GOLDEN OLDIE 77: City Slickers

GOLDEN OLDIE 76: The China Syndrome

 

Having recently grumbled about the bleak future of nuclear power, last night I watched a 1979 movie that encapsulates many of the obvious problems.

The China Syndrome is a fairly entertaining flic: your chance to see Michael Douglas as a kid, Jane Fonda before she became Hanoi Jane and Mrs. Ted Turner, Jack Lemon at his mature best, and Wilford Brimley as – well, as he always is – steady and reliable.  It illustrates what is dangerous about nuclear power – people, and the profit motive.  So, nuts:  enjoy the movie and say goodbye to a nearly inexhaustible source of clean energy.

A question:  where WILL California get the juice to run all those electric cars?  Start buying solar stock, and learn to love those bird-killing windmills!

NUCLEAR POWER

 Trojan nuclear power plant, long since dismantled

I have long been in favor of expanding nuclear power.  It is non-polluting, virtually inexhaustible, and nuclear power plants can be sited almost anywhere.  Sure, such plants are expensive – but maybe worth the cost, considering on-rushing global warming.  But now I am changing my mind – reluctantly.

As I see it, the trouble with nuclear power is – people.  As it stands such plants produce dangerous waste, which must be stored safely for hundreds of thousands of years.  So, big deal; there are thick, flat-lying geological units in the mid-continent that are undisturbed after hundreds of MILLIONS of years!  But of course, NIMBYism, politics, and human cussedness won’t let us store the stuff there.  Then there is fear of “nuclear meltdown” (see the movie The China Syndrome, for instance).  However, multiple layers of fail-safe engineering, although expensive, should do the trick.  Many folks seem to be existentially terrified of nuclear power for no specific reason, but their beliefs are very strongly held and not to be overcome by argument.  So, no nuclear power.

I said earlier that the problem arises because we are human beings.  You don’t build a nuclear power plant in an active seismic zone, no matter how cheap the land nor inexpensive the transmission costs.  You don’t skimp on the engineering in order to add a bit to the bottom line.  Above all, you don’t involve nuclear complexes in wartime distruction!  Sigh!

So, I guess we are stuck with windmills, glass roofing, and a much hotter future.

NELL/S CANYON

 

The culmination of our rock-intensive tour of Washington was an all-day trip in Hells Canyon by jet boat; It was loads of fun.  Hells Canyon is carved by the Snake River into gradually uplifting terrain near the common meeting point of Washington, Oregon and Idaho.  Our boat leaves from Clarkston, Washington.  This uplift and erosion has resulted in a canyon deeper than the Grand Canyon, though it is fair to say, not nearly as majestic.  The cause of the uplift is not certainly known, although I imagine it had something to do with migration of North America across the Yellowstone hotspot.  But, hell, that can’t be right; canyon-cutting began only six million years ago.  Oh, well. . . .

The lower part of the trip cuts through Columbia Plateau Basalts.  The valley there is wide, with lots of human habitation.  Further upstream it narrows and has only a few scattered ranches to mark the presence of humankind.  There it is cutting through ~ 300 Ma rocks of an accreted terrane; in this case volcanic rocks overlain by limestone.  These rocks formed somewhere west of North America, in an ocean basin, and were scooped up by that continent as it moved relatively westward.

Much of western North America is composed of such terranes.  They often are referred to as “exotic terranes”, but I much prefer “accreted”; to me, “exotic” brings to mind some nubile lass dancing, clad only in a pair of fans.  Not that I have ever seen such, of course.

So, it was a great trip.  I highly recommend getting out into the geomorphic wonders of central and eastern Washington.  But maybe when it’s a bit cooler.

PALOUSE FALLS

 

If you attended Nick Zentner’s lecture as recommended in my last blog entry you will know that Palouse Falls is another feature carved into Miocene bedrock by the sudden release of ponded glacial meltwater about 15,000 years ago.  When Carolyn and I visited, it was difficult to think of anything glacial, the temperature was well over 100 degrees in the shade – with damned little shade to be had.

Palouse Falls State Park is a small, isolated place not on the road to anywhere.  The view is spectacular, but there is little else to do there.  There used to be some hiking, but the State now deems it unsafe and has closed the trails.  The little camp ground is nice and would probably greatly appeal to anyone who had tired of humanity.

All in all, Palouse Falls is a handsome, lonely sort of place.  I am glad that such places continue to exist.

AN INTRODUCTIONTO NICK ZENTNER

Nick at Work

Stumbling around with my antiquated computer last night I ran upon a short You Tube video that would greatly enhance a visit to either Dry Falls or Palouse Falls, Washington.  The lecturer is Nick Zentner, of Central Washington University.  Nick’s specialty is public outreach; he has a rare and valuable talent for explaining geological concepts to the general public;  If you have any interest in visiting either “Falls”, or are simply curious about the striking landscape of central Washington, Nick’s lectures are for you.  Start with this one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8zLwXfxS7w  

 

DRY FALLS

Continuing my report on Carolyn and my rock-intensive tour of Washington . . . .

We departed our  luxurious motel after a nice breakfast and headed back north, to intersect U.S. 12.  This pleasant highway crosses the Cascades at White Pass, skirting the southern margin on Mt. Rainier National Park in the process.  Very green and pastoral, in contrast to Yakima into which eventually debouches.  From there we went to Ephrata and checked into excellent rooms in a Best Western motel (Carolyn had done all arranging in advance).  And then, it being still early, we headed north into the famous Channeled Scablands of geological legend J. Harland Bretz; specifically, to Dry Falls State Park.

Most of you already know that the weird topography of the Scablands is the result of erosion caused by a series of catastrophic floods, released toward the end of the last ice age (~15,000 years ago) when glacial lakes broke through ice barriers penning them in. The result was a network of “coulees”, which are very large valleys cut dramatically into flat-lying lava flows of the Columbia Plateau basalts (which Google if confused).

Anyway, if you only have a few hours to obtain a taste of the Scablands, Dry Falls is a splendid place to do it.  There doesn’t seem to be any actual Falls anywhere about, but no matter – the scenery is great, and the little visitors center is interesting.  There is even an ice-cream buggy thereabouts.

Oh, did I mention that the temperature was 103?