Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Geo 365: April 9, Day 99: Cape Perpetua Visitor's Center

As we crossed the head which has the Devil's churn on its northern side, I shot this looking back to the southwest toward the visitor's center. It's a nice little facility, with all kinds of artifacts, including rocks from the nearby area. They also have some binoculars and telescopes to watch the ocean- the views from there are great, and at the right time of year- now to early May is peak spring season- you can see the whales migrating. There is a pedestrian tunnel under Route 101 near that building, connecting to a fine network of trails along this stretch of coast.

You can see the basalt bedrock at the top of the beach, and here, as at many, many locations along our coast, the elevated terrace/dune deposits atop the bedrock. In this case, the fact that the sediment is consistently sand-sized, and that cross bedding can be seen in some exposed surfaces, suggests that these deposits are stabilized dunes.

Photo unmodified. September 21, 2010. FlashEarth Location.

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