NorCal Nerds: What Did Northern California Look Like Millions of Years Ago?
One of Active NorCal’s priorities is inspiring people to get out there and get active, to get off the couch and do great stuff. In that respect this is a bit contrary to our mission. That said, even the most adroit, athletic, outdoor crazy-person has to sit down sometime. And when you do, if you want to have a bit of fun and learn while you’re at it, you might want to check this out.
I just can’t help it. When I’m outdoors enjoying all the terrific things there are to do all over NorCal, I always reflect on where I am, the mountains, the lakes and streams, the forests. I think of the people who have been there before throughout the centuries, their lives, their stories. I also look at the topography and wonder what this place might have been like, say a million years ago. If any of this rings true for you, give this website a shot.
It lets you enter a location (I used Sacramento, CA), then how long ago you want to visit. It’s fascinating. Depending on the age, Sacramento has been out in the ocean, underneath a vast inland sea, a beachfront community (before there were people around), and up in the mountains.
Not only is it fun to geek out on trying to imagine what it might have been like so far back in prehistory, but you can’t help but come away from playing around this way without discovering an appreciation for how long geologic time really is. Suddenly it makes sense when you hear about ocean fossils being discovered on the tops of mountains or woolly mammoth tusks being discovered out in the ocean.
So if you’re so inclined, put your “NorCal Nerd” hat on and have some educational fun-
