Outside The Interzone: May 25, 2014

Saturday, May 31, 2014

Saturd80's: "The More Things Change" Edition

Elton John, "Texan Love Song," from 1973's "Don't Shoot Me, I'm Only the Piano Player"

This has always been my favorite Elton John album, and this song's satirical take on conservative rednecks, more than 40 years later, remains sadly accurate. This wasn't a common choice for listening when I was an undergrad, but it wasn't rare for me to queue it up for a friend who didn't know it. Here's the chorus; looks like it might've been written yesterday, no?

So it's Ki yi yippie yi yi

You long hairs are sure gonna die

Our American home was clean till you came

And kids still respected the president's name

And the eagle still flew in the sky

Hearts filled with national pride

Then you came along with your drug-crazy songs
Goddamit you're all gonna die
Goddamit you're all gonna die.

Geo 730: May 31, Day 517: Evacuation Route

It's a blurry drive-by, through a closed window and accompanying glare, but we're ascending the grade to the Bandon's southern terrace here. This is what you should do in case of an earthquake: head for high ground as quickly as you can. There wasn't an earthquake this day, but I considered this good practice.

Photo unmodified. March 9, 2012. FlashEarth location (approximate).

Friday, May 30, 2014

Geo 730: May 30, Day 516: Gorse

Not so much directly geological, though its typical setting is related to the landscape and geology (based on my experience with this invasive), as I described yesterday. More to the point on this trip, though, I hadn't been to this quarry in about 20 years. It's not the best blueschist- that seems to be the blocks in the jetty. However, when the option is there, it's good to try to get to an actual bedrock exposure, as opposed to loose, transported blocks, regardless of the "quality" of the blocks or exposure. Didn't happen, and those thorns above are the reason.

Photo unmodified. March 9, 2012. FlashEarth location.

Thursday, May 29, 2014

Geo 730: May 29, Day 515: Quarry Wall

Looking up the back wall of the blueschist quarry in Bandon, you can see it's a windswept environment by the way the trees, probably shore pines, are feathered out. The invasive gorse in the foreground seems to compete especially well in disturbed soils with high precipitation, and cool, windy environments such as are found at Oregon's coast. I don't know if it has made its way inland to the valley, but Scotch broom seems to outcompete it in warmer and drier environments. As is the case all the time, the geologic and geographic setting plays a huge role in what living things fare well in an area, shaping both climate and soil.

Photo unmodified. March 9, 2012. FlashEarth location.

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Geo 730: May 28, Day 514: A Final Close-Up

A somewhat weathered block of blueschist, not quite in situ, but abandoned in the quarry from which it was excavated. In my experience, the rock here in the quarry is much finer-grained than that at the jetty. The portion of the pod that was closer to the river may have gone through more prolonged or more intense metamorphism than the remnants here, farther to the south, but I'm simply speculating. The darker rings evident in the photo are probably lichen or some similar biological thing, and the rust stains should be fairly easy to explain for those who've seen the gorgeous pyrite in earlier photos (e.g. here and here).

Photo unmodified. March 9, 2012. FlashEarth location.

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Geo 730: May 27, Day 513: Two Tiered Town

Over the last few days, I've mentioned several times that Bandon, like many of Oregon's coastal towns, consists of an older portion right near sea level, then a mostly newer portion on adjacent elevated marine terraces. This photo illustrates that well. The cliff to the right is the remnant of the blueschist quarry where the blocks used in the construction of the jetties were obtained.

Photo unmodified. March 9, 2012. FlashEarth location.

Monday, May 26, 2014

Geo 730: May 26, Day 512: Elevated Marine Terraces

We're standing in one of the undeveloped lots between Oldtown Bandon and the south jetty, also the site of the blueschist quarry used to construct both the south and north jetties. Blueschist can be seen exposed in the old quarry face, but it's largely overgrown now, and mostly developed private property. Another issue, only partially obvious in this photo, is the heavy growth of gorse. It's an invasive plant, and judging by what we saw on this trip, only slightly less superior than scotch broom at out-competing every other plant around. What you can't tell from the photo is that it is covered with long, stiff, and extremely sharp thorns. One does not simply walk into gorse-dor.

But more to the point of the last couple days, we're probably ten to fifteen feet above mean sea level here, and the marine terrace where the house sits, above, is another forty feet or so up. I'd feel mostly (though not absolutely) safe from the effects of a large tsunami there. Elevated marine terraces such as this are the norm on the Oregon coast, not the exception. Towns were founded as ports on post-glacial estuarine fill, deposited after the seas rose in response to the melting back of continental ice sheets. But more often than not, those low areas are bounded by higher terraces along either side of the stream that provides the shelter to the port itself- in the case of Bandon, the Coquille River. Many, if not most, larger Oregon coast towns have long outgrown the relatively restricted bottomlands, and now house the bulk of their residents and businesses above the expected crest of a Cascadia-initiated tsunami. I can see the economic incentive in permitting low areas, such as where I'm standing, to be developed (easier access to shore, better viewscape, equals much, much higher property value, and in turn, higher property tax revenue), but as I said yesterday, it seems irresponsible, to say the least.

Photo unmodified. March 9, 2012. FlashEarth location.

Sunday, May 25, 2014

Geo 730: May 25, Day 511: "Bandon, We Have A Problem" II

Looking roughly south along Bandon's south beach, you can see all the luxurious condos and beachfront homes. With the exception of the facilities on the far left, pretty much everything below the terrace in the distance has been built since the late 1980's, when the threat of earthquakes and tsunami was first recognized. Though the schedule has not been announced, those buildings along the forebeach are certainly slated for demolition. Even the larger building farther back, in the left middle and behind the pole, is vulnerable at its base... and the upper stories won't stay put if the lower ones are blown out.

Most coastal Oregon communities are based around ports, and the towns then grew away from those, often up onto surrounding terraces. The lower commercial areas are generally referred to as "Oldtown." And while I hope that, as time passes, places like Bandon look to relocate critical facilities and commerce to higher elevation, the fact that they've been in place for a century or more is completely understandable. On the other hand, permitting residential development over the last 25 years on this low fluvial-marine terrace and estuarine sediment is irresponsible, to say the least.

As commenter Skinny Dennis said in response to yesterday's post,

A good friend lives in Bandon on the bluff above the harbor. Occasionally the tsunami siren lights off if there's a heavy enough quake near the Mendocino Triple Junction. My friend tells me there's much racing thru low lying streets, lowlanders heading for high ground. And I've been on the jetty, and seen the beachfront housing nearby, what are those people thinking?

Even if the "big one" doesn't come for a few decades or more, is it worth the feeling of helplessness and panic every time the tsunami warning sounds? I know it wouldn't be, for me.

Photo unmodified. March 9, 2012. FlashEarth location.