Transcript Honors Marine Biology

Honors Marine Biology
Estuary Communities - Part 1
Module 10
January 27, 2015
Today is Notebook Check
Through Module 9
Class Challenge
Share your favorite Cookies!
Quiz 18
Name
January 27, 2015
Question 1
A soft bottomed ecosystem is influenced by
two major parameters. What are they?
Question 2
What is mud made up of?
Question 3
How many hours is it between high and low
tide?
Question 4
Explain:
Spring Tide
Neap Tide
Question 1
A soft bottomed ecosystem is influenced by
two major parameters. What are they?
1. Water movement
2. Sediment size and type
Question 2
What is mud made up of?
Clay and Silt
Question 3
How many hours is it between high and low
tide?
6 hours
Question 4
Explain:
Spring Tide: The sun and the moon are aligned
and it causes the highest gravitational pull.
Neap Tide: The sun and moon are at 45 degree
angles of one another and it produces the lowest
tides.
Birding Field Trip
February 3 (Next week’s class) at the Celery
Fields (Palmer Mountain).
We will meet at school and leave from here
at 10:30am and return back to School by
1:00pm.
If you have binoculars,
Bring them!
SeaPerch Project
The Team Leaders have organized a 20 to
25 minute “next step” to be completed now
in class.
Estuary Communities
Are a semi-enclosed area at the mouth of a
river where fresh water and seawater meet
and mix.
Some well known estuaries in North
America are:
San Francisco Bay,
Tampa Bay,
Chesapeake Bay, and the
Mississippi River delta.
Important Estuaries Worldwide
Thames River Estuary in England
Heuningnes Estuary in South Africa
Bay of Bengal in India
Phang Nga Bay in Thailand
Gulf of Carpentaria in Australia
Thames River Estuary in England
Heuningnes Estuary in South Africa
Situated within the De Mond State Forest in the Western Cape, the estuary of the
Heuningnes River extends approximately 12 km across the flat coastal plain of the
Zoetendals Vallei farm area before breaking out to sea through a double dune ridge.
Bay of Bengal in India
Phang Nga Bay in Thailand
Gulf of Carpentaria in Australia
Estuaries
Many of these areas have large harbors and
industrial parks. That is because estuaries
provide people with:
1. plentiful food, plus
2. a water pathway inland from the ocean.
Estuaries
Are desirable for the establishment of cities.
We have discussed the impact that people
have on these areas.
Name some…
Formation of Estuaries
Most estuaries are believed to have been
formed as a result of actions that occurred
during an ice age.
What is an Ice Age?
It is a period in earth’s history when the
average temperature of the earth was
significantly cooler than it is now.
During this time sheets of ice covered as
much as one-third of the earth’s surface.
These ice sheets were the result of accumulated
snow packed down by its own weight into ice.
As the weight of the accumulated snow pushed
down on this ice, it began to flow outward, much
like a lump of clay flows when you press down
on it.
As the ice flowed down into the lower latitudes, it
carved out the land as it moved. These moving
sheets of ice are called glaciers.
Glacial Deposits
In many places throughout the world,
geologists have found deposits of gravel,
dirt, and debris very similar to those found
at the edge of glaciers that exist today.
As the glaciers move across land, they
scour the earth, picking up pebbles, dirt,
and sometimes large rocks.
All of this gets deposited when the glacier
starts to melt.
Since we see deposits like these in areas
that do not currently have glaciers, we
have to assume that glaciers did exist in
those areas at one time.
In addition, geologists have found many places
where there are very large boulders that clearly
did not form where they are now. (the State of
Montana - Glacier National Park )
Based on their characteristics, it is obvious that
they were transported there.
They could easily traveled on a glacial ice sheet
and then been deposited when the ice sheet
began to melt.
• The park is named for its prominent glaciercarved terrain and remnant glaciers descended
from the ice ages of 10,000 years past. Bedrock
and deposited materials exposed by receding
glaciers tell a story of ancient seas, geologic
faults and uplifting, and the movement of giant
slabs of the earth's ancient crust overlaying
younger strata. The result of these combined
forces is some of the most spectacular scenery
on the planet.
The motion of Glaciers
11 long narrow lakes in northern New York
state called the “Finger-lakes.”
Two of those lakes (Seneca Lake and
Cayuga Lake) are deep, with bottoms that
are actually below sea level. The best
way to explain them is that they were
carved into their present state by the
motion of glaciers.
• These kinds of geological formation can
be found throughout Canada and even
down into the center of the United States.
The formation of Glaciers
1. Needs to be a lot of snowfall and not
much melting. Therefore in the US and
Canada they must have had much cooler
summers so the snow did not melt and it
continued to build up.
2. There would need to be a greater rate of
evaporation of moisture into the air.
If glaciers are formed by the accumulation of
large amounts of snow, there would have
to be a lot of evaporation to supply the
water to make the snow.
3. In order for a lot of evaporation to occur,
the ocean temperatures would have to
be warmer than they are today.
4. There would also have to be extreme
weather patterns for the extra
evaporated moisture to be transported
from the oceans over the continents.
• Giant Glaciers - Wild New World - BBC Planet
• http://youtu.be/eyX0tr9x72Y
• Glaciers and their effects
• http://youtu.be/tM3x6_vb8_s
• Glacier Power
• http://youtu.be/cIBFAke90SI
The 2 different views of the Ice Age
1. There was a slow gradual process that
happened over a very long time.
Uniformitarians. They believe that the
most recent ice age started about 1.75
million years ago and peaked about
18,000 years ago.
2. Other scientists believe that most of the
major geological features of the earth are
a result of wide-scale catastrophes.
Catastrophists. They believe that there
was one major ice age in the history of the
earth, and it was brought about by the
worldwide Flood of Noah’s time.
In the view of Catastrophists, there was only
one ice age in earth’s history, and it came
about quickly and rather recently.
Which group is right?
As mentioned earlier, cooler summers and a
lot of snowfall are necessary for the
continual buildup of ice.
Cooler air cannot hold as much moisture as
warmer air, so cooler temperatures could
not support the moisture required for a
large amount of snowfall.
• In Siberia today, summers are cold, and
not a lot of snow melts during the
summer.
• However, cold air cannot hold much
moisture, so there is not a lot of snowfall in
the winter. As a result, glaciers do not
form there.
In order for form glaciers, you must have
cooler summers, but at the same time you
must have winters that are not incredibly
cold too.
That way there will be plenty of moisture in
the air to allow for a lot of snowfall.
Uniformitarians believe that things change
rather slowly and gradually in the earth.
The formation of the ice age by gradual
climate change is quite difficult to explain.
How would you get the cooler summers
but at the same time have winters that are
not too cold and very wet?
Catastrophists who believe in the world
wide flood of Noah’s time believe that at
the end of the flood, the oceans were most
likely warmer than they are today. This is
because much of the floodwaters came
from the “fountains of the deep” (Genesis
7:11).
These were most likely fountains that
originated in the mantle of the earth, which
is very warm.
The influx of warm water would have added
a lot of heat to the oceans, making them
warmer than normal.
This added warmth and extra moisture could
certainly cause the wet and not-too-cold
winters necessary for the widespread
formation of glaciers.
Shortly after the flood…
The land would have been extremely
saturated with moisture and thus would
reflect rather than absorb much of the
solar radiation coming from the sun. This
would make land temperatures cooler.
Also, the differences in temperature between
the warm oceans and the cool land would
result in constant storms.
Hypothesis of Creationists
During the later stages of the Flood, there
were most likely regular volcanic eruptions
due to the earth’s crust settling back into
balance. The excessive dust propelled
into the atmosphere from the volcanic
eruptions would have reflected the sun’s
radiation back into space, resulting in
cooler summers.
So….
The excess evaporation, cool land, warm
oceans, and cooler summers combined
with extra snowfall, regular storms, and
volcanic activity would result in an ice age
until the earth regained its equilibrium after
the great Flood.
Institute for Creation Research
For more study go to:
http://www.icr.org/
Types of Estuaries
1. Drowned River Valleys (sometimes
called coastal plain estuaries)
2. Bar Build Estuary (barrier island)
3. Fjords
4. River Delta Estuary
5. Tectonic Estuary (Basin that was filled
with water)
Selection of Estuary
On February 10
Each person will give a 3 minute
presentation of:
1. What you have learned about your type
of estuary;
2. Select an example from around the world;
3. Then include photos of the estuary, birds,
fish, commercial development or any
other aspect of the area that you learned
about.
Homework
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Field Trip next week – Birding Feb 3
Estuary Presentation on February 10
Finish reading Module 10
Answer OYO and Study Guide
Class Challenge: February 10 Best
magic Trick.