Skip to main content

Southern California Physical Environment

 

 


I chose to do three regions in a west to east gradient in southern California.  The regions that I chose are pinpointed in the map below.  








Los Angeles/Long Beach (West)

 The west coast of southern California experiences a Mediterranean climate as it experiences warm temperatures year-round with a dry season during the summertime. 


 

I found that the most dominant types of soils around the west coast of southern California are entisols and mollisols. Entisols are identified by their lack of genetic horizons except for the A horizon in the soil profile.  They are often associate with shore deposits.  The entisols found in this area are usually pretty deep (around 100-150cm).  Their depth makes them resistant to erosion. These soils are not hydric, meaning that they are not formed under conditions of water saturation. Mollisols are associated with grasslands.  They have a thick and dark surface horizon.  They have lots of organic matter in their surface horizon from decomposed plant matter. They are not hydric, but they do tend to have a higher moisture content than etisols. They also tend to be deeper than etisols (200cm) in this area.  This region is dominated by urban development. 






SoilWeb: An Online Soil Survey Browser | California Soil Resource Lab (ucdavis.edu)

 

San Bernardino National Forest

The San Bernardino National Forest (Central southern CA) has a climate that is similar to the west coast, but it has a little more variability in temperature and precipitation.




 

I found that the dominant soil types in this area are also entisols and mollisols.  However, the entisols in this region are more shallow than those found on the coast (about 20-60cm).  In general, entisols are diverse in their compositions and depth.  However, this region has areas of mountains, forests, lakes, and rivers that give its entisols great diversity.  This region's mollisols are also more shallow than those on the coast (about 15-60cm).  This region has far less urban development than the west coast.










SoilWeb: An Online Soil Survey Browser | California Soil Resource Lab (ucdavis.edu)

Mojave National Preserve

The Mojave National Preserve (east southern California) sees the warmest temperatures and the least amount of precipitation of the three regions that I chose.  However, it experiences more temperature variation than the west coast.



 

The most dominant type of soil around this region is aridisols.  They are classified by their extremely low moisture content and limited leaching.  They are eroded often and have high concentrations of calcium, salts, and clay. The depths of these soils in the region vary similarly compared to the other regions I chose (16 to 160cm). This desert region sees the least amount of soil type variability out of the three regions that I chose.  This region also has the least amount of urban development out of the three regions that I chose.




SoilWeb: An Online Soil Survey Browser | California Soil Resource Lab (ucdavis.edu)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Shasta National Forest: Biotic Communities and Disturbance Regime

  Shasta National Forest's Biotic Communities Western North America Alpine Tundra Conditions Western North America Alpine Tundra (WNA Alpine Tundra) ecosystems are found on mountain ranges along the west coast of North America, including the mid-elevations on Mount Shasta (Billings & Meidinger 2015). This ecosystem is characterized by short growing seasons and long winters with high snowpack. Soils in this ecosystem tend to be shallow, rocky, low in organics, and well drained (Billings & Meidinger 2015) .  Plant Communities Plants commonly found in the WNA Alpine Tundra ecosystem on Mount Shasta include wildflowers in the genus Eriogonum , like Sulphur Buckwheat ( Eriogonum umbellatum ), and some trees at lower elevations such as Lodgepole Pine ( Pinus contorta ) (Billings & Meidinger 2015; Anderson 2003; United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) & United States Forest Service (USFS) 2016; USDA & USFS 2014) .  Sulphur Buckwheat. Source . Sulphur B...
Post a Comment
Read more

Canadian Shield: Biotic Communities and Disturbance Regimes

Biotic Communities and Disturbance Regimes in the Canadian Shield Biotic Communities        Baffin Island T he vegetation of the Canadian Arctic is the tundra. Plants species in the tundra are very limited and the length of their growing season is short. Cotton grass, sedge, dwarf heath, shrubs, mosses and lichens are the most common vegetation in the Canadian Arctic (Aun et al. 2002).  T hree types of ecosystems are contained in the Canadian Arctic: the Arctic Cordillera, Northern Arctic and Southern Arctic, with Baffin Island being in the Northern Arctic.   Because of its harsh climate, high winds and shallow soils, the vegetation of the Northern Arctic is sparse and dwarfed (Aun et al. 2002).   Life in the polar regions is far from easy. Winter temperatures can reach deep into the negatives, and the winter night can last for months (WWF). But these landscapes which are lacking in vegetation are home to a rich diversity of wildlife, both on land and ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Gauley River, WV

 The Gauley River, West Virginia The Gauley River is located in West Virginia and has three major portions that make up the river in its entirety.  In the map above, you can see the three locations that are highlighted by the yellow markers. The far right marker is the Upper Gauley, the middle marker is Summersville Lake, and the far left marker is the Lower Gauley. The Summersville Lake is a man-made lake that was built by the Corps of Engineers in 1960 and separates the two portions of the Gauley River. A main part of the lake is the Summersville Dam, which ends the Summersville Lake and begins the Lower Gauley.  Below are three climographs for the three locations.   Below are the soil surveys for the three locations. Upper Gauley: Summersville Lake: Lower Gauley: The soil surveys and climographs of the three locations are very similar. However due to the characteristics of the lake, the Lower Gauley is different due to creation of the dam. The soils differ sl...
Post a Comment
Read more