Tracie ButlerGEL 103 J1 ML SU11

• Overview of field trip and details of identifying subjects

• Site location information

• Area geologic history

• Rock Types

• Wildlife types

• Flora types

• Rock Types

• Deciduous Tree types

• References

• Personal history of Bassi Falls

• All example photos contained in this report were taken by me. Most were taken during my visit to Bassi Falls July 2011 or during a previous trip. There are a few taken a couple of years ago (noted). None other unless otherwise noted in the reference section

• Map Images were produced using Google Earth

• Rock Identification was done using USGS web search

• Flora identification was done using the United States Department of Agriculture

• Tree identification was done using the Malheur Experiment Station, Oregon State University.

• Wildlife identification was done using All About Birds website

• Our family has been coming to Bassi Falls for 3 years. I love going to Bassi Falls because I enjoy being outdoors, hiking, soaking up the sun and spending time with my family.

• We make the hike up to the falls at least three times a year during the summer and fall months. In all the times we’ve visited this place, I’ve never really seen what was all around me.

• I mean, I saw the awesome forces that water has on something as hard as granite, how colorful and delicate the flowers are that surround the flowing stream, tasted how sweet fresh water can be and marveled at the beauty we centered ourselves within. During this field trip, I discovered some truly amazing natural occurances that are documented in the following. I hope you enjoy seeing and learning about this place as much as I do

• Located near the Crystal Basin, Union Valley Resevoir, BassiFalls, CA North El Dorado County

• Off Hwy 50 to Ice House Road

• Elevation: ~5,600ft

• Precipitation Range: 20 to 80 inches, occurs mostly as snow above 6,000ft

• Coordinates:

• Latitude: 38.890458

• Logitude: -120.325502

One look at this picture and you can see how powerful the forces of water can be. Over the course of millions of years, the fall waters have made its way through tiny cracks in these boulders. During the winter freeze, those cracks expand and eventually break off as seen in this picture.

• Bassi Falls is found in the El Dorado National forest, which is located in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The Sierra Nevada Mountains is a mountain range in California and Nevada, between the California Central Valley and the Basin and Range Province. The Sierra Nevada mountain range runs 350 miles north-to-south, and is approximately 70 miles across east-to-west. Notable Sierra Nevada features include Lake Tahoe, the largest alpine lake in North America; Mount Whitney at 14,494 feet, the highest point in the contiguous United States; and Yosemite Valley, sculpted by glaciers out of 100-million-year-old granite. About 150 million years ago, during the Jurassic period, granite formed deep underground. The range started to uplift four million years ago, and erosion by glaciers exposed the granite and formed the light-colored mountains and cliffs that make up the range.

Bassi Falls is fed by snow melt from Forni Lake, elev. ~7900ft, (and another smaller unlabeled lake below McConnell Peak) via Bassi Fork and drains into Union Valley Reservoir. In this picture, the arrow points to an area against the stream bed that shows evidence of erosion as indicated by round, smooth igneous rocks as well as the overburden on top of the rocks from uphill erosion During the summer months Bassi Falls is a continuous

cascade over granite bedrock and boulders

Type: Granite with a Quartzite intrusion

• In this picture, the intrusion runs through a bed of granite. The orange coloring indicate staining. Staining is caused by felsic minerals (iron rich) oxidizing in the granite.

Type: Granite

• It is evident that one side of the rock has a different texture than the other. During the time this rock was being formed, there is evidence that one side cooled much faster indicated by the fine grain texture. The course side cooled at a much slower rate as indicated by the larger crystals. With that said, one side is a fine-grained granite leaving the opposite side a course grained granite.

Type: Steller Blue Jay, Cyanocitta stelleriTwo years ago, I was fortunate enough to have a female Steller Jay make her nest in the eaves of our porch. The pictures you see on the left are of this Steller Jays, which we named Stella, nest.

• Native to North America, the Steller jay was first discovered on an Alaskan Island by naturalist Georg Steller in 1741. The bird was officially named by a scientist in 1788

• Nesting facts - incubation of 16 days for a clutch of 2-6 eggs. Their eggs are usually Bluish-green spotted dark brown, purplish, or olive.

• Their diet consists of seeds, insects, berries, nuts, small animals, eggs and nestlings

• Stellers are birds of coniferous and coniferous-deciduous forests. They are typically found in elevations between 3,000 and 10,000 feet.

• Todays birds are a group of theropoddinosaurs that evolved during the Mesozoic era.

Mountain Spiraea (Spiraea splendens). Also known as Rose Meadowsweet. Photo taken at Bassi Falls alongside the stream.

Spiraea splendens

Kingdom Plantae – Plants

Subkingdom Tracheobionta – Vascular plants

Superdivision Spermatophyta – Seed plants

Division Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants

Class Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons

Subclass Rosidae

Order Rosales

Family Rosaceae – Rose family

Genus Spiraea L. – spirea

Species Spiraea splendens Baumann ex K. Koch – rose meadowsweet

Variety Spiraea splendens Baumann ex K. Koch var. splendens –rose meadowsweet

Baumann ex K. Koch var. splendens

Pinus contorta

Common name: Lodgepole PineFamily: PinePlant Type: TreeShort Description: Medium length needles, thin bark, small cones. Leaves: needles in 2'sNative: Yes

• Maps• Google Earth/Google Maps: Bassi Falls, El Dorado County• The Eldorado National Forest Interpretive Association. Ed. Mary Knowles. ENFIA, 14 July 2011. Web.

15 July 2011.• Path: http://www.enfia.info/index.html.• America's Volcanic Past - Sierra Nevadas. USGS, n.d. Web. 15 July 2011. • Path: http://www.usgs.gov/.• Mineral Resources Online Spatial Data . Ed. C W. Jennings, R G. Strand, and T H. Rogers. USGS, 1977.

Web. 15 July 2011. • Path: http://tin.er.usgs.gov/geology/state/sgmc-unit.php?unit=CAgrMZ3%3B0.• Stellers Jay. Ed. Pete Dunne, D S. Dobkin, P R. Ehlrich, Erick Greene, and William Davison. Patuxent

Wildlife Research Center Longevity Reco, n.d. Web. 15 July 2011. • Path: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/stellers_jay/lifehistory• Natural Resource Conservation Source. US Dept of Agriculture, n.d. Web. 15 July 2011. • Path: http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=SPSPS.• Tree Plants by Scientific Name. Ed. Clinton C. Shock. Oregon State University, n.d. Web. 15 July 2011.

Path: http://www.malag.aes.oregonstate.edu/wildflowers/plantlist.php/restrict%5Bplanttype%5D-Tree