Storke Memorial Field Course to Peru 2019 Field Notes
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Storke Memorial Field Course to Peru 2019 Field Notes Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory/Columbia University Organizers: Bar Oryan Elise M. Myers Day 1 Travel to Paracas, Peru from NYC - no notes Day 2 Elise Myers and Bar Oryan Islas Ballestas & Paracas National Reserve Day Islas Ballestas 7:45am: Pick-up from hostel (Posada Pinguino) for transport to office Like Xplorer. 8am: Tour via boat for islands begins In the port (where the boat is docked), there are many small boats, a lot of them labeled “Pisco”. These boats are primarily used by fishermen from the Pisco region. Some of the boats that travel out further (15-20 days spent in the open waters) have harpoons to catch giant squids and blue sharks (called diamantes here). The smallest boats only leave port for about 15-20 hours. Resting on top of these boats, you can see cormorants and pelicans. 8:10am: First stop at -13.7916, -76.303 (lat, long) @ sea level On our way, we see guano covered arches and cliff faces. Here, the humidity aids in compacting the mud to get harder layers. The red color that we see in these cliff faces is iron (Fe) oxide. There are abundant brown Pelicans and Peruvian boobies, the latter tucked in cliff face crevices. Seagulls from this region, also in high abundance, sometimes eat the chicks of the Peruvian boobies. From show we can see some bedding in the cliff faces. The smallest bird we saw was the Inca tern; we also saw many turkey vultures. Our guide noted that, during mating season, pelicans have a yellow colored head (feathers) and a multicolored beak. This is also the place where you can view the impressive Candelabra geoglyph that was created pre-Inca, by the *** people. The Candelabra was etched 30-40 cm deep into the limestone rock face (roca calcarea), about an order of magnitude deeper than the Nazca lines. One legend describes this geoglyph as a cactus because of the healing properties of cacti. Also, it was used in navigation by fishermen. *on the way to the 2nd stop, we saw the flippers of sea lions and 1 dolphin dorsal fin was also spotted. Our guide told us, upon our return, that seeing a dolphin was good luck.* 8:30am: Second stop at -13.741173, -76.38645 @ sea level Our guide informed us that Islas Ballestas is the colonial name for the islands, arches, and caves in this area. The used to be called Islas guaneras (sp?), which is the original name in Quechua. This is related to the massive amounts of guano (i.e. bird poop) that are found on these islands. The last exportation of guano was in 2009, before the area became a protected area; 10,000 tons of guano were harvested by hand by 200 people and then exported. Our boat passed by a multiple old docks/rigs for exporting guano. Now, because these islands are protected, there are guards stationed on these islands. We passed a station (Sistemas islas, islotes, …*) and all waved to the guards protecting this important natural system. We were told by our guide that we would see about 1 million birds and we did see quite a few. We saw, Humboldt penguins, Peruvian boobies, guanay cormorant and a peregrine falcon. Humboldt penguins tend to nest at the upper part of these rock/arch formations and return their after fishing/swimming. The guanay cormorant is sometimes confused for the Humboldt penguin from afar because of their white bellies. One distinction is that male guanay cormorants have a crest on their heads. We also saw massive, sequential formations of guanay cormorants flying above us, reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds”. We also saw Galapagos crab (yellow/red) and sea spider (another type of crab that looked black). At this stop we happened upon a sea lion flipping around a fish that it was eating; our guide commented that it was likely a tuna. Sea lions consume about 15 kilograms of shrimp and fish per day by sea lions, including anchovy and sardines. Mother and calf (baby) sea lions are more common to be seen from December to May, though we did see a few pairs. Large male sea lions can weigh between 300-400 kg. Female sea lions are pregnant for 11 months. Sea lions reportedly put their heads back to aid in digestion. 9:25am: Passing by Isla Bonita to head back to the port At this moment, we started heading back to shore that this point. Our guide mentioned that that we can see granite rock that eroding over millions of years, eroding away the hard rock substrate. We saw interesting breaking patterns in the red rocks on the cliffs. *Break from ~10-11am, during which we did some grocery shopping for our picnic lunch, withdrew money (look for BCP ATMS - you’ll thank us later), and grabbed snacks before our adventure. Paracas National Reserve 11am: Before the start of the tour, at Like Xplorer office Peru is divided politically into departments, provinces, and districts. This district has only 4,000 inhabitants, but encompassing a huge area (about 80 square km south of Paracas). A lot of this area is a desert, national reserve, which means not buildings can be made there. The road leading to the national reserve that we used separates the city and the national reserve (east of the road was the city). Most of the houses in the area are vacation homes and hotels. There are spaces for 4,000 visitors to the city, matching the number of inhabitants. On our way to our first stop, we saw the Bay of Paracas, which has ocean water coming in from North to South inside the peninsula curve. This leads to minimal waves and a relatively protected bay. Along the coast of the bay, we see black soils/sands which are swampy (mantanosa). In this area, there are abundant nutrients and invertebrates to sustain the bird population. Also, we passed Chilean Flamingos (Flamencos Chilenos), which migrate in July/August and stay until December before they go to rest in the mountains. Some of the flamingos are local (from the Peruvian mountains), but a few are from Miami, noted by tags on them. 11:30am: Visitors Center & Centro de Interpretacion (-13.86909, -76.2727865) To the east, we see red hills, which are actually part of an archaeological site. Under those hills are homes from about 1.2 kyr that have been covered over time. These homes were accessed by the roof because this provided more protection from the harsh environment (sandstorms, cold weather, harsh sun, harsh desert conditions, and no materials for building above ground). The homes were made of the same material as the Candelabra. We also golden rocks in a road cut outcrop that are supposedly of marine origin because this region used to be under water. Our guide mentioned that the Nazca plate is coming in under, which lifts Peru and moves it eastward towards the land direction. The amount of uplift/movement did not seem well-constrained, so warrants further research. In the Centro de Interpretacion, you can learn about the history and biodiversity of the reserve and the surrounding area. For example, 15% of the Peruvian population only speaks Quechua, primarily located in the Andes. Paracas derives from the Quechua words “para” which means rain and “aca” which means sand. So, this area is characterized by sand falling like rain (or very windy with sandstorms). In the center of the first room there is a cool exhibit on sand origins and the resultant grain sizes. One final fun fact, is that 35 mya, the Andes cordillera was 1000-1500 meters above sea level, during the time of the giant penguins that were 6 meters tall (Inkayacu Paracasensis). A couple of people then went into the museum, while the rest of us went to look at flamingos, or “big pink birds having fun” (unnamed source). -13.866507, -76.27220 - Along our walk to the flamingos, we saw a small patch of snail fossils (carcoles fosiles). Also here, we saw 3 types of halotolerant vegetation: sesuvium partulacastrum, distichilis spicata, crexsa trucillensis. There were also, what looked like plastic bags littering this flat stretch of land out to the flamingos, but they were actually seaweed/marine algae that were drying and decomposing. *left at 12:30* 12:50pm - Catedral Rock Formation (-13.936419, -76.283076 @ 44.01 m) From this viewpoint, we were able to see the Catedral rock formation that used to be attached to the main cliff by an arch. However, the arch collapsed following the 2007 earthquake. At a beach nearby called “Devil’s Beach”, fishermen collect various marine organisms. Only fishemen travel to this beach because of the hazardous conditions to get down. While looking more closely at the Catedral, a potential intrusion was spotted near where Peruvian boobies were clustered on the rock formation. 13:30 - Playa Roja (-13.893597, -76.296232 @ 92 m) The sediments of this beach are said to be igneous in origin and the weathering of the pink grandiorite is suggested to be why this beach’s sand is red (or “roja”). From here, you can see both the north and south side of the peninsula. Directly across the beach, you can see a large cloud that is touching the ground on the hills/mountains. This area is wetter and has vegetation, unlike the surrounding desert conditions. Further to the left of this cloud-covered region is a dark black rock that shows layering at a steep angle.