Piling Removal at Old Indian Island Ferry

Setting up to pull piles. Indian Island is in the background

This week the old piles at the Indian Island ferry landing were being pulled. The ferry was replaced by a bridge over 60 years ago (indian-island-jefferson-county). With removal of the piles all that will remain is a few slabs of concrete. This part of a steady ongoing effort to remove old treated piles.

Tsunamis Links via the Coast Nerd

Ian Miller has a nice post (tsunamis-in-strait-of-juan-de-fuca) with some very good links including one to a couple of papers I have read but have not gotten around to posting anything on.

From Hutchinson, Peterson, Sterling (2013)

 http://tsunamisociety.uares on map indicorg/STHVol32N4Y2013.pdf

squares on map indicate tsunami sediment locations 

Whatcom Wins Wins

Earlier this year a group of Whatcom County folks got together and said "Let's start a campaign." Sort of like starting a band.

 

 

I suppose more than one political band formed. In this case Whatcom Wins pulled off a sweep of the four seats up on the Whatcom County Council. I went the Whatcom Wins election night gig and spent most of the time talking geology with geologist friend. 

 

County government plays a big role in shaping the future landscape in Washington State. But they do a lot more. Think local criminal justice, public health, emergency medical services, flood control and management, state pass through programs, mental health services. Big stuff and best of luck to the reelected council members and the two new members.

Lake Lewis and Wallula Gap

 

Lake Lewis and the very narrow Wallula Gap

During the ice age floods that swept into eastern Washington, the flood waters were greatly slowed by Wallula Gap. This choke point caused the flood waters to back up the Snake River canyon all the way to Idaho, flooded the Walla Walla valley and backed up the Yakima valley as well as large tracts of the lower Columbia Basin.

Lake Lewis waters would have been filled with mud and silt from the fast moving flood waters stripping away entire landscapes of soils and was filled with glacial silts and floating ice bergs from the collapsed glacial ice dam that triggered the largest floods. The silts deposited in the Walla Walla valley and Yakima valley as well as elsewhere the Pasco Basin (Lower Columbia) left a legacy of rich soils.

The blue area at the south end of the figure is a residual of the elevation I picked, but there was also a temporary lake that formed downstream of Wallula Gap when the water became constricted at the Columbia River Gorge forming Lake Umatilla and additional excellent farm soils in the valleys the water backed up into.

The elevation for the lake I picked was approximately 1,200 feet in elevation. This would have been from one of the bigger floods. Not all of the floods would have created such a deep lake; however, the Walla Walla valley and Yakima valley were flooded possibly as many as 40 times or more. The depths of some of the later floods may have been somewhat reduced by the widening of Wallula Gap from the erosion of earlier floods.

One can see in the map above that the hinge in the Horse Heaven Hills (HERE) would have been a great view spot to watch the floods.

Three New Species Identified in Washington State

I appreciate diatoms as a soil amenity and as a marker for geologic time. These algae have cell wall consisting of silica which makes for great fossil remains that can be used to date geologic strata.

Three new species found in Washington State alpine lakes are described in the paper: /phytotaxa/content/2013/f/pt00127p057.pdf. The species Psammothidium lacustre, Psammothidium alpine, and Psammothidium nivale are named for being a lake dweller (lacustre), for the alpine lakes they were found in and snow (novale) in for Snow Lake in Mount Rainier National Park.

November Blows In and Typhoon to Visit Wenatchee and Spokane

November will be blowing in a bit of wind storm Saturday, particular along the Strait of Juan de Fuca. My kind of Typhoon typhoon/dates/ will be in Wenatchee on Nov 8th and Spokane on the 9th.  

 

 

River Otters and a Seal

During a paddle to Blakely Island I hugged the bedrock shoreline of Obstruction Island to observe the bedrock sequence. Most of the island consists of metamorphosed turbidites. These rocks are alternating silt and sandstone layers for the most part that were originally ocean floor sediments deposited by turbidity currents. Lapen (2000) assigned this particular set of turbidites to the Lummi Formation. Garver (1998) proposed calling these rocks the Obstruction Formation but still included them as part of what he termed the the Lummi Group. More on that after I straighten a few things out in my head.

The units along this sequence are tilted such that they made a nice ramp for river otters.

River otter hangout

I did not see any otters at this location, but the well worn otter path is not an uncommon site along the shore. A while back I was on another island discussing access impacts to rocky headland. A concern had been raised regarding ware and tear on vegetation; however, the point already had a well worn otter path and it was soon clear that otters do not use outhouses.

Later during my venture while on shore some otters came to check me out while I made my way along the shoreline. It seemed a bit of role reversal. The animals were gawking at the wildlife (me) and keeping a safe distance from the potential dangerous wild animal ( me gain). I made up a conversation for them. "Don't get so close Fred." "He's not interested in us, he's just looking at the sand and beach and dirt". "I think he's a subspecies - geologist, their the only types out in this weather and this time of year." "Still, stay back. You never know when they'll turn and attack".

River otters keeping an eye on me

I have yet to see any sea otters in the San Juans. The sea otters live full time in the sea. They survive the cold water by having very thick fur and that fur nearly caused there complete extermination via fur hunting starting in the late 1700s and they have not, at least as far as I know made it back to the San Juan Islands.

Later while heading back from Blakely Island, a harbor seal paralleled my course for while with occasional glances at me to be sure I was not getting too close. The seal hauled out on Spindle Island, a small bit of rock that is the San Juan Islands National Wildlife Refuge.

All in all a good field gig.