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Columbia Plateau
The Columbia Plateau is an important geology, geologic and geography, geographic region that lies across parts of the U.S. states of Washington (state), Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. It is a wide flood basalt plateau between the Cascade Range and the Rocky Mountains, cut through by the Columbia River. Geology During late Miocene and early Pliocene times, a flood basalt engulfed about of the Pacific Northwest, forming a large igneous province. Over a period of perhaps 10 to 15 million years, lava flow after lava flow poured out, ultimately accumulating to a thickness of more than 6,000 feet (1.8 km). As the molten rock came to the surface, the Earth's crust gradually sank into the space left by the rising lava. The Columbia River Basalt Group consists of seven formations: The Steens Basalt, Imnaha Basalt, Grande Ronde Basalt, Picture Gorge Basalt, Prineville Basalt, Wanapum Basalt, and Saddle Mountains Basalt. Many of these formations are subdivided into formal and info ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hot Spot (geology)
In geology, hotspots (or hot spots) are volcanic locales thought to be fed by underlying Mantle (geology), mantle that is anomalously hot compared with the surrounding mantle. Examples include the Hawaii hotspot, Hawaii, Iceland hotspot, Iceland, and Yellowstone hotspots. A hotspot's position on the Earth's surface is independent of plate boundary, tectonic plate boundaries, and so hotspots may create a chain of volcanoes as the plates move above them. There are two hypotheses that attempt to explain their origins. One suggests that hotspots are due to mantle plumes that rise as thermal diapirs from the core–mantle boundary. The alternative plate theory (volcanism), plate theory is that the mantle source beneath a hotspot is not anomalously hot, rather the crust above is unusually weak or thin, so that lithospheric extension permits the passive rising of melt from shallow depths. Origin The origins of the concept of hotspots lie in the work of J. Tuzo Wilson, who postulated ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ellensburg, Washington
Ellensburg is a city in and the county seat of Kittitas County, Washington, United States. It is located just east of the Cascade Range near the junction of Interstate 90 in Washington, Interstate 90 and Interstate 82. The population was 18,666 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. and was estimated to be 18,703 in 2022. The city is located along the Yakima River in the Kittitas Valley, an agricultural region that extends east towards the Columbia River. The valley is a major producer of timothy hay, which is processed and shipped internationally. Ellensburg is also the home of Central Washington University (CWU). Ellensburg, originally named Ellensburgh for the wife of town founder John Alden Shoudy, was founded in 1871 and grew rapidly in the 1880s following the arrival of the Northern Pacific Railway. The city was once a leading candidate to become the state capital of Washington, but its campaign was scuppered by a major fire in 1889. History John Alden Shoudy ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Davenport, Washington
Davenport is the county seat of and largest city in Lincoln County, Washington, Lincoln County, Washington (state), Washington, United States. The population was 1,703 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. As the seat of government for the county and its largest population center, Davenport serves as an important hub for business, medical and educational services in Lincoln County. History Prior to European settlement, the area around what would become Davenport was home to the Lower Band of the Spokane people, Spokane. The location was also along a popular east-west trade route, and the spring at present day Davenport was seen as an oasis and place for rest and camping along the journey. That trail would eventually bring white settlers to the area, with prospectors passing through on their way to goldfields in Montana. Like the Spokane before them, these settlers used the springs at the present site of Davenport to collect water, rest and camp. The setting of the spring ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Colfax, Washington
Colfax is a city in and the county seat of Whitman County, Washington, Whitman County, Washington (state), Washington, United States. The population was 2,782 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, making Colfax the second largest city in Whitman County behind Pullman. It is situated amidst wheat-covered hills in a valley at the confluence of the north and south forks of the Palouse River. U.S. Route 195#Washington, U.S. Route 195, which forms the town's main street, intersects with Washington State Route 26, State Route 26 at the north end of town; in the past, Colfax also lay at the junction of three major railway lines. It is part of the Pullman–Moscow combined statistical area. It was named after Schuyler Colfax, the Vice President of the United States from 1869 to 1873. History Palus (tribe), Palouse Indians were the first known human inhabitants of the Colfax area. White settlers arrived in the summer of 1870 and soon built a sawmill. A flour mill and other b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Biome
A biome () is a distinct geographical region with specific climate, vegetation, and animal life. It consists of a biological community that has formed in response to its physical environment and regional climate. In 1935, Tansley added the climatic and soil aspects to the idea, calling it ''ecosystem''. The International Biological Program (1964–74) projects popularized the concept of biome. However, in some contexts, the term ''biome'' is used in a different manner. In German literature, particularly in the Walter terminology, the term is used similarly as '' biotope'' (a concrete geographical unit), while the biome definition used in this article is used as an international, non-regional, terminology—irrespectively of the continent in which an area is present, it takes the same biome name—and corresponds to his "zonobiome", "orobiome" and "pedobiome" (biomes determined by climate zone, altitude or soil). In the Brazilian literature, the term ''biome'' is sometimes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Temperate Grasslands, Savannas, And Shrublands
Temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands are terrestrial biomes defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. The predominant vegetation in these biomes consists of grass and/or shrubs. The climate is temperate and ranges from Semi-arid climate, semi-arid to semi-humid. The habitat type differs from tropical grasslands in the annual temperature regime and the types of species found here. The habitat type is known as prairie in North America, pampas in South America, veld in Southern Africa and steppe in Asia. Generally speaking, these regions are devoid of trees, except for riparian or gallery forests associated with streams and rivers. Steppes/shortgrass prairies are short grasslands that occur in semi-arid climates. Tallgrass prairies are tall grasslands in higher rainfall areas. Heath (habitat), Heaths and pastures are, respectively, low shrublands and grasslands where forest growth is hindered by human activity but not the climate. Tall grasslands, including the tallgras ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ecoregion
An ecoregion (ecological region) is an ecological and geographic area that exists on multiple different levels, defined by type, quality, and quantity of environmental resources. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and contain characteristic, geographically distinct assemblages of natural communities and species. The biodiversity of flora, fauna and ecosystems that characterise an ecoregion tends to be distinct from that of other ecoregions. In theory, biodiversity or conservation ecoregions are relatively large areas of land or water where the probability of encountering different species and communities at any given point remains relatively constant, within an acceptable range of variation (largely undefined at this point). Ecoregions are also known as "ecozones" ("ecological zones"), although that term may also refer to biogeographic realms. Three caveats are appropriate for all bio-geographic mapping approaches. Firstly, no single bio-geographic fram ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Columbia Plateau (ecoregion)
The Columbia Plateau ecoregion is a Level III ecoregion designated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) encompassing approximately of land within the U.S. states of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. The ecoregion extends across a wide swath of the Columbia River Basin from The Dalles, Oregon to Lewiston, Idaho to Okanogan, Washington near the Canada–U.S. border. It includes nearly of the Columbia River, as well as the lower reaches of major tributaries such as the Snake and Yakima rivers and the associated drainage basins. It is named for the Columbia Plateau, a flood basalt plateau formed by the Columbia River Basalt Group during the late Miocene and early Pliocene. The arid sagebrush steppe and grasslands of the region are flanked by moister, predominantly forested, mountainous ecoregions on all sides. The underlying basalt is up to thick and partially covered by thick loess deposits. Where precipitation amounts are sufficient, the deep loess soils h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Geyser
A geyser (, ) is a spring with an intermittent water discharge ejected turbulently and accompanied by steam. The formation of geysers is fairly rare and is caused by particular hydrogeological conditions that exist only in a few places on Earth. Generally, geyser field sites are located near active volcanic areas, and the geyser effect is due to the proximity of magma. Surface water works its way down to an average depth of around where it contacts hot rocks. The pressurized water boils, and this causes the geyser effect of hot water and steam spraying out of the geyser's surface vent. A geyser's eruptive activity may change or cease due to ongoing deposition of minerals within their plumbing, exchange of functions with nearby hot springs, earthquake influences, and human intervention. Like many other natural phenomena, geysers are not unique to Earth. Jet-like eruptions, often called cryogeysers, have been observed on several of the moons of the outer Solar System. Due t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States located in the northwest corner of Wyoming, with small portions extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd United States Congress, 42nd U.S. Congress through the Yellowstone National Park Protection Act and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872. Yellowstone was the first national park in the US, and is also widely understood to be the first national park in the world. The park is known for List of animals of Yellowstone, its wildlife and Geothermal areas of Yellowstone, its many geothermal features, especially the Old Faithful geyser, one of its most popular. While it represents many types of biomes, the subalpine forest is the most abundant. It is part of the South Central Rockies forests ecoregion. While Native Americans have lived in the Yellowstone region for at least 11,000 years, aside from visits by Mountain ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Core–mantle Boundary
The core–mantle boundary (CMB) of Earth lies between the planet's silicate mantle and its liquid iron–nickel outer core, at a depth of below Earth's surface. The boundary is observed via the discontinuity in seismic wave velocities at that depth due to the differences between the acoustic impedances of the solid mantle and the molten outer core. P-wave velocities are much slower in the outer core than in the deep mantle while S-waves do not exist at all in the liquid portion of the core. Recent evidence suggests a distinct boundary layer directly above the CMB possibly made of a novel phase of the basic perovskite mineralogy of the deep mantle named post-perovskite. Seismic tomography studies have shown significant irregularities within the boundary zone and appear to be dominated by the African and Pacific Large low-shear-velocity provinces (LLSVP). The uppermost section of the outer core is thought to be about 500–1,800 K hotter than the overlying mantle, creating a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
