Julia - Week 6

The little tide pool was filled with corals, crabs and little fish. It was a great find and I haven't seen it this lively since!

This star fish was just hanging out between tides... we counted a total of 6 on this rock as we walked around it. The entire ground was covered in coral as well, you couldn't step without walking on them. Which indicated to me that this area was supposed to be underwater most of the time.  Looking at the wall behind me, I felt small and insignificant and realized quickly I didn't want to be trapped down there when the tide came in. 

This is easy, we are going to go to my favorite spot! It’s my favorite spot for more than one reason, it’s off the beaten path and quite difficult to get to, and it has great wildlife at low tide! It’s actually in Goleta, CA. I wish I had taken a picture of said wall since it was nearly a straight drop with a very unique crack going at a zig zag up the wall. There's a rope at the top of the wall to help you scale down and climb back up... but I'll tell you that it's not easy with the dogs and stuff! I’m about 90% sure we weren’t supposed to be climbing down the wall to go to this “secret beach” but it is the only place that allows dogs off leash.

The three things that I would need to know more about is possibly the marine life and how the geology in the ocean affects that. I would assume that certain geological features would be better suited for certain aquatic life and others would be less ideal for the same life. Example would be when I had my saltwater fish tank, the fish needed certain corals to grow and be happy… but the coral needed certain types of porous rock to attach to.

The next question I would ask would be about the tides, rocks are exposed at low tide and as you can see on the photo above, so does it expose the sea life as well. How does that affect the rocks being exposed to air and wind and then exposed to the current? Does that change the makeup of the rock over time?

The last thing would be about the surrounding rocks, so this beach that I went to was down a clif, basically… but looking at the cliff (If I can remember correctly) it was layered and in places would break off easily… is that because it is exposed to the strong sea air? If so then would every rock in those conditions have the same reaction? Is it possible that this beach would expand over time? (Next time I go I’ll have to remember to take the photo!)


-Julia