Tag: Environment

Looking back in time: Geological perspectives on Canadian Rockies

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If you are in the Canadian Rockies, you must be wondering, why are the colors of these lakes so blue? Why are some of the cliffs so sharp and some are blunted? What is the difference between a Glacier and an Icefield?

Formation of the mountains

  • 500 million years ago, this area was by the ocean and by the equator. This is where Pacific oceanic plate and American continental plates met. Heavier oceanic plate colliding with lighter continental plate created something like a ‘big bang’ 500 million years ago, causing sedimentary rock to rise up like a ‘fold’. If you look closely towards the bare cliffs around you, you can see clearly visible layers. The extreme pressure of the tectonic shift caused the whole sea bed, which had layers and layers of sediments over the ages, to rise up. The top most layer is the most recent, albeit millions of years old.
  • Since it was the tropics back then, an abundance of sea life and fossils can be found in the layers of sedimentary rock here. Different layers have different colors and texture from different types of rock like brittle shale, softer limestone or sandstone. Some contained hydrocarbons due to vegetation (forming into coal) and animals (forming into petroleum).
  • What is currently British Columbia, was formed during this tectonic collision from magma. But the Rockies were created from sedimentary layers pushed up; that is why you will not find any igneous rocks, like granite, here.
  • If you look carefully, the sedimentary layers are not parallel which it was when it was formed. The layers also seem to have broken along a vertical line. Due to high pressure from the weight of the rocks above, a fault develops which is essentially a crack. The rocks on either side of the faultline, slide up or down, thereby creating a phase shift. Other types of faults, caused by tectonic movements and glacier forces are also visible throughout the Rockies creating shapes.
  • Another factor to consider is the weathering by wind and glacier movement for millions of years, causing some cliffs to be extremely steep and some peaks somewhat blunted.

Color of the Lakes

Heavy and thick glaciers formed most of the lakes in this area. As gravity pulls the glaciers, the incredibly heavy ice grinds the rock into rock flour. It is so fine and light, it takes long time to settle down at the bottom of the lake. Bright sunshine is absorbed by the rock flour and only blue light from the spectrum is reflected. That’s why the color of the lakes are such vibrant blue, especially when the sun shines the brightest.DSC_1812

Glacier vs. Icefield

Best analogy to understand this is to think of the Icefields as a lake and glaciers being the rivers coming out of the lakes. Most glaciers are formed from the icefields, and follows gravity. Movement of glaciers is much slower compared to a river, comparable to growth rate of your fingernails. There are a number of glaciers in the Canadian Rockies, with the Athabasca glacier and Saskatchewan glaciers being the largest and most significant. Most lakes and rivers in this area are fed by one of these glaciers, thereby creating some of the purest form of water. Columbia Icefield is one of the largest ones in the world. It is a staggering 200 square kilometers wide and at areas more than 200 meters deep. You can spot flanks of the icefield on top of peaks and plateaus from the entire stretch of the Icefield Parkway.

Mammoth Cave National Park

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While this gem of a site may receive quite a few uninteresting reviews from average tourists, for the science enthusiast and hardcore geologists, this cave system presents a plethora of opportunities to dive deep into the dark and virgin territories under the Earth’s surface, literally. With close to 400 miles of underground cave system, this is the world’s longest caves, and hides a ton of history, even before 1700’s when the caves were discovered by Europeans.

Located between Nashville and Louisville right on interstate 65, it is hard to get to unless you have your own transportation. Suggested time to be spent here is about 4-5 hours. Obviously you cannot navigate through the entire cave system (mind you it has 400 miles of caves), out of which more than 75% is still not ventured out to. You can get a glimpse of the caves without a guide, but for everything else, you’d need a ranger/guide rightfully so.

There are tours offered (Frozen Niagara Tour, Historic Tour) and both take a group of visitors in a line through narrow passages requiring hiking, ducking, swaying. The Frozen Niagara tour takes you through the well lit areas, but in the large dome, they offer to turn off all lights (incl. cellphones) to experience ‘actual’ darkness. This was my favorite part of any cave tour, where you can be sitting in pitch black darkness with zero trace of light emanating from any source. It is simply impossible to recreate that zero-lightness above the surface.

Although it is probably never going to attract a lot of tourists, simply because it tries to keep the ecological balance inside the cave by not modernizing it, thereby making it a sort of ‘dull’. But for someone with some background knowledge about formation of caves and the dynamic eco-system inside them will find the mammoth cave system fascinating. Encourage all the readers to make at least one quick trip if you are passing through or visiting Nashville/Louisville.

Manuel Antonio National Park

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 Just a small sized park compared to the other gigantic ones around the country, Manuel Antonio National Park is home to hundreds of species of wildlife and is regarded as one of the top bio-diverse parks in the continent. From mammals, reptiles and insects to a wide variety of vegetation and plants are condensed in this park, thereby making it much easier to spot wildlife, even without a guide.

This park though attracts a lot of visitors and because of its size makes it look crowded at times. Unless you have a guide already reserved, the line to get in can be daunting and time consuming. We got a really nice guide, Chelsea, who walked us around, spotted and provided interesting information about each.

The guides talk among themselves on the trips thereby increasing the chances of spotting elusive wildlife. Plus they have high resolution scopes to see the animals up close. You can even take snaps through the scope if situation permits.

On our 2 hour tour, we spotted iguanas, snakes, bats, two and three toed sloths, and a plethora of birds. The highlight was the endangered squirrel monkeys and white faced monkeys. The park has well marked trails and bridges making it easy to walk and explore.

After exploring the trails and experiencing the wild, we hopped on to the beach and dipped our souls in the warm shallow waters off the cove. Overall a fulfilling experience especially made memorable due to the cute and endangered squirrel monkeys.

Tip – The monkeys try to steal food (esp. potato chips, fruits) that are harmful for them. So please do not carry any food inside the park or keep them hidden all the time. We heard and saw monkeys stealing cameras or bags and holding it hostage until you give them the food you are carrying. They were our predecessors so assume that they have some kind of brain that are aware of barter trade.

The park only admits a limited number of visitors every day, so make sure to go early in the morning. Petty theft is also common (by humans not monkeys), so try not to carry valuables with you or keep a close eye. Always.

Walk through the Rainforest

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Bugs, insects, wildlife lurking at every corner while you carefully walk through narrow walking trails under a thick canopy of the rainforest where sunlight is so scarce that you can choose to keep your sunglasses at the hotel room. For the travelers with an avid interest for the environment and the preservation of the wild, the Costa Rican rainforest provides ample opportunity to explore the flora, fauna and wildlife dangerously up close.

In one of the hikes through the canopied rainforest near Arenal, we went through multiple hanging bridges, soaking in the mist and charm of the woods while being far away from the cacophony of urban life. In a 2 mile trail full of excitement, we spotted some of the most exotic creatures and vegetations it had to offer.

Flora and Fauna

Although tiny in terms of landmass, Costa Rica flaunts a heavy percentage of world’s biodiversity. The rainforest itself is a live and dynamic ecosystem with intense competition for survival. Trees grow close to 100 feet tall to get sunlight, while parasitic vines wind around the taller trunks to get their nutrition. Adaptation is the name of the game here with ‘survival of the fittest’ being the mantra. Crowning heights of the canopy trees, bromeliads’ trick of holding rainwater, and thick mosses covering the tree roots are all examples of survival tricks.

Survival instincts flow into the fauna as well, with insects eating leaves, butterflies acting as pollinating agents, Army ants taking down larger prey as well as sweeping the ground clean from dead insects. There are traps everywhere, with spiderwebs catching an unsuspecting moth, Helicopter Damselflies attacking spiders, and arachnids eating plants by camouflaging.

It is also considered the bird watchers paradise, with more than 800 species of birds with their colorful feathers and interesting behavior making way to photographers and bird enthusiasts having a rewarding time. A keen eye and some patience will surely make encounters with a few of the 200 species of reptiles, amphibians, mammals, birds and insects possible. Below are some fauna we spotted in the wild across the hikes through the rainforest –

Amphibians – Mostly easy to spot and most are oblivious to humans. Blue-jeans/poison dart frog, red-eyed leaf frog, cane toad, glass frog

Birds and Butterflies – Butterflies are easy to spot but birds are not since they dwell mostly at the top of the treelines. Sometimes viewing from the hanging bridges give you a better look at them flying below your eye level. Even Toucans and Quetzals, having a deluge of colors, are hard to spot in the semi-darkness of the rainforest. Some species we spotted are – Monarch mariposa, Keel-billed Toucan, Bananaquit, Manakin, Owl-eyed mariposa, Cook, Blue morpho, Scarlet Macaw, SResplendent Quetzal, Motmot, Hummingbirds

Insects – These guys are pretty much everywhere, and mostly harmless unless touched. Many varieties exist but some examples of what we saw are – Golden Orb weaver, Beetle, Wolf spider

Mammals – Although harder to spot as these are elusive to humans, some examples of mammals we spotted are: Jaguar, Tapir, Howler Monkey, Bats, Squirrel Monkey, Spider Monkey, Two toed and three toed Sloth, Vampire Bats

Reptiles – Need to approach these with extremely careful footsteps lest they flee or hide or even bite you. Without a guide, casual tourists will easily pass by some of the dangerous snakes (e.g. vipers, boas, vine snake) because of their incredible camouflage. Some lizards and iguanas are easier to spot during the day as they bask in the sun to soak up energy. But in general it is better to stay at a distance to admire their beauty and habitat. Although home to many more species, we spotted a few on our rainforest journeys – Black Ctenosaur (Iguana), Spectacled Caiman, American Crocodile, Yellow pitviper, Eyelash Viper