LOGGING REQUIREMENTS:
POST IN YOUR LOG HERE:
1. A Photo of you and your GPS overlooking the Harbor from the
coordinates (prove of visit – no virtual finds please)
2. Give your estimate of how much of the harbor has filled in so
far. Either you can estimate the distance from the old shore line
to the current one, or a harder task, estimate the number of acres
of land that used to be harbor.
3. Bonus Question: Tell in your log about another harbor that is
silting up and what effects there are from the situation.
THERE IS NO NEED TO EMAIL THE OWNER AS WE GET, REVIEW AND VERIFY
YOUR ONLINE LOGS.
Much of the San Juan Islands are comprised of solid rock thrust
up by movement in the Earth’s plates, but not the land at Ship
Harbor. What you see here is the result of ocean waves and currents
depositing material into the harbor. The result is low lying
marshland that is gradually drying out and firming up.
Much like rivers deposit material as they meander, and gradually
change course, the ocean will deposit material given the right
topography and surrounding geological conditions. In this case the
rock coastline is relatively fixed (though as the rocks wear they
provide the sand here) and the ocean is slowly filling in the
harbor area with silt and sand.
This process may take centuries, and Washington State modern
history is pretty short. Therefore, to understand the potential
effects of harbor siltation, we turn to another more famous, but
similar example of this geological phenomenon.
The ancient city of Ephesus, in what is now known as Turkey
suffered a similar geological fate to Ship Harbor. While Ephesus
was founded in the 10th Century BC (before 1000 BC) in a great spot
for trading by ship, the river Cayster (today Küçük Menderes) and
the action of the ocean silted up the harbor over time. The
resulting marshes caused malaria and many deaths in the area. To
solve the problems of silt and disease, the king flood the old city
by blocking the sewers in about 290 BC. The people of Ephesus were
forced to move to a new settlement 2 kilometers closer to the
sea.
Moving the city (and repeated harbor dredging) worked for about
1400 years. Ephesus survived as an important center through
multiple invasions, and under different empires. However, in the
end it was silt in the harbor that ended the importance of Ephesus
as a commercial centre. With no more easy access to the Aegean Sea,
residents started leaving the lowland of the city for the
surrounding hills and beyond. By 1073 Ephesus was but a small
village. Today it is an important tourist destination, but don’t
expect to see the harbor that built the City from the ruins because
you will need to go 5 kilometers to get to the sea!
