The Future of Jalisco

Jalisco is not just known for its tequila, mariachi music and beautiful women, but it also for its a unique geography that makes this state of Mexico like no other. Two volcanos can be found in southern Jalisco, the Volcan Nevado de Colima,a snowcapped peak reaching an altitude of 4,260 meters, and the Colima Volcano, at 3,820 meters over sea level. The highest peaks in Jalisco's territory also include Cerro Viejo at 2,960 meters, Talapa Sierra at 2,880, and the Los Huicholes Sierra at 2,860 meters above sea level. 

Los Altos Sierra in northern Jalisco

Jalisco is right next to the pacific ocean, and is home to the largest lagoon in the country, the Laguna de Chapala. Jalisco has a wide variety of climatic conditions across the state, including hot semi-humid with rainy summers in the coast, semi-dry temperate up in the sierras, and semi-hot sub-humid in the valleys that spread along most of the central part of the state.

With the help of physical geography we can better understand how earth came to be the way it is now. But most importantly it can help us predict what earth will look like in the future.

Jalisco 10,000 years in the future.

The geography of certain landscapes is always changing. Even though 10,000 years isn’t much of time if measured in geologic time, it can still cause significant change to the physical geography Jalisco. 50 million years ago the earth experienced an intense global warming. There is evidence that the same thing is happening today. 10,000 years may not be much when talking about geography time but I predict that global warming will continue to increase and as a result the sea leavels will dramatically increase due to the melting of the polar ice caps.

Areal Sea dimminashing in just 14 years.

 With global warming also comes droughts and intense heat. There is evidence to support that many lakes have been drying up. This means that in 10,000 years from now many of the bodies of water found in Jalisco will disappear, including the Laguna de Chalapa- largest lagoon in the country.


 Jalisco 1,000,000 years in the future.

We know that the tectonic plates are moving at about 2.5 centimeters per year, which equals a total of 250,000 cm in 100,000 years (about 8,333 feet.) For Jalisco this means that the coast line would be pushed back about 833 feet. In other words places near the coast such as Puerto Vallarta would  disappear due to movement of  tectonic plates, coastal erosion, rise in sea level, and weathering that will take place over the years.


Jalisco 100,000,000 years in the future.
100,0000,000 years from now Jalisco will be completely different from today. I predict that all present mountains, peaks, and sierras will be completely eroded. Instead there will be new ones that will have been created. Also I predict that the Volcan Nevado de Colima will likely undergo a super volcanic eruption large enough to erupt 3,200 km³ of magma; an event comparable to the Toba super eruption 75,000 years ago. All the continents on Earth will fuse into a supercontinent. Three potential arrangements of this configuration have been dubbed due to tectonic pressure and movement. An finally I think all the humans will definatly be extinctt 100,000,000 years from now.

Souces
http://www.explorandomexico.com/state/13/Jalisco/geography/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_far_future

Blog Numero 3

Green vegetation during the rainy season of Jalisco which is usually from June to September.

Weather and Climate.

Climate refers to the atmospheres average conditions over a long period of time, in other words it is "what we expect". Weather is the atmospheres conditions at any given moment or "what we actually get." The six types of climate classifications are, tropical humid, dry, mildlatitude, severe midlatitude, polar and highland.

Jalisco would fall under A tropical wet and AW tropical wet and dry.  

The rainy season takes place usually around June and precipitation levels rise sharply, with hurricanes and tropical storms even occurring some years. However, the rainy weather often lasts no more than one or two hours and often falls towards the end of the day, refreshing the air and overall climate. Although the summer climate in Guadalajara can be hot, it is rarely uncomfortable and humidity levels are reasonable. The temperatures can vary from  95°F during the months of April and May.

And 41°F around January and December.

 

Average temperature for Jalisco, we can see the highest temperature around July

Average rainfall in Jalisco, with the most rainy days occurring in September.

Clouds

Condensation or deposition of water above the Earth's surface creates clouds. In general, clouds develop in any air mass that becomes saturated. Clouds can be classified by altitude, shape and precipitation. The four major types of clouds are Cumulus, Stratus, Cirrus and Nimbus. 

Cumulus clouds appear as small, cotton ball-like clouds that generally form by convection. Cumulus are also called "fair-weather" clouds as pleasant conditions usually prevail while they are around.

This photo is an example of cumulus clouds on a sunny day in Jalisco.

This photo is an example of Cirrus clouds. These clouds appear as wispy thin veils or detached filaments composed mostly of ice. Strong winds aloft often create the fibrous ice trails which tend to curl at their ends. Cirrus clouds are associated with an approaching warm front.

And Finally the clouds in this photo are Nimbostratus clouds. These clouds are dark-gray layer of clouds that cover the entire sky. The prefix "nimbo" indicates that these clouds are precipitating. Nimbostratus clouds are typically found along a warm front producing low intensity precipitation that lasts for several hours.

 

 

Hurricane Jova hitting Jalisco.

Hurricanes

 A Hurricane is one of natures most powerful natural disasters. It is a huge storm which can contain wind speeds of  75 to 200 mph. The Ingredients needed for a hurricane include, a Strong coriolis effect, high sea surface temperatures, changes in wind speed and direction, and some convergence.

Hurricanes form when latent heat is released.

The impact of Hurricanes are that is that it can create a tornado, storm surges, high winds, rainfall, stream flooding and mass wasting.

 

In October of 2011 a Pacific hurricane made landfall over Jalisco Mexico. Jova was a powerful category 3 which had wind speed of up to 125 miles per hour, a total of 9 fatalities and 46,280 others affected.Shortly after landfall, Jova rapidly dissipated to a remnant low, early on October 13.    

Video that documents the effects Hurricane Jova which include high winds, mas wasting and flooding.

Sources:
http://geo-mexico.com/?p=9512

http://clasfaculty.ucdenver.edu/callen/1202//Climate/Cyclones/FrontsCyclones.html

Pidwirny, M. (2006). "Cloud Formation Processes". Fundamentals of Physical Geography, 2nd Edition. Date Viewed. http://www.physicalgeography.net/fundamentals/8e.html  Ritter, Michael E. The Physical Environment: an Introduction to Physical Geography. 2006. Date visited.  http://www.earthonlinemedia.com/ebooks/tpe_3e/title_page.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5s_XuA__TE

Weathering, mass wasting and soil.

 Rock Decay

Rock decay is essential to earths geographical makeup, without it earth would be different from how it is today. Rock decay also plays an essential role in Jalisco's geography.  Weathering refers to the breakdown and decomposition of earth material in place. Erosion refers to the transport of weathered material. There are six types of physical/mechanical decay processes; frost wedging, pressure release, salt decay, thermal expansion and contraction, and finally root pressure. Frost decay occurs when water gets into the rocks cracks and upon freezing expands by about 11 percent thus causing a lot of pressure and making the crack a bit bigger. Pressure release is when a massive rock  forms under great pressure, quick erosion causes pressure release shells to “pop off” in slabs. Pressure of roots occurs when the root of plants gets into cracks in rocks and through pressure makes the crack expand.

 

This picture was taken while hiking in Jalisco.  We can see many types of physical rock decay. Including lots of pressure of root, basal salt decay, and cavernous salt decay including aveoli and tafoni.

 

 



Mass Wasting

Mass wasting is organized into falls, topples, slides, and flows. The key to a fall is a steep slope and detachment, and can include a group or a single rock at a time. This rock fall can produce talus, which can also accumulate in talus cones. There are three types of slides, translation, rotational slump, and rock avalanches. A Slides "occurs when downlsope movement occurs along a plane of weakness in the rock."



A fall about to occur any moment. We can see lots of talus at the bottom.



 

 Flows.

A Mudflows has lots of mud with little rock content. A Debris flows contains lots of mud with lots of rock debris. Debris and mud flows are not streams but they can travel 15 to 50 kilometers per hour.  

 

Mud flow after a rainy day in Huejuqilla el alto, Jalisco.

 

 

Soil: Earth's skin



 Soil is made up of air, minerals, organic matter, and water. Soil contains distinctive horizontal layers that differ in physical, chemical, and organic composition. These layers develop as a result of climate, living organisms, and configuration of land surface and are distinguished by color. In this picture we can see the different horizontal layers in the soil. In this case we can see horizons O, A, and B.

 

 

 



The First layer is the O Horizon. This is the surface horizon which contains both fresh and decaying organic material. The second horizon is the A. This layer is usually a darker color, this is where the roots of plants are at. The B horizon is the "mineral horizon of illuviation where minerals removed from above have collected." This is where the roots end.

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

Sources:

My notes and

http://clasfaculty.ucdenver.edu/callen/1202// 

  

Three of the photos are provided by: 

https://www.facebook.com/huejuquillaelaltojalisco/media_set?set=a.2361475164962.2104136.1492800946&type=3 

 

 

 



Jalisco is Mexico's fifth largest state. 20.5667° north, and 103.6833° west. It is located in the north west part of the country, 20.5667° north, and 103.6833° west. Just slightly below the tropic of cancer, Jalisco shares borders with and Zacatecas, Nayarit, Guanajuato to the north. And Colima and Michoacán to the south. To the west the pacific ocean runs for more then 350 kilometers. Jalisco also lies on the northern tip of the Sierra Madre del Sur and on the Trans Mexican volcano belt.  

 

 

 

 

 

The Trans Mexican belt is a volcanic belt that more then 900 km from west to east in southern part of Mexico. As seen in this picture this belt runs through Jalisco. Along this belt lies the volcano Nevado de Colima. Even though it has Colima in its name the majority of the volcano lies in Jalisco. The Current active volcano lies on a caldera. The most recent activity happened in 2005 with han eruption spreading and ash cloud over 110 miles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nevado de Colima

 

 

 

 

Volcanos in Mexico, Mostly located along the Trans Mexican volcano belt.

 

Sources http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volc%C3%A1n_de_Colima

 

Jump up to: "Volcán de Colima, Mexico". Peakbagger.com.

Intro

Hola! My name is Mary Victorio. I was born in a small town in northern Jalisco, called Huejuqilla el alto Jalisco. I Came to the U.S when I was four and have lived in Colorado ever since. This is my second year here at the University of Colorado at Denver, majoring in early childhood education .

  I have selected to do my blog about my birth place Jalisco. Not only is it the birth place of mariachi music and tequila but it also has a vastly diverse landscape, climate, and people! From sandy beaches in Puerto Vallarta to mountainous valleys, Jalisco is a fascinating place. Which is why I would like to analize it from a "Geographers" perspective. And finally I have some really awesome pictures that I have taken and would like to share with you.