|
Neopluvial
The Neopluvial was a phase of wetter and colder climate that occurred during the late Holocene in the Western United States. During the Neopluvial, water levels in a number of now-dry lakes and closed lakes such as the Great Salt Lake rose and vegetation changed in response to increased precipitation. The event was not exactly synchronous everywhere, with neopluvial lake-level rises occurring between 6,000 and 2,000 years ago. It is correlative to the Neoglacial period. Evidence The neopluvial took place in the western United States during the late Holocene, causing the levels of lakes in the Great Basin to increase and previously dry lakes and springs to refill. It has been observed in Great Salt Lake, Fallen Leaf Lake, Lake Cochise, the Mojave Desert, Mono Lake, Owens Lake, Pyramid Lake, San Luis Lake, Silver Lake, Summer Lake, Tulare Lake, Walker Lake and Winnemucca Lake. During the Neopluvial, the Great Salt Lake became fresher, and Pyramid Lake reached a water l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Great Salt Lake
The Great Salt Lake is the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere and the eighth-largest terminal lake in the world. It lies in the northern part of the U.S. state of Utah and has a substantial impact upon the local climate, particularly through lake-effect snow. It is a remnant of Lake Bonneville, a prehistoric body of water that covered much of western Utah. The area of the lake can fluctuate substantially due to its low average depth of . In the 1980s, it reached a historic high of , and the West Desert Pumping Project was established to mitigate flooding by pumping water from the lake into the nearby desert. In 2021, after years of sustained drought and increased water diversion upstream of the lake, it fell to its lowest recorded area at , falling below the previous low set in 1963. The lake's three major tributaries, the Jordan, Weber, and Bear rivers together deposit around 1.1 million tons of minerals in the lake per year. Since the lake has no outl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neoglacial
The neoglaciation ("renewed glaciation") describes the documented cooling trend in the Climatology, Earth's climate during the Holocene, following the retreat of the Wisconsin glaciation, the Last glacial period, most recent glacial period. Neoglaciation has followed the Hypsithermal or Holocene Climatic Optimum, the warmest point in the Earth's climate during the current interglacial stage, excluding the global warming-induced temperature increase starting in the 20th century. The neoglaciation has no well-marked universal beginning: local conditions and Ecological stability#Resistance and inertia (persistence), ecological inertia affected the onset of detectably cooler (and wetter) conditions. Driven inexorably by the Milankovitch cycle, cooler summers in higher latitudes of North America, which would cease to melt the annual snowfall completely, were masked at first by the presence of the slowly disappearing continental ice sheets, which persisted long after the astronomically ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Holocene
The Holocene () is the current geologic time scale, geological epoch, beginning approximately 11,700 years ago. It follows the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene together form the Quaternary period. The Holocene is an interglacial period within the ongoing Ice age, glacial cycles of the Quaternary, and is equivalent to Marine isotope stages, Marine Isotope Stage 1. The Holocene correlates with the last maximum axial tilt towards the Sun of the Earth#Axial tilt and seasons, Earth's obliquity. The Holocene corresponds with the rapid proliferation, growth, and impacts of the human species worldwide, including Recorded history, all of its written history, technological revolutions, development of major civilizations, and overall significant transition towards urban culture, urban living in the present. The human impact on modern-era Earth and its ecosystems may be considered of global significance for th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walker Lake (Nevada)
Walker Lake is a natural lake in the Great Basin in western Nevada in the United States. It is 11 mi (17 km) long and 5 mi (8 km) wide, in northwestern Mineral County along the east side of the Wassuk Range, about 75 mi (120 km) southeast of Reno. The lake is fed from the north by the Walker River and has no natural outlet except absorption and evaporation. The community of Walker Lake is found along the southwest shore. Its name in the Northern Paiute language is Agai Pah, which means "trout lake." Walker Lake and the surrounding area play a significant social and cultural role for many Northern Paiutes whose ancestors inhabited the area around the lake and depended on the lake's fish and bird populations for food. Throughout the 20th century, Walker Lake supported over 50% of the economy of Mineral County through tourism and recreation. From fishing derbies to boat races, water skiing to an annual Loon Festival, the lake was a key part of Min ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marsh
In ecology, a marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous plants rather than by woody plants.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p More in general, the word can be used for any low-lying and seasonally waterlogged terrain. In Europe and in agricultural literature low-lying meadows that require draining and embanked polderlands are also referred to as marshes or marshland. Marshes can often be found at the edges of lakes and streams, where they form a transition between the aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. They are often dominated by grasses, rushes or reeds. If woody plants are present they tend to be low-growing shrubs, and the marsh is sometimes called a carr. This form of vegetation is what differentiates marshes from other types of wetland such as swamps, which are dominated by trees, and mires, which are wetlands that have accumulated deposits of acidic peat. Marshes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ephedra Viridis
''Ephedra viridis'', known by the common names green Mormon tea, Brigham tea, green ephedra, and Indian tea, is a species of ''Ephedra (genus), Ephedra''. It is indigenous to the Western United States, where it is a member of varied scrub, woodland, desert, and open habitats. It grows at elevations. Description The ''Ephedra viridis'' shrub is woody below, topped with many dense clusters of erect bright green twigs. They may yellow somewhat with age. Nodes along the twigs are marked by the tiny pairs of vestigial leaves, which start out reddish but soon dry to brown or black. The stems are green and photosynthesis, photosynthetic. Male plants produce pollen cones at the nodes, each under a centimeter long with protruding yellowish Sporangium, sporangiophores. Female plants produce seed cones which are slightly larger and contain two seeds each. Chemistry Information about the chemistry of this species is contradictory. James D. Adams, Jr. and Cecilia Garcia claim it contains no ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sagebrush
Sagebrush is the common name of several woody and herbaceous species of plants in the genus ''Artemisia (plant), Artemisia''. The best-known sagebrush is the shrub ''Artemisia tridentata''. Sagebrush is native to the western half of North America. Following is an alphabetical list of common names for various species of the genus ''Artemisia'', along with their corresponding scientific name, scientific names. Many of these species are known by more than one common name, and some common names represent more than one species. * Alpine sagebrush—' * African sagebrush—''Artemisia afra'' * Basin sagebrush—''Artemisia tridentata'' * Big sagebrush—see Basin sagebrush * Bigelow sagebrush—''Artemisia bigelovii'' * Birdfoot sagebrush—''Artemisia pedatifida'' * Black sagebrush—''Artemisia nova'' * Blue sagebrush—see Basin sagebrush * Boreal sagebrush—''Artemisia norvegica'' * Budsage—''Artemisia spinescens'' * California sagebrush—''Artemisia californica'' * Carruth' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Glacier
A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such as crevasses and seracs, as it slowly flows and deforms under stresses induced by its weight. As it moves, it abrades rock and debris from its substrate to create landforms such as cirques, moraines, or fjords. Although a glacier may flow into a body of water, it forms only on land“Glacier, N., Pronunciation.” Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford UP, June 2024, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/7553486115. Accessed 25 Jan. 2025. and is distinct from the much thinner sea ice and lake ice that form on the surface of bodies of water. On Earth, 99% of glacial ice is contained within vast ice sheets (also known as "continental glaciers") in the polar regions, but glaciers may be found in mountain ranges on ever ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beartooth Mountains
The Beartooth Mountains are located in south central Montana and northwest Wyoming, U.S. and are part of the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, within Custer, Gallatin and Shoshone National Forests. The Beartooths are the location of Granite Peak, which at is the highest point in the state of Montana. The mountains are just northeast of Yellowstone National Park and are part of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. The mountains are traversed by road via the Beartooth Highway (U.S. 212) with the highest elevation at Beartooth Pass ). The name of the mountain range has been attributed by the U.S. Forest Service to a rugged peak found in the range, Beartooth Peak, that has the appearance of a bear's tooth. Originally, the Beartooth Mountains were named after Beartooth Butte, a large block of paleozoic sedimentary rock on the Beartooth Plateau, and Beartooth Butte was named for a tooth-like structure that projects from the front of the butte. The Beartooth Mountains sit upon the lar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ice Patch
Ice is water that is freezing, frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 °Celsius, C, 32 °Fahrenheit, F, or 273.15 Kelvin, K. It occurs naturally on Earth, on other planets, in Oort cloud objects, and as interstellar ice. As a naturally occurring crystalline inorganic solid with an ordered structure, ice is considered to be a mineral. Depending on the presence of Impurity, impurities such as particles of soil or bubbles of air, it can appear transparent or a more or less Opacity (optics), opaque bluish-white color. Virtually all of the ice on Earth is of a Hexagonal crystal system, hexagonal Crystal structure, crystalline structure denoted as ''ice Ih'' (spoken as "ice one h"). Depending on temperature and pressure, at least nineteen phases of ice, phases (Sphere packing, packing geometries) can exist. The most common phase transition to ice Ih occurs when liquid water is cooled below (, ) at standard atmospheric pressure. When water is coo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Meadow
A meadow ( ) is an open habitat or field, vegetated by grasses, herbs, and other non- woody plants. Trees or shrubs may sparsely populate meadows, as long as they maintain an open character. Meadows can occur naturally under favourable conditions but are often artificially created from cleared shrub or woodland for the production of hay, fodder or livestock. Meadow habitats as a group are characterized as semi-natural grasslands, meaning that they are largely composed of species native to the region, with only limited human intervention. Meadows attract a multitude of wildlife and support flora and fauna that could not thrive in other habitats. They are ecologically important since they provide areas for animal courtship displays, nesting, food gathering, pollinating insects, and sometimes sheltering if the vegetation is high enough. Intensified agricultural practices (too frequent mowing, use of mineral fertilizers, manure and insecticides) may lead to declin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
White Mountains (California)
The White Mountains of California and Nevada are a triangular fault-block mountain, fault-block mountain range facing the Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada across the upper Owens Valley. They extend for approximately as a greatly elevated plateau about wide on the south, narrowing to a point at the north, with elevations generally increasing south to north. The range's broad southern end is near the community of Big Pine, California, Big Pine, where Westgard Pass and Deep Springs Valley separate it from the Inyo Mountains. The narrow northern end is at Montgomery Pass, Nevada, Montgomery Pass, where U.S. Route 6 crosses. The Fish Lake Valley lies east of the range; the southeast part of the mountains are separated from the Silver Peak Range by block faulting across the Furnace Creek Fault Zone, forming a feeder valley to Fish Lake Valley. The range lies within the eastern section of the Inyo National Forest. Ecology Ecologically, the White Mountains are like the other ranges ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
