How does knowledge of natural systems inform our understanding of cultural systems?

In order to truly understand and respect a cultural system, you have to understand the influences that shape a culture.  Natural systems are some of most influential forces on any culture.  Some examples of these influences are: the climate system influencing the type of clothing and types of shelter, the natural landscape influencing the types of plants and animals present, which then effects the diet of a culture, and the natural landscape influencing the type of travel utilized.  Natural systems also greatly influence the less essential aspects of culture, such as providing the topics of many stories, songs and dances in a culture.

My personal respect towards the Native Alaskan Cultures, and especially towards the subsistence lifestyle has greatly increased as I have learned more about the natural systems of Alaska.  I spent the majority of my childhood in Oregon, in a very temperate climate that did not value hunting, or depend on it for survival.  My family owned no guns, and I was never taught how to care for or operate them.  As a result of my non-exposure to firearms, I developed a negative view of them and the people who owned and used them. 

I was first introduced to a more subsistence based lifestyle when I was fourteen and living in Barrow, Alaska, and it was hard for me to understand why the residents of the community had so many guns and spent so much time hunting.  I am now 31, and I still do not own a gun, nor have I ever shot one.  However, as I have learned more about the natural systems in Alaska, and how essential hunting has been to the survival of the Native Alaskans for thousands of years, I now have respect for people who own guns for subsistence purposes.  In fact, I have recently thought that I might want to learn about guns and go hunting myself someday.   

What is the relationship between tectonic forces, mountains, volcanoes and earthquakes in Alaska?

Plate Tectonics is the main reason why we have mountains, volcanoes and earthquakes in Alaska.  Simply put, Plate tectonics is the theory that the surface of the Earth is broken up into large areas of continental crust, known as tectonic plates.  These plates are always in motion relative to each other, and as they move, they create mountains, volcanoes and earth quakes.  The two tectonic plates that have the most influence on Alaskan geology are the North American Plate, which all of Alaska rests on, and the Pacific Plate, which consists of the Area underneath the Pacific Ocean.

Introduction to Plate Tectonics 

Plate Tectonics: The Scientist Behind the Theory 

There are two important geological features that have formed along the boundary of Pacific Plate and the North American Plate in Alaska.  The first feature is the Fairweather Fault, which is a transform fault located along the boundary in the area of the Alaskan Panhandle.  With this type of fault one of the rock units moves parallel to the other.  In the case of the Fairweather Fault, the Pacific Plate is moving north relative to the North American Plate.  The second major geological feature is a subduction zone off of the southern coast of Alaska.  This subduction zone is caused by the denser Pacific Plate moving and pushing itself under the Alaskan portion of the less dense North American Plate.  This movement and subduction of the Pacific plate into the North American Plate has caused or greatly influenced the formation and activity of most of the mountains, volcanoes and earthquakes in Alaska.

Here is a list and description of some the major geologically active areas in Alaska:

Chugach Mountain Range- This mountain range is an example of an accretionary wedge.  This means that these mountains were formed by the Pacific Plate subducting, or diving down at a shallow angle below Alaska, causing material from the Pacific Plate to scrape off, compress, crumple and shove upward.

 

The Cook Inlet Volcanoes-This area is another example of an accretionary wedge.  However, in this area, the Pacific Plate is subducting farther down into the Earth and at a steeper angle than the Chugach Mountain Range, allowing for the Pacific Plate to partially melt in the upper mantle.  This in turn allows for molten rock to make its way to the surface and create these volcanic mountains.

 

Aleutian Islands- In this area the Pacific Plate subducts at an even steeper grade than in the areas of the Chugach Mountains and the Cook Inlet Volcanoes.  Similarly to the Cook Inlet Volcanoes, the Pacific Plate partially melts, and magma rises causing the volcanoes that we see in this area.  

Wrangell Saint Elias Range- This area was formed millions of years ago when a separate piece of continent that was attached to the Pacific Plate was present south of mainland Alaska.  Through time, as the Pacific Plate continued to move north, this separate piece of continent moved north with it, eventually slamming into mainland Alaska.  Since continental crust is less dense than oceanic crust, the moving piece of continent did not subduct, but rather slammed into the other continent causing the land to deform and push upward.

Three Blog Reviews

Alaskan History-A Newcomers Perspective:  This Blog is written by a speech language pathologist in Girdwood.  The author gives some wonderful examples of place based learning in her community.  She also has some beautiful pictures of Coyote Gulch, Utah in her discussion of the
importance of place.

Miss Mannen:  This Blog is written by a teacher in Point Lay.  The author gives excellent examples of activities and assignments in her school that blend traditional indigenous and and non indigenous values.

Alaska Reflections:  This Blog is written by a speech pathologist in Juneau who works in early childhood programs.  She gives a beautiful and poetic description of how a sense of place begins to develop in a baby shortly after birth.

Concluding Paragraph

Although I have not found this Module to be as directly applicable to the field of speech pathology as the first Module, I have learned a great deal about how to create blogs and about the geology of Alaska.  It has been fun to learn how to insert links and pictures and change the captions on the blog.  I look forward to learning even more about how to create visually appealing blogs during the next assignment.  The geology aspect of this course was especially fun for me because my husband is a geology student at the university and he was able to clarify and expand on the information that was on the course blog.