Several Wildfires Erupt Across the Golden State
Several large and fast moving fires, stoked by heavy winds and fueled by dry conditions have erupted across California causing the destruction of homes, and business as well as...
Physical Geography
External Processes Denude Northwest California Landscapes
Our previous field trip around Humboldt Bay focused on the internal or endogenic (tectonic) processes that are building initial landscapes in northwest California. Here, we turn our attention to...
Chasing Earthquakes and Tsunami in Humboldt County and the Northwest Coast
There is a region in California that experiences more frequent damaging earthquakes and tsunami than anywhere on the U.S. West Coast outside Alaska. It is a region where subduction...
Geologic History in Sierra Nevada Gold Country
By the 1980s, scientists’ had gained a clearer understanding of the role of plate tectonics in distributing rock formations and Earth resources across the globe, especially along past and...
Mercury Pollution in the Cache Creek Watershed, Northern California
Mercury is a dangerous neurotoxin that has accumulated in the world’s ecosystems and waterways. The primary mercury pollution sources globally are gold mining activities and coal combustion. In California,...
Comparing Sequent Occupance in Mediterranean Landscapes
Throughout this project and publication, we have recognized California’s powerful connections to the world. Are we and our landscapes truly unique or are we more alike when compared with...
Searching for Autumn Colors in the Eastern Sierra Nevada
Individual regions of California offer unique beauty, stories, and lessons in geography that can rival entire states, particularly where two regions commingle. One example is where the eastern Sierra...
Deadly Firestorms That Ravaged Santa Rosa and California’s Wine Country
At the time of this posting, fires have again erupted in Ventura and Los Angeles Counties. Happening with such regularity in the southern part of the state that, through...
Nearly the Worst Disaster in California History?
It was more like a Hollywood movie than a true story. The crisis began on February 7, 2017. Weeks of repeated atmospheric rivers drove drenching rains over northern and...
