The Bay Area is an interesting place with a unique geology and formation. The San Francisco Bay, also known as San Francisco Estuarine, consists of three bays, San Francisco Proper, San Pablo Bay, Carquinez Strait, and has a vast inland river delta. The river delta provides fresh water to the bays. The estuarine system provides food, safety, and shelter to many organisms and animals, including humans. (San Francisco Estuarine Wetlands) Along the bays lie major cities such as San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose. San Francisco is located on the boundary between two tectonic plates, the North American and Pacific plates. These two plates form a transform fault called the San Andreas Fault and is responsible for producing large earthquakes that shook California (Elder). Mountains on the California Coastal Ranges, Santa Cruz Mountains and the Diablo Range, were formed as a result of the San Andreas Fault(Elder). Thanks to the tectonic plate boundary, San Francisco Bay Area has the most active and complex geology (San Francisco Bay Area National Parks Science and Learning (NPS)). Today, the Bay Area supports millions of people, plants, and wildlife, but in the past, the Bay Area was completely different than the present. Traveling back a hundred million years, one million years, a hundred thousand years, a thousand years, and a hundred years back in time will reveal how the Bay Area has changed through time. In addition to geography, the atmosphere, biosphere, geosphere, and hydrosphere have also changed through time. Traveling back a hundred million years ago to the mid Cretaceous period, Bay Area did not exist yet. The Bay Area was still in the process of drifting a hundred million years ago. The continents drifted toward their pr... ... middle of paper ... ...iod." NOAA Paleoclimatology Global Warming. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2013. . "PART II: The Origins of San Francisco Bay." PART II: The Origins of San Francisco Bay. Geosci.sfsu, n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2013. . "The Quaternary Period: Ice, Megafauna and Hominids." Fossils Facts and Finds.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2013. . "Quaternary Period." Science.nationalgeographic.com. National Geographic, n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2013. . "San Francisco Estuarine Wetlands." San Francisco Estuarine Wetlands. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2013. .
In Barbara Berlund’s Making San Francisco American: Cultural Frontiers in the Urban West, Berlund explains how San Francisco grew from a young settlement which grew rapidly thanks to in part of the California Gold Rush which took place in 1949. Of course with the growing of this small settlement came it’s conflicts and how it rised to where it stands present day. A primary factor which helped San Francisco flourish a ton was the influence from those who had power and chose what would happen throughout the city, for example the Big 4. Those who were wealthy did not make this city what it is today without the help of people who made up the middle class as well. Every establishment within this city set the social order as to how the inhabitants of San Francisco would go about their life in society.
Earthquakes are a natural part of the Earth’s evolution. Scientific evidence leads many geologists to believe that all of the land on Earth was at one point in time connected. Because of plate tectonic movements or earthquakes, continental drift occurred separating the one massive piece of land in to the seven major continents today. Further evidence supports this theory, starting with the Mid-Atlantic ridge, a large mass of plate tectonics, which are increasing the size of the Atlantic Ocean while shrinking the Pacific. Some scientists believe that the major plate moveme...
The Franciscan Terrane of central California represents an accretionary complex formed by long-term subduction of an oceanic plate under the Western margin of the North American craton. The Franciscan complex is composed of three distinguishable belts: the eastern belt (Yolla Bolly and Pickett Peak terranes), the central belt, and the coastal belt. Age and metamorphic grade of the belts decreases to the west (Blake and Jones, 1981). Formation of the accretionary complex began during the late Jurassic in the eastern belt and has continued into the Miocene along the western coastal belt. The complex trends NNW and is bounded by the San Andreas Fault to the east and by the coastal range fault to the west. The coast range fault separates the Franciscan complex with the partly coeval Great Valley sequence. Debate exists over the tectonic evolution of the Franciscan, centered around the geographic origin of the Franciscan rock units.
-New Evidence Puts Man in North America 50,000 Years Ago. Sciencedaily. 2004. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/11/041118104010.htm
Office of Water (2006) Wetlands: Protecting Life and Property from Flooding, Washington: Environmental Protection Agency
Fountain, Henry. "San Francisco Girds for Possible Threat to Water From Wildfire." N.p., 26 Aug. 2013. Web. 7 Oct. 2013. .
Baker, William C., and Tom Horton. "Runoff and the Chesapeake Bay." GreenFILE. EBSCO, Nov.-Dec. 1990. Web. 1 Mar. 2014.
EPIC is the Educational Participation in Communities. This organization involves students as volunteers in the fight against poverty and social neglect in local communities. The goal is social awareness and student involvement. It says that poverty, neglect, and social inequity are a growing reality for millions of people in America. Families are losing their homes, people can't find good jobs, children go hungry, and education in the inner-city is a disaster. There is a is problem because the public and community programs that serve as a safety net to assist such populations are strained beyond their capacity and are usually understaffed and under-funded. Since they cannot do the job without help, EPIC helps. It recruits college students to do volunteer work in schools, hospitals, community centers, legal aid, probation, youth agencies, and other and public service programs. EPIC volunteers provide thousands of volunteer hours to the community.
In modern times Oakland is known as the main metropolitan city in the East Bay. The city possesses 3 professional sports teams, which have a population of just below 400,000. Oakland is also the 3rd largest metropolitan city in the Bay Area behind San Jose, and San Francisco.( Encyclopedia Britannica ) The city mayor is the ex Governor of California Jerry Brown. Located in Alameda County Oakland’s area consists of a total square mileage of 78.2 miles, of which 56.1 miles is land, and the latter consisting of water.( Encyclopedia Britannica ) Oakland also possesses the 3rd largest seaport on the west coast.
The Pleistocene epoch is a well-known time period thanks to the glorification of now extinct megafauna as well as the proximity to our current epoch. Through the rapid climate changes and glaciation that occurred many times during this epoch, the fauna
Bindon, Jim 2004 Fossil Hominids. ANT 270 Notes. http://www.as.ua.edu/ant/bindon/ant270/lectures/ hominids1.pdf Delson, Eric 1981
As a Californian learning about the state’s government, it is essential to know how our state came to be today. On that note, I learned that a majority of the beginning of California’s history was under the ownerships of Mexicans. Some famous contributors that lead to California’s success today is due to Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, Gaspar de Portola, and Sebastián Vizcaíno. This can date back to 1542 where Spain claimed California. However, as the US began to experience the Manifest Destiny, the need to spread from sea to shining sea, Americanizing the territory lead to officiation of California as the 31st state, under the Compromise of 1850. Of course, there has already been settlement in California by the Native Americans that dates back to
California, a state located on the West Coast of the United States is the most popular state. Its the third largest state by area. California borders Oregon to the North, Nevada to the East, Arizona to the Southeast, and the Mexican States of Baja to the South. On 1850, September 9 California became the 31st state of the United States. California became the 31st state in the Union even though it hasn’t even been part of the United States for less than 2 years.
This paper introduces the environmental concerns of the loss of coastal wetlands. The paper will discuss the significance of wetlands and the devastation that is occurring because of human activity. Wetlands are an essential element of our environment both ecological and societal; conservation will be essential for the preservation of these precious ecosystems.
The Web. 04 Feb. 2014 -. The Effects of Global Warming. National Geographic. N.p., n.d. Web.