Exploring White Sands National Monument

By Techno Tink Media | Published July 21, 2018

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Yaquina Head National Park (http://www.technogypsie.com/reviews/?p=25775). 1/27/16: Chronicles 23: Delving the Oregon Coast and Willamette Valley: http://www.technogypsie.com/chronicles/?p=19727 - Photos from February 2016 . (c) 2016 - photo by Photographers Thomas Baurley / Eadaoin Bineid / Leaf McGowan and/or Etain DeDanann of Technogypsie Productions Photography: (www.technogypsie.com/photography/). Lighthouse at Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area, NPS, Newport, Oregon. Oregon Coastline 2013: Oregon Coast, Oregon, USA. Friday, August 3, 2013. (c) 2013: Photo by Thomas Baurley, Leaf McGowan: Techno Tink Media (www.technotink.net/photography/). Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area, NPS, Newport, Oregon. Oregon Coastline 2013: Oregon Coast, Oregon, USA. Friday, August 3, 2013. (c) 2013: Photo by Leaf McGowan, Thomas Baurley, Technogypsie Productions. More information, copy of photo, to purchase, or to obtain permission to reprint visit http://www.technogypsie.com/photography/. To follow the adventures, go to http://www.technogypsie.com/chronicles/ or travel tales http://www.technogypsie.com/reviews/ Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area, NPS, Newport, Oregon. Oregon Coastline 2013: Oregon Coast, Oregon, USA. Friday, August 3, 2013. (c) 2013: Photo by Leaf McGowan, Thomas Baurley, Leaf McGowan: Techno Tink Media (www.technotink.net/photography/). "In the Pacific Northwest the rock intertidal can be divided into four general zones depending upon how long each zone is covered by the tide. OOver 250 species have been found competing for life in Yaquina Head's intertidal. Many animals move between zones. Common sea stars for example are more tolerant of the higher tide zones than are other sea stars but they are most common in the low tide zones. The Spray Zone is dry much of the time. Only the hardiest species can tolerate the dryness and salinity changes of the spray zone. Look for black lichen, finger limpets, sea hair and rock lice in this zone. The High Tide Zone is only covered with water at high tide. Hardy species like sea lettuce, acorn barnacles, rockweed, purple shore crabs, and black turban snails are successful here.More species live and compete here than in the spray zone because of the regular supply of water. The mid-tide zone is covered half of the time: the consistency in temperature and salinity supports lots of seaweeds. California mussels, black leather chitons, leaf (goose) barnacles, hermit crabs, sea cabbage, and rockweed also can be found here. The Low Tide Zone is only exposed at the lowest tides: Some pools are only exposed a few times a year so conditions are relatively stable for the intertidal. As a result, this zone is extremely crowded with life. There are many species of sea stars, sea anemones, sea urchins, and a myriad of other organisms." ~ information sign at Yaquina Head National Park, Newport, Oregon. http://www.technogypsie.com/reviews/?p=25775. 1/27/16: Chronicles 23: Delving the Oregon Coast and Willamette Valley: http://www.technogypsie.com/chronicles/?p=19727 - Photos from February 2016 . (c) 2016 - photo by Photographers Thomas Baurley / Eadaoin Bineid / Leaf McGowan and/or Etain DeDanann of Technogypsie Productions Photography: (www.technogypsie.com/photography/). "Whales on the move - While a small number of gray whales remain in the waters off Yaquina Head for most of the year, the entire population swims by twice on their annual migration." "Migrating gray whales - Yaquina Head is one of the best places along the coast of western North America to view gray whales. These 45 foot (14 m long) whales migrate annually between their breeding lagoons in Baja California, and their summer feeding grounds in the Bering and Chukchi Seas. The migration north can be seen from Yaquina Head from March through May. Whales heading south pass by here from December to early February. How do I find Whales? The best way to spot gray whales here is to locate other people who have already found them! Or, you can scan out toward the horizon for "spouts:" wisps of exhaled air which are usually more vertical and mist-like than are the white-caps of waves. Migrating whales can be anywhere from about 1/2 mile to two miles or more away which makes them hard to find. Good luck!" "Watch for spy hopping - gray whales coming straight up from the surface of the water, then slipping back into the sea. No one knows the reason for this behaviour which is seen here once in a great while. Perhaps spy hopping is used to communicate with other whales." "Other travelers - other species of sea mammals pass by or spend time feeding in the area but they are rarely seen from Yaquina Head. Very lucky visitors might catch sight of California and Northern sea lions, harbor porpoises, or orcas (killer whales)". Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area, NPS, Newport, Oregon. Oregon Coastline 2013: Oregon Coast, Oregon, USA. Friday, August 3, 2013. (c) 2013: Photo by Leaf McGowan: Techno Tink Media (www.technotink.net/photography/). "Creating Cobbles; Cobbles, pebbles and sand are the result of boiling lava meeting the cold ocean, followed by 14 millin years of weather and erosion. Fragments of ancient lava - hot basalt exploed upon contact with cold sea water and intermixed with quickly chilled volcanic glass to form a breccia. The cobbles on this beach are weathered remains of these exploded fragments. Sea water alters the glass surrounding the basalt fragments into a mineral called palagonite which is easily washed away. The water then attacks the fragment causing its corners to become more ane more rounded. The cobbles are further rounded and made smaller by beach wave action. In the summer there is some sand on these beaches, but winter waves wash most of the sand out to sea leaving almost all cobbles on the beach. Between the tides: Tidal forces shape the shoreline and bring life to the intertidal area. Tides are caused by the gravitational pull of the sun and moon. Here and elsewhere in the coasta Pacific Northwest there are almost always two high and two low tides daily. The pull of the moon and sun causes the oceans to bulge and the earth rotates under them. These bulges come and go as high tides. The tides would be easy to predict if they occured exactly every six hours. However because the tides follow a cycle that is slightly more than six hours long, the whole sequence is repeated later each day. Mean (average) lowest low tide is used as the base level for most coastal charts and tide tables. When ships enter or leave harbor, the depth of water at mean low tide is more important to them than mean sea level." ~ information sign at Yaquina Head National Park, Newport, Oregon. Yaquina Head National Park (http://www.technogypsie.net/reviews/?p=25775). 1/27/16: Chronicles 23: Delving the Oregon Coast and Willamette Valley: http://www.technogypsie.net/chronicles/?p=19727 - Photos from February 2016 . (c) 2016 - photo by Photographers Thomas Baurley / Leaf McGowan: Techno Tink Media (www.technotink.net/photography/).
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