2. For my project I chose to go to Pismo Beach, California. I thought it would be the perfect idea to show how the earth has evolved over time. I have been to this beach many time but never took the time to really understand the geology of it. Not only has the beach changed over millions of years but the inhabitants have well.
3. Pismo beach is known has the clam capitol of the west coast. It has some of the best clam chowder I have every had. I tried to find a clam but I was unsuccessful. The reason I wanted to take a picture of a clam is because of how it has been around this planet. The picture to the right is of the Pennsylvanian bivalves that were collected near Bonner Springs, Kansas and it is from the cretaceous period. Clams are considered bivalves and they have a long history. Their fossils first appear in rocks that date to the middle of the Cambrian period about 510 million years ago. Bivalves really took off following the massive extinction at the close of the Permian period.
4. This picture to the left shows how the ocean has eroded the rocks down with such powerful waves. I believe that before this whole part was connected but now its seems this rock is just an island. Waves just crashing into the rocks eventually wore them down to the point it isolated it. Different layers in rock (right)can give away the age and era that it is from. After a bit of researchI discovered these rocks are about 180 million years old. This cliff is bare and not deep underground so it would be easier to age it.
5. This was a picture of a California Gull that just happened to sit upon the pier. This is how the bird looks now but he is just in a long line of birds that may have a direct link to the Archaeopteryx. The Archaeopteryx was found in 1861, it is believed to be the link that shows dinosaurs and birds had a lot in common. It was found in Germany and there seemed to be feathers in the fossils as well which is a common trait that most birds have.
6. Kelp is always washing up on the shore as the tide brings in the new waves. I was surprised to find out that the kelp is considered to be the forest of the ocean. I also did not know that kelp traces so far back in our planets existence. The seaweed in the picture to the right were found, February 2011, in shale formations in Lantian, a small town in Anhui Province of South China. The fossils date to 600 million years ago.
7. The final slide is an archive of Floatopia, which occurs every summer in Pismo and it shows one important piece of earths history, humans. Every facet of the earth in one way or another is affected by us homo sapiens. The oldest Homo sapiens fossils date to only 35,000 years ago. Studies of genetic variation among living humans suggest that our species emerged in Africa as long as 200,000 years ago. Its fair to say we have come along way since then.
8. I really enjoyed doing this project because it gave me a chance to go to beach and really look at the beach in a way I have never looked at it before. I’m going to end this project with a sunset and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did putting it together.
