coast Miwok are an indigenous people that was the second largest group of Miwok people. The Coast Miwok inhabited the area of modern Marin County and southern Sonoma County in Northern California, from the Golden Gate north to Duncans Point. The Coast Miwok included the Bodega Bay Miwok from authenticated Miwok villages around Bodega Bay, the Coast Miwok spoke their own Coast Miwok language in the Utian linguistic group. They lived by hunting and gathering, and lived in small bands without centralized political authority, in the springtime they would head to the coasts to hunt salmon and other seafood, including seaweed. When hunting deer, Miwok hunters traditionally used Brewers angelica, Angelica breweri to eliminate their own scent, Miwok did not typically hunt bears. Yerba buena tea leaf were used medicinally, tattooing was a traditional practice among Coast Miwok, and they burned poison-oak for a pigment. Their traditional houses, called kotcha were constructed with slabs of tule grass or redwood bark in a cone-shaped form, Miwok people are skilled at basketry. A recreated Coast Miwok village called Kule Loklo is located at the Point Reyes National Seashore, the Coast Miwok language is no longer natively spoken, but the Bodega dialect is documented in Callaghan. The original Coast Miwok people world view included animism, and one form of this took was the Kuksu religion that was evident in Central and Northern California. Kuksu was shared with other ethnic groups of Central California, such as their neighbors the Pomo, also Maidu, Ohlone, Esselen. However Kroeber observed less specialized cosmogony in the Miwok, which he termed one of the southern Kuksu-dancing groups, in comparison to the Maidu, Coast Miwok mythology and narratives were similar to those of other natives of Central and Northern California. The Coast Miwok believed in animal and human spirits, and saw the animal spirits as their ancestors, coyote was seen as their ancestor and creator god. In their case the earth began with land formed out of the Pacific Ocean, in their myths, legends, tales, and histories, the Coast Miwok participated in the general cultural pattern of Central California. The authenticated Coast Miwok villages are, On Bodega Bay, Helapattai, Hime-takala, Ho-takala, Suwutenne, Tiwut-huya, also in this vicinity, Awachi, Amayelle, Kennekono. On Tomales Bay, Echa-kolum, Shotommo-wi, Sakloki, Utumia At the present-day City of Petaluma, Etem, also in this vicinity, Tuchayelin, Likatiut, Meleya, Susuli, Tulme, Wotoki. At the present-day City of San Rafael, Awani-wi, at the present-day City of Sonoma, Huchi. Also in this vicinity, Temblek, Tuli, Wugilwa, at the present-day City of Cotati, Kotati, Lumen-takala. At the present-day town of Nicasio, Echa-tamal, at the present-day town of Olema, Olema-loke
14.
Mountain
–
A mountain is a large landform that stretches above the surrounding land in a limited area, usually in the form of a peak. A mountain is steeper than a hill. Mountains are formed through tectonic forces or volcanism and these forces can locally raise the surface of the earth. Mountains erode slowly through the action of rivers, weather conditions, a few mountains are isolated summits, but most occur in huge mountain ranges. High elevations on mountains produce colder climates than at sea level and these colder climates strongly affect the ecosystems of mountains, different elevations have different plants and animals. Because of the less hospitable terrain and climate, mountains tend to be used less for agriculture and more for resource extraction and recreation, the highest mountain on Earth is Mount Everest in the Himalayas of Asia, whose summit is 8,850 m above mean sea level. The highest known mountain on any planet in the Solar System is Olympus Mons on Mars at 21,171 m, there is no universally accepted definition of a mountain. Elevation, volume, relief, steepness, spacing and continuity have been used as criteria for defining a mountain, whether a landform is called a mountain may depend on local usage. The highest point in San Francisco, California, is called Mount Davidson, notwithstanding its height of 300 m, similarly, Mount Scott outside Lawton, Oklahoma is only 251 m from its base to its highest point. Whittows Dictionary of Physical Geography states Some authorities regard eminences above 600 metres as mountains, in addition, some definitions also include a topographical prominence requirement, typically 100 or 500 feet. For a while, the US defined a mountain as being 1,000 feet or taller, any similar landform lower than this height was considered a hill. However, today, the United States Geological Survey concludes that these terms do not have technical definitions in the US, using these definitions, mountains cover 33% of Eurasia, 19% of South America, 24% of North America, and 14% of Africa. As a whole, 24% of the Earths land mass is mountainous, there are three main types of mountains, volcanic, fold, and block. All three types are formed from plate tectonics, when portions of the Earths crust move, crumple, compressional forces, isostatic uplift and intrusion of igneous matter forces surface rock upward, creating a landform higher than the surrounding features. The height of the feature makes it either a hill or, if higher and steeper, major mountains tend to occur in long linear arcs, indicating tectonic plate boundaries and activity. Volcanoes are formed when a plate is pushed below another plate, at a depth of around 100 km, melting occurs in rock above the slab, and forms magma that reaches the surface. When the magma reaches the surface, it builds a volcanic mountain. Examples of volcanoes include Mount Fuji in Japan and Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines, the magma does not have to reach the surface in order to create a mountain, magma that solidifies below ground can still form dome mountains, such as Navajo Mountain in the US
15.
Mount Tamalpais State Park
–
Mount Tamalpais State Park is a California state park, located in Marin County, California. The primary feature of the park is the 2,571 feet Mount Tamalpais, the park contains mostly redwood and oak forests. The mountain itself covers around 25,000 acres, there are about 60 miles of hiking trails, which are connected to a larger,200 miles network of trails in neighboring public lands. The park received 564,000 visitors in as of 2003, Muir Woods National Monument is surrounded by the state park. From the peak of the mountain, visitors can see up to 25 miles, in a view that encompasses San Francisco, most of the North and East Bay, occasionally, the Sierra Nevada are visible,125 miles away. The Mountain Theater was constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s, the natural-stone amphitheater seats 3,750 people and features the Mountain Play each spring, produced every year since 1913. In the summer, monthly astronomy programs are held in the theater, - http, //www. parks. ca. gov/. page_id=471 Mount Tamalpais and Muir Woods Railway Official California State Parks department site describing the park
16.
Drainage basin
–
A drainage basin or catchment area is any area of land where precipitation collects and drains off into a common outlet, such as into a river, bay, or other body of water. Drainage basins connect into other drainage basins at elevations in a hierarchical pattern, with smaller sub-drainage basins. Other terms used to describe drainage basins are catchment, catchment basin, drainage area, river basin and water basin. In closed drainage basins the water converges to a point inside the basin, known as a sink, which may be a permanent lake. The drainage basin acts as a funnel by collecting all the water within the covered by the basin. Each drainage basin is separated topographically from adjacent basins by a perimeter, drainage basins are similar but not identical to hydrologic units, which are drainage areas delineated so as to nest into a multi-level hierarchical drainage system. Hydrologic units are defined to allow multiple inlets, outlets, or sinks, in a strict sense, all drainage basins are hydrologic units but not all hydrologic units are drainage basins. Drainage basins of the oceans and seas of the world. Grey areas are endorheic basins that do not drain to the oceans, the following is a list of the major ocean basins, About 48. 7% of the worlds land drains to the Atlantic Ocean. The two major mediterranean seas of the world also flow to the Atlantic, The Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico basin includes most of the U. S. The Mediterranean Sea basin includes much of North Africa, east-central Africa, Southern, Central, and Eastern Europe, Turkey, and the areas of Israel, Lebanon. Just over 13% of the land in the world drains to the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Oceans drainage basin also comprises about 13% of Earths land. It drains the eastern coast of Africa, the coasts of the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, the Indian subcontinent, Burma, antarctica comprises approximately eight percent of the Earths land. The five largest river basins, from largest to smallest, are the basins of the Amazon, the Río de la Plata, the Congo, the Nile, and the Mississippi. The three rivers that drain the most water, from most to least, are the Amazon, Ganga, endorheic drainage basins are inland basins that do not drain to an ocean. Around 18% of all land drains to endorheic lakes or seas or sinks, the largest of these consists of much of the interior of Asia, which drains into the Caspian Sea, the Aral Sea, and numerous smaller lakes. Some of these, such as the Great Basin, are not single drainage basins but collections of separate, in endorheic bodies of standing water where evaporation is the primary means of water loss, the water is typically more saline than the oceans. An extreme example of this is the Dead Sea, drainage basins have been historically important for determining territorial boundaries, particularly in regions where trade by water has been important
17.
National Park Service
–
It was created on August 25,1916, by Congress through the National Park Service Organic Act and is an agency of the United States Department of the Interior. As of 2014, the NPS employs 21,651 employees who oversee 417 units, the National Park Service celebrated its centennial in 2016. National parks and national monuments in the United States were originally individually managed under the auspices of the Department of the Interior, the movement for an independent agency to oversee these federal lands was spearheaded by business magnate and conservationist Stephen Mather, as well as J. Horace McFarland. With the help of journalist Robert Sterling Yard, Mather ran a publicity campaign for the Department of the Interior and they wrote numerous articles that praised the scenic and historic qualities of the parks and their possibilities for educational, inspirational, and recreational benefits. This campaign resulted in the creation of a National Park Service, Mather became the first director of the newly formed NPS. On March 3,1933, President Herbert Hoover signed the Reorganization Act of 1933, the act would allow the President to reorganize the executive branch of the United States government. It wasnt until later that summer when the new President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President Roosevelt agreed and issued two Executive orders to make it happen. In 1951, Conrad Wirth became director of the National Park Service, the demand for parks after the end of the World War II had left the parks overburdened with demands that could not be met. In 1952, with the support of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, he began Mission 66, New parks were added to preserve unique resources and existing park facilities were upgraded and expanded. In 1966, as the Park Service turned 50 years old, emphasis began to turn from just saving great and wonderful scenery, Director George Hartzog began the process with the creation of the National Lakeshores and then National Recreation Areas. Since its inception in 1916, the National Park Service has managed each of the United States national parks, Yellowstone National Park was the first national park in the United States. In 1872, there was no government to manage it. Yosemite National Park began as a park, the land for the park was donated by the federal government to the state of California in 1864 for perpetual conservation. Yosemite was later returned to federal ownership, at first, each national park was managed independently, with varying degrees of success. In Yellowstone, the staff was replaced by the U. S. Army in 1886. Due to the irregularities in managing these national treasures, Stephen Mather petitioned the government to improve the situation. In response, Secretary of the Interior Franklin K. Lane challenged him to lobby for creating a new agency, Mather was successful with the ratification of the National Park Service Organic Act in 1916. Later, the agency was given authority over other protected areas, the National Park System includes all properties managed by the National Park Service
18.
Muir Woods National Monument
–
Muir Woods National Monument is a unit of the National Park Service on Mount Tamalpais near the Pacific coast, in southwestern Marin County, California. It is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, and is 12 miles north of San Francisco and it protects 554 acres, of which 240 acres are old growth coast redwood forests, one of a few such stands remaining in the San Francisco Bay Area. The Muir Woods National Monument is an old-growth coastal redwood forest, due to its proximity to the Pacific Ocean, the forest is regularly shrouded in a coastal marine layer fog, contributing to a wet environment that encourages vigorous plant growth. The fog is also vital for the growth of the redwoods as they use moisture from the fog during droughty seasons, the monument is cool and moist year round with average daytime temperatures between 40 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Rainfall is heavy during the winter and summers are almost completely dry with the exception of fog drip caused by the fog passing through the trees. Annual precipitation in the ranges from 39.4 inches in the lower valley to 47.2 inches higher up in the mountain slopes. The redwoods grow on brown humus-rich loam which may be gravelly and this soil has been assigned to the Centissima series, which is always found on sloping ground. It is well drained, moderately deep, and slightly to moderately acidic and it has developed from a mélange in the Franciscan Formation. More open areas of the park have shallow gravelly loam of the Barnabe series, one hundred and fifty million years ago ancestors of redwood and sequoia trees grew throughout the United States. Today, the Sequoia sempervirens can be only in a narrow, cool coastal belt from Monterey, California. Before the logging industry came to California, there were an estimated 2 million acres of old growth forest containing redwoods growing in a strip along the coast. By the early 20th century, most of these forests had been cut down, just north of the San Francisco Bay, one valley named Redwood Canyon remained uncut, mainly due to its relative inaccessibility. He and his wife, Elizabeth Thacher Kent, purchased 611 acres of land from the Tamalpais Land and Water Company for $45,000 with the goal of protecting the redwoods and the mountain above them. In 1907, a company in nearby Sausalito planned to dam Redwood Creek. When Kent objected to the plan, the company threatened to use eminent domain. Kent sidestepped the water companys plot by donating 295 acres of the redwood forest to the federal government, on January 9,1908, President Theodore Roosevelt declared the land a National Monument, the first to be created from land donated by a private individual. President Roosevelt agreed, writing back, MY DEAR MR, and, responding to some photographs of Muir Woods that Mr. Kent had sent him, Those are awfully good photos. Kent and Muir had become friends over shared views of wilderness preservation, in December 1928, the Kent Memorial was erected at the Kent Tree in Fern Canyon
19.
Marin Hills
–
The Marin Hills are a series of steep high ridges and peaks in southern Marin County. They are a part of the long Pacific Coast Ranges mountain system, the centerpoint of these hills is the 2,571 foot Mount Tamalpais near Mill Valley. Parts of the hills are protected for their beauty by Mount Tamalpais State Park. The many ridges and peaks of these form a dramatic backdrop to the Golden Gate Bridge, the San Francisco skyline. Since these hills lie near the Pacific Ocean, they force much of the moisture out of the air. Due to this orographic rain effect, the Marin Municipal Water District has constructed several dams, the high rainfall also makes these hills conducive for Coast redwood and Douglas-fir. However, an effect is that the eastern hills, where most of Marins population lives, are drier and hotter due to the shielding of marine breezes. The low hills to the east support only California oak woodlands, chaparral and this stand is now the Muir Woods National Monument, part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The parklands of these hills are popular with tourists and locals alike seeking to escape the urban areas of the Bay Area, the Black-tailed Deer is the most common large mammal of the Marin Hills
20.
San Francisco
–
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the cultural, commercial, and financial center of Northern California. It is the birthplace of the United Nations, the California Gold Rush of 1849 brought rapid growth, making it the largest city on the West Coast at the time. San Francisco became a consolidated city-county in 1856, after three-quarters of the city was destroyed by the 1906 earthquake and fire, San Francisco was quickly rebuilt, hosting the Panama-Pacific International Exposition nine years later. In World War II, San Francisco was a port of embarkation for service members shipping out to the Pacific Theater. Politically, the city votes strongly along liberal Democratic Party lines, San Francisco is also the headquarters of five major banking institutions and various other companies such as Levi Strauss & Co. Dolby, Airbnb, Weebly, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Yelp, Pinterest, Twitter, Uber, Lyft, Mozilla, Wikimedia Foundation, as of 2016, San Francisco is ranked high on world liveability rankings. The earliest archaeological evidence of habitation of the territory of the city of San Francisco dates to 3000 BC. Upon independence from Spain in 1821, the became part of Mexico. Under Mexican rule, the system gradually ended, and its lands became privatized. In 1835, Englishman William Richardson erected the first independent homestead, together with Alcalde Francisco de Haro, he laid out a street plan for the expanded settlement, and the town, named Yerba Buena, began to attract American settlers. Commodore John D. Sloat claimed California for the United States on July 7,1846, during the Mexican–American War, montgomery arrived to claim Yerba Buena two days later. Yerba Buena was renamed San Francisco on January 30 of the next year, despite its attractive location as a port and naval base, San Francisco was still a small settlement with inhospitable geography. The California Gold Rush brought a flood of treasure seekers, with their sourdough bread in tow, prospectors accumulated in San Francisco over rival Benicia, raising the population from 1,000 in 1848 to 25,000 by December 1849. The promise of fabulous riches was so strong that crews on arriving vessels deserted and rushed off to the gold fields, leaving behind a forest of masts in San Francisco harbor. Some of these approximately 500 abandoned ships were used at times as storeships, saloons and hotels, many were left to rot, by 1851 the harbor was extended out into the bay by wharves while buildings were erected on piles among the ships. By 1870 Yerba Buena Cove had been filled to create new land, buried ships are occasionally exposed when foundations are dug for new buildings. California was quickly granted statehood in 1850 and the U. S. military built Fort Point at the Golden Gate, silver discoveries, including the Comstock Lode in Nevada in 1859, further drove rapid population growth. With hordes of fortune seekers streaming through the city, lawlessness was common, and the Barbary Coast section of town gained notoriety as a haven for criminals, prostitution, entrepreneurs sought to capitalize on the wealth generated by the Gold Rush
21.
East Bay (San Francisco Bay Area)
–
The eastern region of the San Francisco Bay Area, commonly referred to as the East Bay, includes cities along the eastern shores of the San Francisco Bay and San Pablo Bay. The region has grown to include inland communities in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties, with a population of roughly 2.5 million in 2010, it is the most populous subregion in the Bay Area. Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay and the third largest in the Bay Area, the city serves as a major transportation hub for the U. S. West Coast, and its port is the largest in Northern California, increased population has led to the growth of such large edge cities as Berkeley, Hayward, Concord and Fremont. The Transcontinental Railroad was completed in 1869 with its terminus at the newly constructed Oakland Long Wharf. Today the Port of Oakland is the Bay Areas largest port, in 1868, the University of California was formed from the private College of California and a new campus was built in what would become Berkeley. The 1906 San Francisco earthquake saw a number of refugees flee to the relatively undamaged East Bay. As the East Bay grew, the push to connect it with a permanent link than ferry service resulted in the completion of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge in 1936. The Bay Area saw further growth in the decades following World War II, the 1937 completion of the Caldecott Tunnel through the Berkeley Hills fueled growth further east, where there was undeveloped land. Cities in the Diablo Valley, including Concord and Walnut Creek, the addition of the BART commuter rail system in 1972 further encouraged development in increasingly far-flung regions of the East Bay. Today, the valleys east of the Berkeley Hills contain large affluent suburban communities such as Walnut Creek, San Ramon, the East Bay is not a formally defined region, aside from its being described as a region inclusive of Alameda and Contra Costa counties. As development moves generally eastward, new areas are described as being part of the East Bay, beyond the borders of Alameda County, the large population of Tracy is connected as a bedroom community housing commuters traveling to or through the East Bay. Except for some hills and ridges which exist as parklands or undeveloped land, and some farmland in eastern Contra Costa and Alameda Counties, the East Bay is highly urbanized. The East Bay shoreline is a corridor with several cities exceeding 100,000 residents, including Oakland, Hayward, Fremont, Richmond. In the inland valleys on the east side of the Berkeley Hills, the land is developed, particularly on the eastern fringe of Contra Costa county. In the inland valleys, the density is less and the cities smaller. The only cities exceeding 100,000 residents in the valleys are Antioch. The free East Bay Monthly has been published since 1970, in the early years of the evolution of USA Today, during the early 1980s, they operated regional newspapers, with the regions paper entitled East Bay Today
22.
Golden Gate National Recreation Area
–
The Golden Gate National Recreation Area is a U. S. National Recreation Area protecting 80,002 acres of ecologically and historically significant landscapes surrounding the San Francisco Bay Area. Much of the park is land used by the United States Army. GGNRA is managed by the National Park Service and is one of the most visited units of the National Park system in the United States, with more than 15 million visitors a year. It is also one of the largest urban parks in the world, the park is not one continuous locale, but rather a collection of areas that stretch from southern San Mateo County to northern Marin County, and includes several areas of San Francisco. The park is as diverse as it is expansive, it contains famous tourist attractions such as Muir Woods National Monument, Alcatraz, the park was created thanks to the cooperative legislative efforts of cosponsors Congressman William S. Mailliard and Congressman Phillip Burton. In 1972, President Richard Nixon signed into law An Act to Establish the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, the bill allocated $120 million for land acquisition and development. The National Park Service first purchased Alcatraz and Fort Mason from the U. S. Army, the Nature Conservancy then transferred the land to the GGNRA. These properties formed the basis for the park. Throughout the next 30 years, the National Park service acquired land and historic sites from the U. S. Army, private landowners and corporations, incorporating them into the GGNRA. Many decommissioned Army bases and fortifications were incorporated into the park, including Fort Funston, four Nike missile sites, The Presidio, the latest acquisition by the National Park Service is Mori Point, a small parcel of land on the Pacifica coast. In 1988, UNESCO designated the GGNRA and 12 adjacent protected areas the Golden Gate Biosphere Reserve, the property, located south of Pacifica and surrounding the communities of Moss Beach and Montara, is home to many diverse plant and animal species. The bill passed in the Senate, but did not pass the House of Representatives, Fort Baker - former Army post located on the northern side of the Golden Gate Headlands Center for the Arts - an artist residency program set in renovated military buildings in the Marin Headlands. Nike Missile Site SF-88 - a decommissioned Army surface-to-air missile site located near Fort Barry, located at the southwestern corner of the Presidio Battery Chamberlin - one of the last remaining coastal defense disappearing guns on the U. S. Trails lead across the ridge and to Sharp Park beach, the site includes recently restored wetlands and a pond, protecting endangered San Francisco garter snake and red-legged frog habitat. Rancho Corral de Tierra - the GGNRAs newest park, Golden Gate National Recreation Area Scenery Video, a video showing the scenery observed from the GGNRA, including footage from Lands End
23.
Point Reyes National Seashore
–
Point Reyes National Seashore is a 71, 028-acre park preserve located on the Point Reyes Peninsula in Marin County, California. As a national seashore, it is maintained by the US National Park Service as an important nature preserve, some existing agricultural uses are allowed to continue within the park. All of the beaches were listed as the cleanest in the state in 2010. The fact that the peninsula is on a different tectonic plate than the east shore of Tomales Bay produces a difference in soils and therefore to some extent a noticeable difference in vegetation. The even smaller town of Olema, about 3 miles south of Point Reyes Station, serves as the gateway to the Seashore and its visitor center, the peninsula includes wild coastal beaches and headlands, estuaries, and uplands. The Seashore also administers the parts of the Golden Gate National Recreation area, such as the Olema Valley, the northernmost part of the peninsula is maintained as a reserve for Tule Elk, which are readily seen there. The preserve is very rich in raptors and shorebirds. The Point Reyes Lighthouse attracts whale-watchers looking for the Gray Whale migrating south in mid-January, the Point Reyes Lifeboat Station is a National Historic Landmark. It is the last remaining example of a rail launched lifeboat station that was common on the Pacific coast and this encompasses 5,965 acres along the coast of Drakes Bay. Kule Loklo, a recreated Coast Miwok village, is a walk from the visitor center. The Point Reyes National Seashore attracts 2.5 million visitors annually, hostelling International USA maintains a 45-bed youth hostel at the Seashore. Point Reyes National Seashore Association, formed in 1964, collaborates with the Seashore on maintenance, restoration, like underwater parks, these marine protected areas help conserve ocean wildlife and marine ecosystems. A large shellfish farm raising Japanese oysters, Crassostrea gigas, was located in Drakes Estero until, under court order, Court appeals to keep the operation in place were dropped in December,2014. The farm was purchased by the National Park Service in 1972, a federal law enacted in 2009 authorized, but did not require, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to renew the permit. The NPS and conservation groups viewed the farm as an inappropriate and environmentally-insensitive use of the estero, the farms supporters argued that it was not ecologically harmful and was important to the local economy. Salazar visited the farm the previous week and later phoned the farms owner to give him the news. The oyster farm closure was challenged in U. S. District Court on January 25,2013, the challenge was rejected by a federal court judge, who ruled that the law gave Salazar unfettered discretion to approve or deny a renewal of the permit. The California Coastal Commission voted on February 7,2013 to unanimously approve cease and desist, an attempt to have the appeals court rehear the case was rejected on January 14,2014 and a petition to the United States Supreme Court was denied on June 30,2014
24.
Mill Valley, California
–
Mill Valley is a city in Marin County, California, United States, located about 14 miles north of San Francisco via the Golden Gate Bridge. The population was 13,903 at the 2010 census, Mill Valley is located on the western and northern shores of Richardson Bay, and the eastern slopes of Mount Tamalpais. Beyond the flat area and marshlands, it occupies narrow wooded canyons, mostly of second-growth redwoods. The Mill Valley 94941 ZIP code also includes the adjacent unincorporated communities, Almonte, Alto, Homestead Valley, Tamalpais Valley. The Muir Woods National Monument is also located just outside the city limits, the first people known to inhabit Marin County, the Coast Miwok, arrived approximately 6,000 years ago. The territory of the Coast Miwok included all of Marin County, north to Bodega Bay, more than 600 village sites have been identified, including 14 sites in the Mill Valley area. Nearby archaeological discoveries include the rock carvings and grinding sites on Ring Mountain, the pre-Missionization population of the Coast Miwok is estimated to be between 1,500 to 2,000. The pre-Missionization population of the Coast Miwok may have been as high as 5000, cook speculated that by 1848 their population had decreased to 300, and down to 60 by 1880. The village site was first identified by Nels Nelson in 1907 and his excavation revealed tools, burials, at that time, the mound was 20 feet high. Another famous Mill Valley site was in the Manzanita area underneath the Fireside Inn located near the intersection of U. S. Route 101, built in 1916, the blind pig roadhouse was outside the dry limits of the city itself. Shell mounds have been discovered in areas by streams and along Richardson Bay, including in the Strawberry and they called themselves the Huimen people. At the mission they were taught the Catholic religion, lost their freedom, as a result of the high death rate at Mission Dolores it was decided to build a new Mission San Rafael, built in 1817. Over 200 surviving Coast Miwok were taken there from Mission Dolores and Mission San Jose, by 1834 the Mission era had ended and California was under the control of the Mexican government. They took Miwok ancestral lands, divided them and gave them to Mexican soldiers or relatives who had connections with the Mexican governor, the huge tracts of land, called ranchos by the Mexican settlers, or Californios, soon covered the area. The Miwoks who had not died or fled were often employed under a state of indentured servitude to the California land grant owners. In 1834, the governor of Alta California José Figueroa awarded to John T. Reed the first land grant in Marin, just west of that, Rancho Saucelito was transferred to William A. Richardson in 1838 after being originally awarded to Nicolas Galindo in 1835. John Reed married Hilarita Sanchez, the daughter of a commandante in the San Francisco Presidio, William Richardson also married a well-connected woman, both he and Reed were originally from Europe. Richardsons name was applied to Richardson Bay, an arm of the San Francisco Bay that brushes up against the eastern edge of Mill Valley
25.
Stinson Beach, California
–
Stinson Beach is a census-designated place in Marin County, California, on the west coast of the United States. Stinson Beach is located 2.5 miles east-southeast of Bolinas, the population of the Stinson Beach CDP was 632 at the 2010 census. Stinson Beach is about a 35-minute drive from the Golden Gate Bridge on Californias Highway 1 and it is near important attractions such as Muir Woods National Monument, Muir Beach, and Mount Tamalpais. It has a beach, where the cold water promotes fog throughout the year. Stinson Beach is a day trip for people in the San Francisco Bay Area. Although most visitors arrive by car, Stinson Beach is linked to Marin City by a daily bus service. The beach is one of the cleanest in the state, and sandy, Nathan H. Stinson bought land at the site in 1866. The Mt. Tamalpais & Muir Woods Railway opened in 1896, visitors could ride the train to West Point Inn and then hike or arrange a stagecoach to take them to the beach. In 1906, refugees from the San Francisco earthquake came to the area, Stinson Beach became the official town name in 1916, in honor of the largest landowners, Rose and Nathan Stinson. The first post office opened in 1916, in 1939, the beach was sold to Marin County. It was transferred to the State of California in 1950, and was transferred to the National Park Service in 1977. Stinson Beach is the home for GDTSToo, Inc. the mail order company for the Fare Thee Well Tour. Stinson Beach is located at 37°54′02″N 122°38′40″W, between Bolinas and Muir Beach, the CDP has a total area of 1.46 square miles, of which,1.44 square miles of it is land and 0.02 square miles of it is water. The 2010 United States Census reported that Stinson Beach had a population of 632, the population density was 433.1 people per square mile. The racial makeup of Stinson Beach was 582 White,3 African American,8 Native American,14 Asian,1 Pacific Islander,9 from other races, hispanic or Latino of any race were 33 persons. The Census reported that 629 people lived in households,3 lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, there were 26 unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 8 same-sex married couples or partnerships. 147 households were made up of individuals and 45 had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older, the average household size was 1.86. There were 158 families, the family size was 2.54
26.
Kentfield, California
–
Kentfield is a census-designated place in Marin County, California, United States, just north of San Francisco. Kentfield is located on the Northwestern Pacific Railroad 2 miles southwest of downtown San Rafael, the population was 6,485 at the 2010 census. The ZIP codes are 94904 for street addresses, and 94914 for PO boxes, Kentfield is located on the eastern slopes of Mount Tamalpais. According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has an area of 3.0 square miles. The National Weather Service reports that Kentfields warmest months are July and August, with a high of 84 °F. December and January are the coolest months with a high of 56 °F. The highest temperature on record was 112 °F on July 11,1913, the lowest temperature recorded was 17 °F on December 31,1915. Annually, there are an average of 28.4 days with highs of 90°F or higher and 3.2 days with highs of 100°F or more, freezing temperatures occur an average of 4.8 days each year. Kentfield has one of the highest average rainfalls of any community in the San Francisco Bay Area, the most rainfall in a month was 26.95 inches in February 1986 and the most in 24 hours was 11.56 inches on January 21,1967. Although heavy snow falls on nearby Mount Tamalpais, snow is rare in Kentfield, however, traces were reported on January 28. In 1857, James Ross bought Rancho Punta de Quentin, Ross, a Scot who had arrived in San Francisco from Australia in 1848 and made his fortune in the wholesale liquor business, set up a trading post called Ross Landing. Steamers would come up Corte Madera Creek to the landing there, albert Emmett Kent bought the land from the Ross estate in 1871. Kent built an estate called Tamalpais, later applied to the settlement by the railroad, albert Emmett Kents son, William Kent, was a US Congressman, philanthropist and founder of Muir Woods. The name of the town was changed to Kent in the 1890s, the 2010 United States Census reported that Kentfield had a population of 6,485. The population density was 2,132.6 people per square mile. The racial makeup of Kentfield was 5,908 White,35 African American,10 Native American,224 Asian,7 Pacific Islander,95 from other races, Hispanic or Latino of any race were 299 persons. The Census reported that 6,463 people lived in households,13 lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, there were 83 unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 25 same-sex married couples or partnerships. 600 households were made up of individuals and 285 had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older, the average household size was 2.51
27.
Single-family detached home
–
A single-family detached home, also called a single-detached dwelling, single-family residence or separate house is a free-standing residential building. It is defined in opposition to a residential dwelling. The definition of this type of house may vary between legal jurisdictions or statistical agencies and it does exclude, however, any short-term accommodation, large-scale rental accommodation, or condominia. Garages can also be found on most lots, houses with an attached front entry garage that is closer to the street than any other part of the house is often derisively called a snout house. It is important to note that In the United States, that the term Single Family Residence specifically refers to the not the occupants. Historically, Homeowners Associations have used the term to limit non-nuclear families, presently, these types of HOA policies are subject to Fair Housing Lawsuits, heavy penalties, and possibly personal liability for board members. Terms corresponding to single-family detached home in common use are single-family home, single-detached dwelling, detached house, in the United Kingdom, the term single-family home is almost unknown, except through Internet exposure to U. S. media. In pre-industrial societies most people live in multi-family dwelling for most of their lives and this type of arrangement also saves on the effort and materials used for construction and, in colder climates, heating. If people had to move to a new place or were wealthy enough, they could build or buy a home for their own family, of course and this has produced a cultural preference in settler societies for privacy and space. A countervailing trend has been industrialization and urbanization, which as seen more and more people around the world move into apartment blocks. Single-family homes are now common in rural and suburban and even urban areas across the New World and Europe. They are most common in low-density, high-income regions, for example, in Canada according to the 2006 Census 55. 3% of the population lived single-detached houses but this varied substantially by region. In the Ville of Montreal, Canadas second most populous municipality, only 7. 5% of the lived in a single-detached house, while in the city of Calgary. Note that this includes the city limits only, not the wider region. The term single-family detached describes how a house is built and who lives in it and it does not indicate size, shape, or location. Because they are not surrounded by buildings, the potential size of a single-family house is limited only by the budget of the builder. They can range from a country cottage or cabin or a small suburban prefabricated home to a large mansion. Sizes in real estate advertising are given in area, or by the number of bedrooms or bathrooms/toilets, the choice in materials used or the shape chosen will depend on what is common to the vernacular architecture of that region, or the lasted trends in professionally designed tract housing
28.
North American Plate
–
The North American Plate is a tectonic plate covering most of North America, Greenland, Cuba, the Bahamas, extreme northeastern Russia, and parts of Iceland and the Azores. It extends eastward to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and westward to the Chersky Range in eastern Siberia, the plate includes both continental and oceanic crust. The interior of the continental landmass includes an extensive granitic core called a craton. Along most of the edges of this craton are fragments of material called terranes. It is thought that much of North America west of the Rocky Mountains is composed of such terranes, the parallel Septentrional and Enriquillo-Plantain Garden faults, which run through the island of Hispaniola and bound the Gonâve Microplate, are also a part of the boundary. On the northerly boundary is a continuation of the Mid-Atlantic ridge called the Gakkel Ridge, the rest of the boundary in the far northwestern part of the plate extends into Siberia. On its western edge, the Farallon Plate has been subducting under the North American Plate since the Jurassic Period, the Juan de Fuca, Explorer, Gorda, Rivera, Cocos and Nazca plates are remnants of the Farallon Plate. The boundary along the Gulf of California is complex and it is generally accepted that a piece of the North American Plate was broken off and transported north as the East Pacific Rise propagated northward, creating the Gulf of California. A few hotspots are thought to exist below the North American Plate, the most notable hotspots are the Yellowstone, Raton, and Anahim hotspots. The Yellowstone and Anahim hotspots are thought to have first arrived during the Miocene period and are still geologically active, for the most part, the North American Plate moves in roughly a southwest direction away from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. One recent study suggests that a convective current is propelling the plate. Geologic timeline of Western North America New Madrid Seismic Zone - an ancient intraplate fault zone within the North American Plate, notable as early as 1699 Notes
29.
Pacific Plate
–
The Pacific Plate is an oceanic tectonic plate that lies beneath the Pacific Ocean. At 103 million square kilometres, it is the largest tectonic plate, the Pacific Plate contains an interior hot spot forming the Hawaiian Islands. Hillis and Müller are reported to consider the Birds Head Plate to be moving in unison with the Pacific Plate, bird considers them to be unconnected. The north-eastern side is a divergent boundary with the Explorer Plate, the Juan de Fuca Plate and the Gorda Plate forming respectively the Explorer Ridge, the Juan de Fuca Ridge and the Gorda Ridge. In the middle of the side is a transform boundary with the North American Plate along the San Andreas Fault. The south-eastern side is a divergent boundary with the Nazca Plate forming the East Pacific Rise, the southern side is a divergent boundary with the Antarctic Plate forming the Pacific-Antarctic Ridge. The Alpine Fault marks a boundary between the two plates, and further south the Indo-Australian Plate subducts under the Pacific Plate forming the Puysegur Trench. The southern part of Zealandia, which is to the east of this boundary, is the plates largest block of continental crust, the northern side is a convergent boundary subducting under the North American Plate forming the Aleutian Trench and the corresponding Aleutian Islands. The Pacific Plate is almost entirely oceanic crust, but it contains some continental crust in New Zealand, Baja California, the Pacific Plate has the distinction of showing one of the largest areal sections of the oldest members of seabed geology being entrenched into eastern Asian oceanic trenches. The oldest member disappearing by way of the Plate Tectonics cycle is early-Cretaceous, all maps of the Earths ocean floor geology show ages younger than 145 million years, only about 1/30 of the Earths 4.55 billion year history
30.
San Andreas Fault
–
The San Andreas Fault is a continental transform fault that extends roughly 800 miles through California. It forms the boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate, and its motion is right-lateral strike-slip. The fault was first identified in 1895 by Professor Andrew Lawson of UC Berkeley and it is often described as having been named after San Andreas Lake, a small body of water that was formed in a valley between the two plates. However, according to some of his reports from 1895 and 1908, following the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, Lawson concluded that the fault extended all the way into southern California. In 1953, geologist Thomas Dibblee astounded the scientific establishment with his conclusion that hundreds of miles of lateral movement could occur along the fault. A project called the San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth near Parkfield, Monterey County, is drilling into the fault to improve prediction and this is the approximate location of the epicenter of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. The fault returns onshore at Bolinas Lagoon just north of Stinson Beach in Marin County, from Fort Ross the northern segment continues overland, forming in part a linear valley through which the Gualala River flows. It goes back offshore at Point Arena, after that, it runs underwater along the coast until it nears Cape Mendocino, where it begins to bend to the west, terminating at the Mendocino Triple Junction. The central segment of the San Andreas fault runs in a direction from Parkfield to Hollister. The southern segment begins near Bombay Beach, California, box Canyon, near the Salton Sea, contains upturned strata associated with that section of the fault. The fault then runs along the base of the San Bernardino Mountains, crosses through the Cajon Pass. These mountains are a result of movement along the San Andreas Fault and are called the Transverse Range. In Palmdale, a portion of the fault is easily examined at a roadcut for the Antelope Valley Freeway, the fault continues northwest alongside the Elizabeth Lake Road to the town of Elizabeth Lake. As it passes the towns of Gorman, Tejon Pass and Frazier Park and this restraining bend is thought to be where the fault locks up in Southern California, with an earthquake-recurrence interval of roughly 140–160 years. Northwest of Frazier Park, the runs through the Carrizo Plain. The Elkhorn Scarp defines the fault trace along much of its length within the plain, the southern segment, which stretches from Parkfield in Monterey County all the way to the Salton Sea, is capable of an 8. 1-magnitude earthquake. At its closest, this fault passes about 35 miles to the northeast of Los Angeles. Such a large earthquake on this segment would kill thousands of people in Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside, and surrounding areas
31.
Thrust fault
–
A thrust fault is a type of fault, or break in the Earths crust across which there has been relative movement, in which rocks of lower stratigraphic position are pushed up and over higher strata. They are often recognized because they place older rocks above younger, Thrust faults are the result of compressional forces. Thrust faults are a class of reverse faulting that typically have low dip angles. It is often hard to recognize thrusts because their deformation and dislocation can be difficult to detect when they occur within the rocks without appreciable offset of lithological contacts. If the angle of the plane is low and the displacement of the overlying block is large the fault is called an overthrust. Erosion can remove part of the block, creating a fenster when the underlying block is only exposed in a relatively small area. When erosion removes most of the block, leaving only island-like remnants resting on the lower block. If the fault plane terminates before it reaches the Earths surface, because of the lack of surface evidence, blind thrust faults are difficult to detect until they rupture. The destructive 1994 quake in Northridge, California was caused by a blind thrust fault. Thrust faults, particularly involved in thin-skinned style of deformation, have a so-called ramp-flat geometry. Thrusts mostly propagate along zones of weakness within a sequence, such as mudstones or salt layers. The part of the thrust linking the two flats is known as a ramp and typically forms at an angle of about 15°-30° to the bedding. Continued displacement on a thrust over a ramp produces a characteristic fold geometry known as an anticline or, more generally. Fault-propagation folds form at the tip of a thrust fault where propagation along the decollement has ceased, the continuing displacement is accommodated by formation of an asymmetric anticline-syncline fold pair. As displacement continues the thrust tip starts to propagate along the axis of the syncline, such structures are also known as tip-line folds. Eventually the propagating thrust tip may reach another effective decollement layer, when a thrust that has propagated along the lower detachment, known as the floor thrust, cuts up to the upper detachment, known as the roof thrust, it forms a ramp within the stronger layer. With continued displacement on the thrust, higher stresses are developed in the footwall of the due to the bend on the fault. This may cause renewed propagation along the floor thrust until it again cuts up to join the roof thrust, further displacement then takes place via the newly created ramp
32.
1994 Northridge earthquake
–
The 1994 Northridge earthquake occurred on January 17, at 4,30,55 a. m. PST and had its epicenter in Reseda, a neighborhood in the north-central San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles and it had a duration of approximately 10–20 seconds. The peak ground velocity at the Rinaldi Receiving Station was 183 cm/s, in addition, two 6.0 Mw aftershocks occurred, the first about one minute after the initial event and the second approximately 11 hours later, the strongest of several thousand aftershocks in all. The death toll was 57, with more than 8,700 injured, in addition, property damage was estimated to be between $13 and $40 billion, making it one of the costliest natural disasters in U. S. history. The earthquake struck in the San Fernando Valley about 20 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles, although given the name Northridge, the epicenter was located in the community of Reseda, it took several days to pinpoint the epicenter in detail. This was the first instance with a hypocenter directly beneath a U. S. city since the 1933 Long Beach earthquake, the National Geophysical Data Center placed the hypocenters geographical coordinates at 34°12′47″N 118°32′13″W and at a depth of 11.4 miles. It occurred on a previously undiscovered fault, now named the Northridge blind thrust fault, several other faults experienced minor rupture during the main shock and other ruptures occurred during large aftershocks, or triggered events. Damage occurred up to 85 miles away, with the most damage in the west San Fernando Valley, the exact number of fatalities is unknown, with sources estimating it at 60 or over 60, to 72, where most estimates fall around 60. The official death toll was placed at 57,33 people died immediately or within a few days from injuries sustained, some counts factor in related events such as a mans suicide possibly inspired by the loss of his business in the disaster. More than 8,700 were injured including 1,600 who required hospitalization, the Northridge Meadows apartment complex was one of the well-known affected areas in which sixteen people were killed as a result of the buildings collapse. The Northridge Fashion Center and California State University, Northridge also sustained very heavy damage—most notably, the earthquake also gained worldwide attention because of damage to the vast freeway network, which serves millions of commuters every day. Because of the morning darkness, he likely did not realize that the elevated roadway below him had collapsed. When the interchange was rebuilt one year later, it was renamed the Clarence Wayne Dean Memorial Interchange in his honor. Additional damage occurred about 50 miles southeast in Anaheim as the scoreboard at Anaheim Stadium collapsed onto several hundred seats, the stadium was vacant at the time. Although several commercial buildings also collapsed, loss of life was minimized because of the morning hour of the quake. Also, because of seismic activity in California, area building codes dictate that buildings incorporate structural design intended to withstand earthquakes. However, the damage caused revealed that some structural specifications did not perform as intended, because of these revelations, building codes were revised. Some structures were not red-tagged until months later, because damage was not immediately evident, the quake produced unusually strong ground accelerations in the range of 1.0 g
33.
Bolinas Ridge
–
Bolinas Ridge is a north-south ridge in southwestern Marin County, California. Much of the side of the ridge is protected parkland in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The ridge parallels a section of the San Andreas Fault, and features panoramic vistas with trees, meadows, rounded hillsides, Bolinas Lagoon, Tomales Bay, the Olema Valley and the Pacific Ocean. The base of the ridge at the end includes the community of Stinson Beach. West Ridgecrest Road, a two lane highway, runs along the portion of the ridge, and has been the location for numerous automobile commercial video shoots. This roadway begins at the Rock Springs parking area and heads north along the ridge, views to the east include lakes and undulating hills, with the ocean to the west, the source of dense fog that sometimes obscures all views and limits visibility to a few feet. Today, a community of plant life grows along the ridge. Bolinas, California Audubon Canyon Copper Mine Gulch McKinnan Gulch Morses Gulch Pike County Gulch Stinson Gulch Wilkins Gulch
34.
Serpentine subgroup
–
The serpentine subgroup are greenish, brownish, or spotted minerals commonly found in serpentinite rocks. They are used as a source of magnesium and asbestos, the name is thought to come from the greenish color being that of a serpent. In mineralogy and gemology, serpentine may refer to any of 20 varieties belonging to the serpentine group, owing to admixture, these varieties are not always easy to individualize, and distinctions are not usually made. There are three important mineral polymorphs of serpentine, antigorite, chrysotile and lizardite, the serpentine group of minerals are polymorphous, meaning that they have the same chemical formulae, but the atoms are arranged into different structures, or crystal lattices. Chrysotile, which has a habit, is one polymorph of serpentine and is an important component of asbestos. Other polymorphs in the group may have a platy habit. Antigorite and lizardite are the polymorphs with platy habit, many types of serpentine have been used for jewellery and hardstone carving, sometimes under the name false jade or Teton jade. Their olive green colour and smooth or scaly appearance is the basis of the name from the Latin serpentinus, meaning serpent rock and they have their origins in metamorphic alterations of peridotite and pyroxene. Serpentines may also pseudomorphously replace other magnesium silicates, alterations may be incomplete, causing physical properties of serpentines to vary widely. Where they form a significant part of the surface, the soil is unusually high in clay. Antigorite is the polymorph of serpentine that most commonly forms during metamorphism of wet ultramafic rocks and is stable at the highest temperatures—to over 600 °C at depths of 60 km or so. In contrast, lizardite and chrysotile typically form near the Earths surface and break down at low temperatures. It has been suggested that chrysotile is never stable relative to either of the other two serpentine polymorphs, samples of the oceanic crust and uppermost mantle from ocean basins document that ultramafic rocks there commonly contain abundant serpentine. Antigorite contains water in its structure, about 13 percent by weight, the flora is generally very distinctive, with specialised, slow-growing species. Areas of serpentine-derived soil will show as strips of shrubland and open, scattered small trees within otherwise forested areas, most serpentines are opaque to translucent, light, soft, infusible and susceptible to acids. All are microcrystalline and massive in habit, never being found as single crystals, lustre may be vitreous, greasy or silky. Colours range from white to grey, yellow to green, and brown to black, many are intergrown with other minerals, such as calcite and dolomite. Occurrence is worldwide, New Caledonia, Canada, US, Afghanistan, Britain, Greece, China, Ural Mountains, France, Korea, Austria, India, Myanmar, New Zealand, Norway and Italy are notable localities
35.
Endemism
–
The extreme opposite of endemism is cosmopolitan distribution. An alternative term for a species that is endemic is precinctive, the word endemic is from New Latin endēmicus, from Greek ενδήμος, endēmos, native. Endēmos is formed of en meaning in, and dēmos meaning the people, the term, precinctive, has been suggested by some scientists, and was first used in botany by MacCaughey in 1917. It is the equivalent of endemism, precinction was perhaps first used by Frank and McCoy. That definition excludes artificial confinement of examples by humans in far-off botanical gardens or zoological parks, physical, climatic, and biological factors can contribute to endemism. The orange-breasted sunbird is found in the fynbos vegetation zone of southwestern South Africa. The glacier bear is found only in limited places in Southeast Alaska, political factors can play a part if a species is protected, or actively hunted, in one jurisdiction but not another. There are two subcategories of endemism, paleoendemism and neoendemism, paleoendemism refers to species that were formerly widespread but are now restricted to a smaller area. Neoendemism refers to species that have arisen, such as through divergence and reproductive isolation or through hybridization. Endemics can easily become endangered or extinct if their restricted habitat changes, particularly—but not only—due to human actions, there were millions of both Bermuda petrels and Bermuda cedars in Bermuda when it was settled at the start of the seventeenth century. By the end of the century, the petrels were thought extinct, cedars, already ravaged by centuries of shipbuilding, were driven nearly to extinction in the twentieth century by the introduction of a parasite. Bermuda petrels and cedars are now rare, as are species endemic to Bermuda
36.
Serpentine soil
–
A serpentine soil is derived from ultramafic rocks, in particular serpentinite, a rock formed by the hydration and metamorphic transformation of ultramafic rock from the Earths mantle. Serpentinite is composed of the serpentine, but the two terms are often both used to mean the rock, not its mineral composition. The atmosphere is the source of nitrogen, mainly by microbial fixation, soils derived from any parent material, including serpentinite, differ greatly in the amounts of plant-available nitrogen in them. Nitrogen spans practically the same range of concentrations in soils as in most other kinds of soils. The low Ca, Mg ratios is the main plant limiting factor in serpentine soils, plants that grow only in serpentine soils are commonly called serpentine endemics. Excellent examples of serpentine soils and the distinctive ecologic communities associated with them have described in western North America. Areas of serpentine soil are also home to diverse wildflowers, many of which are rare or endangered species such as Acanthomintha duttonii, Pentachaeta bellidiflora, in California, shrubs such as leather oak and coast whiteleaf manzanita are typical of serpentine soils. Serpentine-rich rock or serpentinite has a mottled, greenish-gray color with a feel to it. These rocks form by the reaction of olivine-rich rock, peridotite, Serpentine soils are widely distributed on Earth, in part mirroring the distribution of ophiolites. Although it covers only about 1 percent of the states surface, one such area in California is the Edgewood Park and Natural Preserve. Serpentine soils also are present in small but widely distributed areas on the slope of the Appalachian mountains of eastern North America. The unique plants that survive in serpentine soils have been used in the process of phytoremediation, the barrens occur on outcrops of altered ultramafic ophiolites. They are named for minerals of the group, resulting in serpentine soils, with unusually high concentrations of iron, chromium, nickel. Serpentine barrens often consist of grassland or savannas in areas where the climate would lead to the growth of forests. Soldiers Delight Natural Environmental Area in Baltimore County, Maryland, covers 1,900 acres of serpentine barren, the area has over 38 rare, threatened, or endangered plant species as well as rare insects, rocks and minerals. Rock Springs Nature Preserve in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, is a 176-acre property conserved by the Lancaster County Conservancy that is an example of a serpentine barren. It was originally a grassland, but fire suppression led to the conversion of the area to forest and this barren contains the rare serpentine aster, as well as a number of rare species of moth and skippers. Pygmy forest Serpentine Serpentinite Ultramafic rock
37.
Arroyo Corte Madera del Presidio
–
Arroyo Corte Madera del Presidio is a 4. 1-mile-long year-round stream in southern Marin County, California, United States. This watercourse is known as Corte Madera Creek, although the actual stream of that name flows into San Francisco Bay further north at Point San Quentin. Arroyo Corte Madera del Presidio is named for the Spanish corte de madera meaning a place where wood is cut, in this case the wood was cut for the building of the Presidio of San Francisco. In 1834, the governor of Alta California José Figueroa awarded to John T. Reed the first land grant in Marin, a 1965 stream survey indicated presence of steelhead within 100 ft of the dam. A private organization, the Mill Valley Streamkeepers, is active in research, some historic information about Arroyo Corte Madera concerning water quality and fish habitat is found at the KRIS website. Arroyo Corte Madera del Presidio Creek is joined by Old Mill Creek on the right in Mill Valley, Old Mill Creek, and its Cascade Creek tributary, begin high on the east peak of Mt. Tamalpais. Cascade Creek has a dam and reservoir which was built by noted engineer Michael M. OShaughnessy for The Tamalpais Land & Water Co. for water supply to Mill Valley. The streams discharge location, into Richardson Bay occurs within the Mill Valley municipal Bayfront Park, the Arroyo Corte Madera del Presidio enters Richardson Bay from the west, while Mill Creek enters Richardson Bay nearby from the north via Bothin Marsh. Bayfront Park features many uses including a bicycle path, walking paths. The park also features a bridge across the tidal portion of Arroyo Corte Madera del Presidio. Slightly further upstream the stream winds through moderately dense single family development, with backyards offering terraces, the first recorded stream survey occurred in the year 1946, this survey by the California Department of Fish and Game found some healthy steelhead within the stream. The next survey in August 1965 concluded that the habitat was an excellent resource, with deep shaded pools, in 1984, steelhead were still found to be present. A1991 stream survey documented the presence of Coho salmon. The next survey in 1994 found abundant steelhead, ranging from densities of 0.1 to 0.6 fish per square yard, the 1997 stream survey found densities of steelhead ranging from seven to twelve fish per 100 lineal feet, depending on stream reach. In its 2004 Recovery Strategy for California Coho Salmon the California Department of Fish and this is one of only two San Francisco Bay Area streams considered in the Departments Strategy to be essential to the recovery of coho salmon in California. The Mill Valley Streamkeepers is a private non-profit organization established to research, awareness
38.
Richardson Bay
–
Richardson Bay is a shallow, ecologically rich arm of San Francisco Bay, managed under a Joint Powers Agency of four northern California cities. The 911-acre Richardson Bay Sanctuary was acquired in the early 1960s by the National Audubon Society, the bay was named for William A. Richardson, early 19th century sea captain and builder in San Francisco. Richardson Bay is one of the most pristine estuaries on the Pacific Coast in spite of its periphery, since it supports extensive eelgrass areas. It is a feeding and resting area for a panoply of estuarine and pelagic birds, while its associated marshes and littoral zones support a variety of animal and plant life. Owing to its lack of depth and complicated structure, Richardson Bay is limited in boating uses to kayaking. There are extensive hiking and bicycling paths at the bay perimeter, especially in the areas of Mill Valley. Martinez, for whom the town of Martinez is named, decided to invite the Captain to reside with their family, maria married the captain after he joined the Catholic Church, being baptized Guillermo Antonio Richardson. This wedding, held at Mission Dolores on May 12,1826 was the first great Spanish-Anglo Saxon wedding in North America and he had charge of several schooners belonging to the Mission Dolores and Mission Santa Clara. Richardson Bay was thus named in the honor of this early settler and builder. The Tiburon Peninsula on the northeast side of the bay was part of Rancho Corte Madera del Presidio granted to John Thomas Reed in 1834, according to local sources and period maps, the Bays original given name was possessive, Richardsons Bay. However, the United States Board on Geographic Names discourages the use of apostrophes in United States place names, the bay muds are widespread in San Francisco Bay and, at Richardson Bay, are approximately 80 to 95 feet deep. The Bay Muds are of Holocene Age and they overlie firm alluvial soils which contain two sand layers at 92 and 110 feet, respectively. These assemblages of Franciscan rocks are referred to as tectonostratigraphic terrains, Richardson Bay is an important ecological area being managed by Audubon California as the Richardson Bay Audubon Center & Sanctuary. There are significant estuarine resources, marsh birdlife, mammalian species, in addition to being designated a high score IBA, Richardsons Bay has been dedicated as a Hemispheric Reserve of the Western Shorebird Network. A special resident of Bothin Marsh, Blackies Creek mouth and DeSilva Island is the California clapper rail, fishery characteristics of Richardson Bay include a Pacific herring fishery and oyster beds. The herring fishing fleet serving all of San Francisco Bay is based in Richardson Bay at the Sausalito harbor, herring spend most of their lives in the open ocean and come to Richardson Bay and other estuaries for winter spawning in the shallow protected waters. In Richardson Bay their eggs attach to assorted surfaces such as eelgrass, after the eggs hatch, the herring larvae consume plankton, before hatching the eggs are subject to predation by gulls at low tide and sturgeon and other assorted estuarine fauna at higher tides. Locally oysters are preyed upon by the bat ray and certain crabs, the extensive mudflats of Richardson Bay provide a rich habitat for marine invertebrates
39.
Microclimate
–
A microclimate is a local set of atmospheric conditions that differ from those in the surrounding areas, often with a slight difference but sometimes with a substantial one. The term may refer to areas as small as a few meters or square feet or as large as many square kilometers or square miles. Microclimates can be found in most places, another contributing factor of microclimate is the slope or aspect of an area. The terminology micro-climate first appeared in the 1950s in publications such as Climates in Miniature, microclimates can be used to the advantage of gardeners who carefully choose and position their plants. Cities often raise the temperature by zoning, and a sheltered position can reduce the severity of winter. Roof gardening, however, exposes plants to more extreme temperatures in summer and winter. Tall buildings create their own microclimate, both by overshadowing large areas and by channeling strong winds to ground level, wind effects around tall buildings are assessed as part of a microclimate study. Microclimates can also refer to environments, such as those in a room or other enclosure. Microclimates are commonly created and carefully maintained in museum display and storage environments and this can be done using passive methods, such as silica gel, or with active microclimate control devices. Usually, if the areas have a humid continental climate. The type of soil found in an area can also affect microclimates, for example, soils heavy in clay can act like pavement, moderating the near ground temperature. On the other hand, if soil has many air pockets, then the heat could be trapped underneath the topsoil, two main parameters to define a microclimate within a certain area are temperature and humidity. A source of a drop in temperature and/or humidity can be attributed to different sources or influences, often microclimate is shaped by a conglomerate of different influences and is a subject of microscale meteorology. The well known examples of cold air pool effect are Gstettneralm Sinkhole in Austria, the presence of permafrost close to the surface in a crater creates a unique microclimate environment. As similar as lava tubes can be to caves which are not formed due to volcanic activity the microclimate within the former is different due to dominant presence of basalt, lava tubes and basaltic caves are important astrobiological targets on Earth and Mars. Artificial reservoirs as well as natural ones create microclimates and often influence the climate as well. Northern California above the Bay Area is also known for microclimates with significant differences of temperatures. Even as far north as the Klamath River valley around the 41st parallel north between Willow Creek and Eureka averages such temperatures, which is hot for such northerly areas
40.
Sequoia sempervirens
–
Sequoia sempervirens /sᵻˈkɔɪ. ə sɛmpərˈvaɪrənz/ is the sole living species of the genus Sequoia in the cypress family Cupressaceae. Common names include coast redwood, coastal redwood and California redwood and it is an evergreen, long-lived, monoecious tree living 1, 200–1,800 years or more. This species includes the tallest living trees on Earth, reaching up to 379 feet in height and these trees are also among the oldest living things on Earth. The name sequoia sometimes refers to the subfamily Sequoioideae, which includes S. sempervirens along with Sequoiadendron, here, the term redwood on its own refers to the species covered in this article, and not to the other two species. Scottish botanist David Don described the redwood as the evergreen taxodium in his colleague Aylmer Bourke Lamberts 1824 work A description of the genus Pinus, austrian botanist Stephan Endlicher erected the genus Sequoia in his 1847 work Synopsis coniferarum, giving the redwood its current binomial name of Sequoia sempervirens. The redwood is one of three living species, each in its own genus, in the subfamily Sequoioideae, molecular studies have shown the three to be each others closest relatives, generally with the redwood and giant sequoia as each others closest relatives. However, Yang and colleagues in 2010 queried the polyploid state of the redwood, further analysis strongly supported the hypothesis that Sequoia was the result of a hybridization event involving Metasequoia and Sequoiadendron. Thus, Yang and colleagues hypothesize that the inconsistent relationships among Metasequoia, Sequoia, the coast redwood can reach 115 m tall with a trunk diameter of 9 m. It has a crown, with horizontal to slightly drooping branches. The bark can be thick, up to 1-foot, and quite soft and fibrous, with a bright red-brown color when freshly exposed. The root system is composed of shallow, wide-spreading lateral roots, the leaves are variable, being 15–25 mm long and flat on young trees and shaded shoots in the lower crown of old trees. On the other hand, they are scale-like, 5–10 mm long on shoots in full sun in the crown of older trees. They are dark green above and have two blue-white stomatal bands below, leaf arrangement is spiral, but the larger shade leaves are twisted at the base to lie in a flat plane for maximum light capture. The species is monoecious, with pollen and seed cones on the same plant, the seed cones are ovoid, 15–32 millimetres long, with 15–25 spirally arranged scales, pollination is in late winter with maturation about 8–9 months after. Each cone scale bears three to seven seeds, each seed 3–4 millimetres long and 0.5 millimetres broad, the seeds are released when the cone scales dry out and open at maturity. The pollen cones are ovular and 4–6 millimetres long and its genetic makeup is unusual among conifers, being a hexaploid and possibly allopolyploid. Both the mitochondrial and chloroplast genomes of the redwood are paternally inherited, the prevailing elevation range is 98–2,460 ft above sea level, occasionally down to 0 and up to 3,000 ft. They usually grow in the mountains where precipitation from the incoming moisture off the ocean is greater, the tallest and oldest trees are found in deep valleys and gullies, where year-round streams can flow, and fog drip is regular
41.
Manzanita
–
Manzanita is a common name for many species of the genus Arctostaphylos. They are characterized by smooth, orange or red bark and stiff, manzanitas bloom in the winter to early spring and carry berries in spring and summer. The berries and flowers of most species are edible, the word manzanita is the Spanish diminutive of manzana. A literal translation would be little apple, native Americans in Northern California made a tisane from manzanita leaves to treat poison oak rash. The leaves contain chemicals with a mildly disinfectant quality, and can be used for urinary tract infections. The berries are a food, as they can be harvested en masse. Once stored and dried, the berries can be ground into a coarse meal, the berries can be eaten ripe or green for a slightly sour taste. They are good eaten alone, or used as a thickener or sweetener in other dishes, fresh berries and branch tips can be soaked in water to make a cider. Native Americans used Manzanita leaves as toothbrushes, manzanitas are extremely useful as ornamental plants in gardens in the western United States and similar climate zones. They are evergreen, highly drought-tolerant, have picturesque bark and attractive flowers and berries, Arctostaphylos columbiana, for example, is hardy enough to be used for highway landscaping in western Oregon and Washington. Arctostaphylos Emerald Carpet, A. uva-ursi, and other low-growing manzanitas are extremely valuable evergreen groundcovers for dry slopes, dr. Hurd, can be grown as individual specimens, and pruned to emphasize the striking pattern and colors of the branches. They prefer light, well-drained soil, although the low-growing ground covers will tolerate heavier soils, Manzanita branches are popular as decoration, due to their unique shape, color, and strength when dried. Florists sometimes use them as centerpieces at wedding receptions and other events, often adding hanging votive candles, beaded gems, the wood is notoriously hard to cure, mostly due to cracking against the grain, giving it few uses as lumber. The slow growth rate and many branchings further decrease the sizes available, some furniture and art employ whole round branches, which reduces cracking and preserves the deep red color. The dead wood decays slowly and can last for years, on. Sunlight smooths and bleaches manzanita to light grey or white, rendering it superficially akin to animal bones, because of this and the stunted growth of many species, manzanita is often collected in its more unusual shapes, giving it the nickname mountain driftwood. Manzanita wood is used as perches for parrots and other large pet birds. The branches of the species are extremely long-lasting for this purpose
42.
Douglas fir
–
Pseudotsuga menziesii, commonly known as Douglas fir or Douglas-fir, is an evergreen conifer species native to western North America. The common name honors David Douglas, a Scottish botanist and collector who first reported the extraordinary nature, the common name is misleading since it is not a true fir, i. e. not a member of the genus Abies. For this reason the name is written as Douglas-fir. The specific epithet, menziesii, is after Archibald Menzies, a Scottish physician, Menzies first documented the tree on Vancouver Island in 1791. Colloquially, the species is known simply as Doug-fir or as Douglas pine. One Coast Salish name for the tree, used in the Halkomelem language, is lá, one variety, coast Douglas fir, grows in the coastal regions, from west-central British Columbia southward to central California. In Oregon and Washington, its range is continuous from the edge of the Cascades west to the Pacific Coast Ranges. In California, it is found in the Klamath and California Coast Ranges as far south as the Santa Lucia Range, in the Sierra Nevada, it ranges as far south as the Yosemite region. It occurs from sea level along the coast to 1,800 m above sea level in the mountains of California. Further inland, coast Douglas fir is replaced by another variety, mexican Douglas fir, which ranges as far south as Oaxaca, is often considered a variety of P. menziesii. Coast Douglas fir is currently the second-tallest conifer in the world. Extant coast Douglas fir trees 60–75 m or more in height and 1. 5–2 m in diameter are common in old growth stands, Douglas firs commonly live more than 500 years and occasionally more than 1,000 years. The bark on trees is thin, smooth, and gray. On mature trees, it is thick and corky, the shoots are brown to olive-green, turning gray-brown with age, smooth, though not as smooth as fir shoots, and finely pubescent with short, dark hairs. The buds are a distinctive, narrow, conic shape, 4–8 mm long. Unlike the Rocky Mountain Douglas fir, coast Douglas fir foliage has a noticeable sweet fruity-resinous scent, the mature female seed cones are pendulous, 5–8 cm long, 2–3 cm wide when closed, opening to a 4 cm width. They are produced in spring, green at first, maturing orange-brown in the autumn 6–7 months later, the seeds are 5–6 mm long and 3–4 mm wide, with a 12–15-mm wing. The male cones are 2–3 cm long, dispersing yellow pollen in spring, in forest conditions, old individuals typically have a narrow, cylindric crown beginning 20–40 m above a branch-free trunk
43.
Chaparral
–
Chaparral is a shrubland or heathland plant community found primarily in the U. S. state of California and in the northern portion of the Baja California Peninsula, Mexico. Chaparral covers 5 percent of the state of California, and associated Mediterranean shrubland an additional 3.5 percent, the name comes from the Spanish word for scrub oak, chaparro. In its natural state, chaparral is characterized by infrequent fires, mature chaparral is characterized by nearly impenetrable, dense thickets. They grow as woody shrubs with hard and small leaves, are non-leaf-dropping, after the first rains following a fire, the landscape is dominated by soft-leaved non-woody annual plants, known as fire followers, which die back with the summer dry period. According to the California Academy of Sciences, Mediterranean shrubland contains more than 20 percent of the plant diversity. The word chaparral is a word from Spanish chaparro, meaning both small and dwarf evergreen oak, which itself comes from the Basque word txapar, with exactly the same meaning. In Central and Southern California chaparral forms a dominant habitat, the following is a short list of birds which are an integral part of the cismontane chaparral ecosystems. Transmontane chaparral features xeric desert climate, not Mediterranean climate habitats, Desert chaparral is a regional ecosystem subset of the deserts and xeric shrublands biome, with some plant species from the California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion. Unlike cismontane chaparral, which forms dense, impenetrable stands of plants, desert chaparral is open, individual shrubs can reach up to 10 feet in height. Transmontane chaparral or desert chaparral is found on the slopes of major mountain range systems on the western sides of the deserts of California. It is distinguished from the cismontane chaparral found on the side of the mountains. Naturally, desert chaparral experiences less rainfall than cismontane chaparral. Plants in this community are characterized by small, hard evergreen leaves, Desert chaparral grows above Californias desert cactus scrub plant community and below the pinyon-juniper woodland. It is further distinguished from the deciduous sub-alpine scrub above the pinyon-juniper woodlands on the side of the Peninsular ranges. Transmontane chaparral typically grows on the northern slopes of the southern Transverse Ranges. It can also be found in higher-elevation sky islands in the interior of the deserts, there is overlap of animals with those of the adjacent desert and pinyon-juniper communities. Canis latrans, coyotes Lynx rufus, bobcats Neotoma sp, the Chaparral area receives about 38–100 cm of precipitation a year. This makes the chaparral most vulnerable to fire in the late summer, the chaparral ecosystem as a whole is adapted to be able to recover from infrequent wildfires, indeed, chaparral regions are known culturally and historically for their impressive fires
44.
Coastal sage scrub
–
It is within the California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion, of the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome. Plant community Coastal sage scrub is characterized by low-growing aromatic, flora Characteristic shrubs and subshrubs include, California sagebrush, black sage, white sage, California buckwheat, coast brittle-bush, golden yarrow. Larger shrubs include, toyon and lemonade berry, herbaceous plants, grasses, and in some locales, cacti and succulents, are also part of the flora. The coastal sage plant community is divided into two geographical subtypes — northern coastal scrub and southern coastal scrub. Northern coastal scrub occurs along the Pacific Coast from the northern San Francisco Bay Area northwards to southern Oregon and it frequently forms a landscape mosaic with the California coastal prairie plant community. The predominant plants are low evergreen shrubs and herbs, Characteristic shrubs include coyote brush, yerba santa, coast silk-tassel, salal, and yellow bush lupine. Herbaceous species include western blue-eyed grass, Douglas iris, and grasses, Southern coastal scrub is mostly found along the maritime Central Coast region, and the terraces and mountains with coastal climate influence in Southern California. The plants of this community prefer the mild maritime climates found along Southern Californias coastline, world Wildlife Fund estimates that only 15 percent of the coastal sage scrublands remain undeveloped. Bernard Field Station at the Claremont Colleges, in San Diego County, the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base protects larger areas, and the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar has vernal pools and the endemic mint Pogogyne abramsii. One of the largest remaining areas of coastal sage scrub is found in the Temescal Mountains of Riverside County. A number of rare and endangered species occur in coastal scrub habitats. For example, the California gnatcatcher is a bird species endemic to the coastal sage scrublands. Other endemic fauna includes the El Segundo blue butterfly in the LAX dunes, the endangered Torrey pine is the dominant tree at Torrey Pines State Reserve in San Diego, one of only two known stands of this pine species. Terrace California coastal prairie California coastal sage and chaparral ecoregion Native grasses of California Index, California chaparral and woodlands In, Mayer KE, a Guide to Wildlife Habitats of California. Sacramento, CA, California Department of Fish and Game, Coastal Scrub, de Becker, berkeley, CA, University of California Press. California coastal sage scrub and chaparral, Claremont Colleges, Robert J. Bernard Field Station website — Lists and photographs of organisms found in Coastal sage scrub. Las Pilitas horticulture database, California coastal sage plant community — text. Theodore Payne Foundation for Wild Flowers and Native Plants, Native Plant Guides — Southern California species
45.
Inversion (meteorology)
–
In meteorology, an inversion is a deviation from the normal change of an atmospheric property with altitude. It almost always refers to an inversion, i. e. an increase in temperature with height. An inversion can lead to such as smog being trapped close to the ground. An inversion can also suppress convection by acting as a cap, if this cap is broken for any of several reasons, convection of any moisture present can then erupt into violent thunderstorms. Temperature inversion can notoriously result in freezing rain in cold climates. g, given the right conditions, the normal vertical temperature gradient is inverted such that the air is colder near the surface of the Earth. This can occur when, for example, a warmer, less-dense air mass moves over a cooler, denser air mass. This type of inversion occurs in the vicinity of warm fronts, with sufficient humidity in the cooler layer, fog is typically present below the inversion cap. This effect is virtually confined to regions as the ocean retains heat far longer. In the polar regions during winter, inversions are nearly always present over land, a warmer air mass moving over a cooler one can shut off any convection which may be present in the cooler air mass. This is known as a capping inversion, such capping inversions typically precede the development of tornadoes in the Midwestern United States. In this instance, the layer is actually quite warm. An inversion can develop aloft as a result of air gradually sinking over an area and being warmed by adiabatic compression. A stable marine layer may develop over the ocean as a result. The accumulated smog and dust under the inversion quickly taints the sky reddish and this can become a problem in cities where many pollutants exist. During a severe inversion, trapped air pollutants form a haze that can cause respiratory problems. The Great Smog of 1952 in London, England, is one of the most serious examples of such an inversion and it was blamed for an estimated 11,000 to 12,000 deaths. Sometimes the inversion layer is at a high altitude that cumulus clouds can condense. This decreases the amount of sunlight reaching the ground and prevents new thermals from forming, as the clouds disperse, sunny weather replaces cloudiness in a cycle that can occur more than once a day
