The highlight of my trip to San Fransisco was the 'GeoArch' field trip on the first day. 'GeoArch' is a blend of geology, geography and archaeology. It considers the landscape and archaeology. What did the place look like in the past and how has it changed through time. On Kodiak when I look for archaeological sites I am constantly 'modeling' the paleo shoreline in my head to help me find sites. It helps to know what old beach ridges, wave-cut terraces, and paleo-shorelines look like. So I was excited to go on the fieldtrip.
There were a bunch of us and we travelled in two buses almost an hour and a half North of San Fransisco to the mouth of the Russian River. This is really close to Fort Ross which has a strong Alutiiq connection, and the river is named after the same Russians who were in Alaska at the same time. Up there we got to check out some old sea stacks that had been rubbed by mammoths. We also checked out some caves, and midden sites and learned about coastal erosion. I also learned that the geology is really similar to that of Kodiak island. They even have a radiolarian red chert that is exactly analogous to Kodiak's red chert. Both regions represent the sediment scraped off of the Pacific Plate as it subducted under the continental plate.
It was also a spectacular day and I got a pretty good sunburn on my face.
Patrick
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