Having walked around my Place a good amount, I decided to bring my lunch out with me this time around and see what patters showed up as I chowed down on the big rock that juts out into the river. Just sitting down to lunch, I already noticed one pattern: the pattern of layering on the rocks; and as the day wore on, I started noticing that layers played a key part in the patterns I observed.
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Layers in the rocks — can any geologists tell me about the history of
Salmon Hole just by looking at the patterns in the rock? |
The next observation on patterns that I found was in the tracks of a little bird. I don't know what kind of bird this is, but it sure liked to walk around on the snow and just wander around seemingly without purpose.
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| A bit tough to see, but this bird wasn't sure where to go! |
Finally, patterns in water were observations I made that consumed most of the day. I found patterns in three different types of water (liquid water, ice, and snow), which, in itself seems like a pattern. Almost as noticeably as with the rock, all three phases of water showed layering:
Ice
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| Like week-old fossils, different layers of ice show recent warm and cold spells |
Snow
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You can see how much snow accumulated during different storms; the ice
and snow layers seem to act a lot like very recent tree rings |
Liquid Water
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| From tranquil pools straight into rapids, even liquid water has layers |
When I noticed that the liquid water was in layers just like the ice and snow, I realized that layers and patterns are really everywhere — never before had I thought that a mobile medium like water in a river could have layers! This next picture shows four of the five patterns I have described, all interacting together. Liquid water, snow, ice, and rock formations all have layers and patterns that interact and support biotic patterns (like the animal patterns I noted before and the tree rings I briefly mentioned in one of the captions):
If you weren't lucky enough to observe some patterns in your world today, maybe a box of chocolates could have the patterns you are looking for. Happy Valentine's Day.
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| It's a heart, right? |
Very cute ending, Jay. Well played... :-)
ReplyDeleteWonderful start to your phenology blog, Jay. I really appreciated your observations of the various layers in rock and water. And the patterns through time you have highlighted with the two aerial photos are quite intriguing. I look forward to snow melt at your place...
ReplyDeleteReally nice list of patterns Jay. I especially like all the pictures you have to go with the various patterns. My favorite is probably the layers of rock, I like how they're so well defined.
ReplyDeleteI really liked your emphasis on layers, layers in the water, and in the ice. It's interesting to think of the layers of ice, like uncovering fossils, because at the poles this exact anomaly is happening, where the ice has been there so long that it is basically a record of the world.
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