ES 546 Playa Blog ES 546 Playa BlogOn Friday the 13th, your instructor and his wife conducted kite aerial photography at the Elk River Wind Farm in the Flint Hills. In spite of the unlucky date and other difficult conditions, we had some success--see wind energy. This is likely our last venture for the season.
All students should inform your instructor of your intended individual or group project topics by the end of the month. First draft is due Nov. 20; final version due Dec. 11th.
From your instructor: the TKAS article is simply wrong. The surface elevation of Cheyenne Bottoms is ~1800 feet. The top of the Hutchinson Salt is between 650-700 feet elevation, which makes the salt more than 1000 feet deep (based on Bayne 1977). This mistake illustrates the lack of geological knowledge by many people working at Cheyenne Bottoms. No way is soil salinity related to such deep salt sources at Cheyenne Bottoms.
Bayne, C.K. 1977. Geology and structure of Cheyenne Bottoms, Barton County, Kansas. Kansas Geological Survey, Bulletin 211, Part 2, p 1-12.
According to Dr. Sundberg, it's actually a floating fern that produces sort-of-packaged spores. Could have been brought in on waterfowl's feet coming north in the spring, or on boats or equipment. The female spores and their gametophyte plants (they have separate male and females) and newly fertilized sporophytes are relatively large with a tough, resistant coat. I image they would resist dessication for some time. I know some ponds around College Station, Texas were completely covered with Azolla plants during the summer a year ago. They're considered quite a pest.
Contribution from John Barker: our group picture at Pawnee Rock is online--see pawneerock.org (select from list of photos).
Sometimes unexpected discoveries are the most interesting--let's have further student investigation and blog contribution on this subject.
| Left: group on the observation tower at the Nature Conservancy marsh in Cheyenne Bottoms. Friday afternoon was sunny, warm (mid-50s), and nearly calm. Right: group on the water diversion structure on the Walnut River. Saturday was cold, windy, and cloudy with freezing drizzle. On Sunday we woke to a light dusting of snow followed by more freezing drizzle. | 
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We conducted successful kite aerial photography in the sand hills terrain at Camp Aldrich and blimp aerial photography at the Nature Conservany marsh in Cheyenne Bottoms on Friday afternoon. At the latter we observed remarkable fall foliage color and cattle grazing on cattail.
| View toward the northeast. Dining hall in the left foreground; city of Claflin on the far horizon. |
| Westward view. Sand hills of the camp in the foreground, farmland in the middle distance, and main pools of the State Wildlife Area in Cheyenne Bottoms in the left background. |
| Looking toward the southeast, sand hills of the camp area are shown by vegetation patterns in the foreground. Kansas highway 156 runs across the top of the scene. |
| Looking to the southwest, unmodified sand hills in the foreground contrast with agricultural fields in the background. Soil patterns in the left background reflect their origin as sand dunes. |
| View of the kite flyers working from the parking lot at Camp Aldrich. Our field vehicles can be seen in the lower left corner. |
| View toward the northwest. Hoisington in the center background, Blood Creek to left, marsh to the right, and access road in the center of scene. |
| Northward view showing the main portion of the marsh area showing varied patterns of vegetation cover. |
| View toward the northeast. The main marsh on left drains via a ditch into marshes in the right background. Deception Creek enters the main marsh at upper left. Cattle grazing at bottom center of scene. |
| View toward the southeast. Pools of the State Wildlife Area can be seen in the right background; Blood Creek on the right side. Note linear pattern depicted in the former agricultural field in foreground. |
| Looking toward the northwest. City of Hoisington and its sewage treatment plant in left background. Main marsh area on right side. |
| View southward. Blood Creek (main channel) runs across upper portion of scene (from right to left), and additional distributary channels can be seen in the background. |
| Looking toward the northeast over the main marsh. Deception Creek enters the marsh in upper center of view. Note the large patch of red-purple vegetation in the marsh; cattle grazing in lower right corner. |
| Closer view of cattle grazing and red-purple colored vegetation in the marsh. Bright patch to right of scene center is the "hot spot," the point on the ground in direct alignment with the camera and sun. |
| Left: view from the observation tower as students walk along the nature trail. Right: cattle have eaten cattail in the foreground but not bulrush (dark green stalks). |  |
| Reddish-purple vegetation in shallow water of the marsh, which appears to be some type of moss. It's bright green at and just below water level; where exposed above water it has a distinctive red-purple color, perhaps a result of frost a few days before. Left field of view ~1 m across; right field of view about one foot across. | 
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The trip handout pdf file is available for downloading (~3 MB). Also our airphoto image files are available at the course FTP site. The pictures are arranged in two folders by camera.
Students need to inform your instructor of your intended individual or group project topics by the end of the month. First draft is due Nov. 20; final version due Dec. 11th.
Saturday, however, a rain/snow storm is moving into the High Plains region with much colder temperatures; therefore, the western portion of the trip is cancelled. We will remain in central Kansas looking at the Quivira-Cheyenne region on Saturday and Sunday. This will allow a detailed examination of geomorphic features associated with these playas. By the way, the cabin at Camp Aldrich is heated.
ESU campus map.Note: mid-term grades are due early next week. All students who participate in the field trip will receive a "B" grade simply to recognize your class participation.
What else to bring--notebook, camera, etc. (a rock hammer is not necessary). Also bring your health insurance card. Students should have a sleeping bag, pillow, towel, and personal toiletry items. The cabin at Camp Aldrich has mattresses on bunk beds and a small kitchen for fixing food. Shower house is next door.
Your instructor will provide a handout package with maps and diagrams of study sites. In the mean time, review maps and information about the course project.
Your instructor and his wife had an interesting time at the Tar Creek conference in Miami, Oklahoma last week. We had an opportunity to conduct blimp aerial photography at a passive treatment facility in neighboring Commerce. The series of ponds is designed to simulate wetlands with biological and chemical cleaning of contaminated water draining from old lead and zinc mines nearby. The treatment facility removes lead, zinc, cadnium, iron, and other heavy metals. Only a small amount of power is necessary to run aeration pumps; the power is provided by a solar panel and small wind turbine.
| Super-wide angle vertical view taken from 500 feet height; note vehicles at upper left corner for scale. Inlet pool displays rusty orange color, upper left end of system. Outlet channel with clear water to lower right side. Image © J.S. Aber. |
Note: Your instructor will be away from campus Sept. 22-24 attending a conference in Oklahoma--see Tar Creek.
We have reviewed the major geomorphic processes that might be responsible for playas of the High Plains in western Kansas. However, Cheyenne Bottoms is a special case because of its large size and oval shape. Most ideas for it refer to deeper origins that may reach down to basement structures. For some possibilities, see Geomorphology from Space: plutons and impact structures.
Reminders: Special fee is due next week. Also remember the student agreement form--see course requirements.
This happens some years when high pressure is persistent in the Rocky Mountains. Warm air is directed northward along the Pacific coast from California to Alaska, and cool air flows southward in the Great Plains. While Kansas has enjoyed an unusually mild summer, California is baking and burning.
So, is this a short-term anomaly or a trend? Last year at about this time, also record low temperatures were set in Kansas. For example, a record low was reached at Atchison on Sept. 9. The new mark of 42°F shattered the old Atchison record of 49°F set in 1966. In fact, Kansas summer weather has been relatively cool and wet for the past several years--the last really hot summer was 2000, when many record high temperatures were set.
These climatic fluctuations track closely with sunspot cycles. The last peak in sunspots was 2000-01. The current sunspot minimum has been significantly longer than usual, by at least 2-3 years, which may explain these climatic variations. See sunspot predication. Such climatic variations impact playas in terms of water and the potential for erosion or deposition of sediment.
Site of opportunity: Your instructor was contacted recently by the Kansas Dept. of Transportation (KDOT) about the possibility of taking kite/blimp aerial photographs at mitigation wetland sites. These are wetlands built to compensate for highway construction that alters or eliminates wetlands in other locations. One such site is located next to our field-trip route to Cheyenne Bottoms--two miles north and two miles west of Lyons next to Little Cow Creek in Rice County. If time and weather permit, we will visit this site and attempt aerial photography.
location map and site plan (pdf files).
To continue background reading, see Geomorphology from Space: aeolian landforms. Compare both depositional forms (sand dunes, loess) and erosional forms (blowouts, yardangs).
In our examination of Kansas playas, the fundamental question is: what geomorphic processes created closed depressions with internal drainage? We can rule out such exotic causes as glaciation, meteorite impact, and volcanism. That leaves fluvial (streams), aeolian (wind), and subsurface processes as leading candidates.
Some background reading would help to address the possibilities. For this week's reading, see Geomorphology from Space: fluvial landforms.
Fall picnic: physical sciences fall picnic will take place on Thursday, Sept. 3rd in Hammond Park (just west of campus). All earth science students are invited to attend--pick up tickets for $3 each in PS office.
Note: all students must fill out, sign, and return the student agreement form either electronically or in paper format. On-campus students may do this at your instructor's office.
Your instructor had a productive summer, which involved kite and blimp aerial photography of wetland sites in Pennsylvania, Maine and Massachusetts--see latest additions at geospectra.net.
Return to field geomorphology syllabus.
ES 546 © J.S. Aber (2009).
Camp Aldrich
Nature Conservancy -- Superwide-angle views
Nature Conservancy -- Wide-angle views
Nature Conservancy -- Ground views