Thursday, May 3, 2012

Ibiza- Present & Future

Ibiza in the Present:
Being a part of the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Ibiza displays many breathtaking sights of coastal landscapes. As an island, it isn't surprising that Ibiza contains many gorgeous beaches. At first glance, tourists and natives see wonderful recreational spots to play in the water or tan; but upon a closer inspection, there are many geological forms present at these landscapes. Beaches form from years and years of sediment deposition as well as erosion of previous coastline. When the tides move in, it takes and deposits sediment while slowly nibbling away at the coastline to attain the desired flat coastline.
(Photo from ibizaa-z.com)
In the above photo, the eroding cliffs display many wave cut notches formed from the constant bombardment of water, slowly eroding rock. 

(Picture from www.covadecanmarsa.com)

This picture features a good example of a tombolo, or a narrow piece of land connecting an island to the mainland. These form when currents carry and deposit sediment which builds up eventually creating a tombolo. 

The Cova de Can Marca as mentioned before was once submerged below the Mediterranean Sea, formed from thousands of years of dissolution processes. Millions of years ago, Ibiza was apart of a big underwater mountain range. Carbonic acid dissolved through the limestone and sediment to form caverns and tunnels through the rock. When Ibiza rose above sea level, the caves were exposed, revealing the wondrous forms that can be found in a karst landscape. 


Ibiza in Ten Years: 
I believe that Ibiza will look the same in ten years because a decade isn't long enough for gradual geographic processes to play a huge part in Ibiza's landscapes. For slow processes to be noticed, millions of years need to occur. The only thing that could change the island dramatically would be a gigantic tropical storm, but this seems unlikely. Ibiza sees cloudless skies during its dry summer season, and only some mild storms occur in the wet winter season. The only thing that will change in ten years is the amount of tourists traveling to this island to enjoy its beautiful landscapes!


Ibiza in One Hundred Years:
In one hundred years, I predict that Ibiza's coastal landscapes will appear slightly different.
 
(Photo from www.grida.no)
 This graph suggests that in a century, the sea level will rise about 0.7 meters, or about 2 feet and 4 inches. This will not drastically affect the island, since Ibiza's highest point is 475 meters about sea lever (a little over a mile high), but it will result in less coastline and some residents may have to relocate their homes in case of a high tide or tropical storm.


Ibiza in One Thousand Years: 
Much can happen in one thousand years, the same is true for Ibiza. I predict that Ibiza's sea level and climate will drop. The graph below portrays the global climate history for the past million years, as well as the sea level of the past 140,000 years.  
(Photo from www.ncdc.noaa.gov)
The graph displays records which tell that our world's sea levels and climate have risen exponentially, especially in the past 20,000 years. This occurred every 100,000 years or so, so there is nothing to fear. If the trends from this graph stay true, then I believe that we are in a peak for our era and that our world's climate and sea level will slowly start to drop.  This affects the island, because if the climate and sea level drop, Ibiza's elevation goes up, it receives more coastline, and the temperatures make it a more mild island. 


Conclusion: 
This Mediterranean island will see a lot of change within the next thousand years, mostly with its coastal landscapes and climate. The beaches will change forms, the coastlines will advance and retreat, and the climate will raise then slowly drop. Being an island, Ibiza sees a lot of change as it is, due to the ITCZ and trade winds. Although the future is still uncertain, I feel like my predictions hold some truth to what Ibiza will look like in the coming years. 


Sources: 
Ahlenius, Hugo. "Projected Sea Level Rise for the 21st Century." Grida.no. 2012. 26, April. 2012. www.grida.no 
"Cova de Can Marca." ibizaa-z. 2007. 5, March. 2012. www.ibizaa-z.com
"Ibiza Beach." Ibizaa-z. 2007. 8, Feb. 2012. www.ibizaa-z.com. 
United States. Department of Commerce. Climate Science: Investigating Climatic and Environmental Processes. 2008. Print.

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Weather

Ibiza can be referred to as the paradise island, a main reason can be seen by its beautiful weather.

(Image from www.harbourguides.com)

The picture above shows a beautiful cloudless day that can be normally seen and enjoyed on the island. Ibiza has two seasons: summer and winter. Summer lasts from May to October and can be described as hot and dry while winter occurs from November to April and is generally mild and wet. This climate generally describes that of a Tropical Savannah, meaning that it sees a distinct wet and dry season.

(Photo from www.worldexecutive.com)

The graph above shows the average rainfall and temperatures for each month. The erratic shift in rainfall can be associated with the Intertropical Convergence Zone, or ITCZ. The ITCZ is a dynamic pressure variation where northern and southern hemispherical winds converge. This usually involves occluded fronts, when a warm and cold front collide together, which cause the great change in precipitation levels for Ibiza and the surrounding Mediterranean area.

(Image from www.yachtskyran.blogspot.com)


When the atmosphere is unstable, or when the air continues to rise on its own, the level of condensation rises. At the point when the air reaches 100% humidity and saturation, it rains like in the photo above. 


Sources:
"Climate and Weather in Ibiza." Ibiza Spotlight. 1999-2012. 8, April. 2012. www.ibizaspotlight.com
"Ibiza Climate Chart." World Executive. 2010. 8, April. 2012. www.worldexecutive.com
"Ibiza Harbour." Harbour Guides. 2009. 9, April. 2012. www.harbourguides.com
"Photos." Blogspot. 2010. 10, April. 2012. www.yachtskyran.blogspot.com

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Cova de Can Marca

Of all the beautiful landforms of Ibiza, one of the most spectacular is the Cova de Can Marca. This popular tourist spot attracts many people in Puerto de San Miguel, Ibiza.

(Photo from ibizaa--z.com)

 This limestone cavern, created by years and years of dissolution processes, shows just how beautiful geological forms can be. Dissolution occurs when a mineral is completely dissolved by water. In this case, when all the right elements come together to form carbonic acid, the limestone dissolves and leaves caverns behind.

(Photo from ibizaa-z.com)

Some beautiful, natural forms found in the Cova de Can Marca are stalactites and stalagmites. Stalactites form from limestone precipitating and hardening from a cavern ceiling. Stalagmites form when dissolved limestone particles drip from a stalactite and build up on the ground. Eventually, when stalagmites and stalactites meet after years and years of forming, they become a column.

(Video from youtube.com)

The above video of a family's trip to the Cova de Can Marca perfectly shows just how big and beautiful this cavern is. It is truly amazing to see the product of hundreds of years of dissolution processes at work.


Sources:
"Cova de Can Marca." ibizaa-z. 2007. 5, March. 2012. www.ibizaa-z.com


Monday, February 13, 2012

Island Formation and Crustal Deformations

There are many interesting things about Ibiza, including how the island formed. The African and Eurasian plate boundaries converged resulting in the Ibiza we know today. As shown below, Ibiza is located right between these two plates in the Mediterranean Sea.

  
(Image from worldatlas.com)

When these two plates converged, the subducting plate went into the asthenosphere as magma rose to form island arcs above the overriding plate. 

(Image from "Making Earth's Basic Configuration" notes)

As the shifting plates move toward each other, the stress in the Earth's crust causes folding and faulting of Ibiza's rock layers. When the plates compress together, the strata bend resulting in anticlines and synclines which make the rock layers appear bent up and down. As faulting occurs, the fast movement of rock results in a change of the sediment layering. The rock snaps and shifts in a very short amount of time which can cause natural disasters such as landslides to occur. 

(Picture from www.landslide.org)
This is a picture demonstrating the power that faulting can have on local residencies of Ibiza. 


Sources:

"Geological History." Ibizaa-z. 2007. 8, Feb. 2012. www.ibizaa-z.com. 

Pidwirny, M. (2006). "Crustal Deformation Processes: Folding and Faulting". Fundamentals of Physical Geography, 2nd Edition. 10, Feb. 2012. http://www.physicalgeography.net

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Introductions and Stuff

Hello friends! My name is Bennett Tifft and I am a Recording Arts major at the University of Colorado Denver. For my field trip, I chose the beautiful island of Ibiza.


                                                                                   (Photo by indagare.com)
   
I chose Ibiza because I have always dreamt of traveling there. It is a beautiful island that has some of the world's top clubs and is frequently visited by the best DJs and dance music producers. I only know about the night life in Ibiza, so I chose it as my place to get a more in depth look of what the island is really like. 



(Photo by loveibiza.net)