The Sierra Nevada Files

One of the most striking features in the Sierra Nevada is a sinuous set of flat-topped ridges in the Stanislaus River watershed. About 28 km (18 miles) long, these mesas rise above a generally flat and featureless plain.   Table Mountain in the Stanislaus River watershed. Table Mountain starting from the upper-left corner of the image, passing by New Melones Reservoir, and ending at the bottom-right corner. The peculiar shape of these ridges is due to their geologic origin. About 10 million years ago, lava erupted from a vent near the crest of the Sierra Nevada and poured down a river bed. As the lava cooled, it assumed the shape of the river. Over time, the material surrounding the hardened lava eroded away, leaving behind the imprint of the river. A report by J.D. Whitney, published in 1865, was the first to describe the formation of Table Mountain. In this report, Whitney included a cross-section of Table Mountain, at the Buckeye Tunnel Mine, that has since been reproduced in numero

 As anyone living in the Golden State knows, California has been suffering through an unprecedented increase in fires, many of them burning through forests in the Sierra Nevada. Incredibly, as noted in a recent paper by Hiraga and Kavvas in the journal Fire , more than 7% of the land surface in California burned in 2017 - 2020. These fires have resulted in hundreds of deaths, the destruction of tens of thousands of structures, and severe financial losses. Sparked by lightning, the North Complex Fire in the northern Sierra Nevada destroyed 2500 buildings and led to 16 fatalities. At 320,000 acres, it was the 6th largest fire in California history and the deadliest fire in 2020. Photo credit: Brian Bahouth, https://www.sierranevadaally.org/ Understanding the precise meteorological and hydrological conditions that lead to wildfires in California is important for a variety of reasons. First, this information can help in mitigating ignition sources. Some of the worst wildfires have been tr