CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Clearlake kicked off the Christmas holiday on Saturday night with its annual parade and Christmas celebration.

The parade – shown in the video above – wound its way from Redbud Park to Austin Park, with the roadway lined with parents, children and dogs, some of them decked out in holiday costume.

Clearlake Police, Lake County Fire, Lower Lake High School, and many local organizations and groups participated in the parade.

Once at Austin Park, children could meet with Santa Claus, high schoolers performed Christmas songs and led carol singing, and the big Christmas tree was lit up for the season.

“It was during my enchanted days of travel that the idea came to me, which, through the years, has come into my thoughts again and again and always happily – the idea that geology is the music of the earth.” – Hans Cloos

“The earth is large and old enough to teach us modesty.” – Hans Cloos

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Our natural physical environment changes in increments on a daily basis.

Landforms like streams are constantly changing our valleys. The work of wind, freezing, thawing and erosion from weathering are all factors in the lay of the land.

Geologists compare time and space with 1 millimeter in measurement equaling about one year in terms of geology, and around 3 feet in any direction is equal to about 1,000 years.

UC Davis geologist Eldridge Moores is quoted in an online SF Gate news article: “If you compare the distance across the country it wouldn’t be until you hit the East Coast – around Boston – that you’d reach four and a half billion years, the birth of our planet, and the very start of the geologic forces that we are still studying today.”

Lake County is rich in geologic features created by forces that are hard to fathom.

Here, we have the largest geothermal field in the world at The Geysers; a volcano, Mt. Konocti, that is about 4,000 feet in elevation; and the oldest lake in North America, our own Clear Lake, with its 44,000 acres of surface waters.

To elucidate the geology of Lake County, Dr. Harry Lyons explained in a statement for the Lake County Library's “Know Lake County" series, “We live in a clutter of marine rocks, delivered from the Pacific by forces beautifully described by a theory called plate tectonics. The position and composition of the rocks, for millions of years, have formed and subsidized the ecosystem of the Clear Lake Basin. Our dynamic landscape, powered by the San Andreas Fault System, has led to the development of our famous eutrophic lake, a favorite of biologists worldwide.”

Lake County's hills and streams house an abundance of shiny serpentine, California's state rock.

Serpentine's color ranges from green to black, and is speckled with both dark and light features. It is also abundant in the Sierra Nevada foothills and the Klamath Mountains.

According to the California Geologic Survey publications, serpentine can be metamorphic as well as igneous, containing peridotite straight from earth's mantle, which is below earth's crust.

Many other unique and beautiful rock specimens can be seen in our hills and valleys, and also in our local museums. Fluorite, scratching in at a 4 on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness is a soft mineral which is located around the world. It has been used for jewelry, glass lenses and industrially as a flux.

Mica is a lovely gem and is found in the areas of all of the three main rock types: igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary.

Because of Mica's cleavage, it contains a crystalline structure that can be split into sheets, which has made it useful as insulation.

Harking back to our classrooms and the study of rock's properties, we can recall that cleavage is the ability of a mineral to split on its planes. Magnesite veins are often found with serpentinite, and measures between 3 and 4 on the Mohs scale of hardness.

Magnesite has been identified in both meteorites and on Mars through the special instruments such as infra-red spectroscopy.

Magnesite has been used in kilns and industrial furnaces. In our county's past Pomo Indians wore and traded beautiful beads made of magnesite.

Kathleen Scavone, M.A., is a retired educator, potter, writer and author of “Anderson Marsh State Historic Park: A Walking History, Prehistory, Flora, and Fauna Tour of a California State Park” and “Native Americans of Lake County.” She also writes for NASA and JPL as one of their “Solar System Ambassadors.” She was selected “Lake County Teacher of the Year, 1998-99” by the Lake County Office of Education, and chosen as one of 10 state finalists the same year by the California Department of Education.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County Animal Care and Control has four cats ready and waiting for new homes this week.

The available cats are all adults with tabby or tortie coloring.

If you're looking for a new companion, visit the shelter. There are many great pets there, hoping you'll choose them.

For those looking for a barn cat to keep the rodents at bay, be sure to ask about the barn cat adoption program. Feral barn cats are adopted out for $1 each, which includes altering, ear notching and vaccines. 

In addition to the animals featured here, all adoptable animals in Lake County can be seen at http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control/Shelter_Animal_Search.htm .

The following cats at the Lake County Animal Care and Control shelter have been cleared for adoption (other cats pictured on the animal control Web site that are not listed here are still “on hold”).

Orange tabby

This male orange tabby has a short coat and gold eyes.

He's in cat room kennel No. 43, ID No. 6513.

Domestic medium hair cat

This female domestic medium hair cat has a dilute tortie coat and green eyes.

She's in cat room kennel No. 111, ID No. 6459.

Domestic short hair

This young female domestic short hair cat has a gray tabby coat and gold eyes.

She's in cat room kennel No. 112, ID No. 6555.

Domestic short hair

This female domestic short hair has a gray tabby coat and gold eyes.

She's in cat room kennel No. 120, ID No. 6416.

To fill out an adoption application online visit http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control/Adopt/Dog___Cat_Adoption_Application.htm .

Lake County Animal Care and Control is located at 4949 Helbush in Lakeport, next to the Hill Road Correctional Facility.

Office hours are Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday. The shelter is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Visit the shelter online at http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control.htm .

For more information call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County Animal Care and Control has another varied group of canines for adoption this week.
                                                           
The available dogs include mixes of Australian Cattle Dog, beagle, dachshund, husky, Labrador Retriever, pit bull, shepherd, terrier and Viszla.

Dogs that are adopted from Lake County Animal Care and Control are either neutered or spayed, microchipped and, if old enough, given a rabies shot and county license before being released to their new owner. License fees do not apply to residents of the cities of Lakeport or Clearlake.

If you're looking for a new companion, visit the shelter. There are many great pets hoping you'll choose them.

The following dogs at the Lake County Animal Care and Control shelter have been cleared for adoption (additional dogs on the animal control Web site not listed are still “on hold”).

Shepherd-beagle mix

This female shepherd-beagle mix has a short tricolor coat.

She's in kennel No. 9, ID No. 6517.

Terrier mix

This male terrier mix has a short black coat with white markings and floppy ears.

He's in kennel No. 11, ID No. 6505.

Labrador Retriever

This male Labrador Retriever has a short black coat and brown eyes.

He's in kennel No. 15, ID No. 6463.

Australian Cattle Dog

This female Australian Cattle Dog has a short blue and tan coat.

She's in kennel No. 17, ID No. 6511.

Vizsla mix

This female Vizsla mix has a short black and brown coat.

She's in kennel No. 6537, ID No. 22a.

Vizsla mix

This male Vizsla mix has a short black coat with white markings.

He's in kennel No. 22b, ID No. 6538.

Pit bull terrier mix

This female pit bull terrier has a short black and brown coat.

Staff said she is very scared in the shelter and needs some tender loving care.

She's in kennel No. 24, ID No. 6506.

Shar Pei-pit bull mix

This male Shar Pei-pit bull mix has a short black and white coat.

Shelter staff said he already has been neutered, and would do well in a home with no livestock.

He's in kennel No. 25, ID No. 6629.

'Kali'

“Kali” is a female pit bull terrier mix.

She has a short blue and white coat, brown eyes and cropped ears.

She's in kennel No. 27, ID No. 6424.

Dachshund-terrier mix

This female dachshund-terrier mix has a short red and white coat.

Shelter staff said she already has been spayed.

She's in kennel No. 29, ID No. 6531.

Husky mix

This male husky mix has a medium-length tricolor coat.

He's in kennel No. 31, ID no. 6582.

To fill out an adoption application online visit http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control/Adopt/Dog___Cat_Adoption_Application.htm .

Lake County Animal Care and Control is located at 4949 Helbush in Lakeport, next to the Hill Road Correctional Facility.

Office hours are Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday. The shelter is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Visit the shelter online at http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control.htm .

For more information call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

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Imagine standing around a roaring campfire, roasting s’mores. You feel the warmth of the flames as the marshmallows crackle. Now back away. You get cooler, right?

That's not how it works on the sun. The visible surface of the sun has a temperature of 10,000° F.  Backing away from the inferno should cool things down, but it doesn’t. 

Instead, the sun's upper atmosphere, or corona, sizzles at millions of degrees – a temperature 200 to 500 times higher than that of the roaring furnace below.

For more than a half-century, astronomers have tried to figure out what causes the corona to be so hot.  It is one of the most vexing problems in astrophysics.

Solar physicist Bart De Pontieu of the Lockheed Martin Solar & Astrophysics Laboratory says, “The problem of coronal heating was first discovered in the 1940s. The problem involves a variety of complex physical processes that are difficult to directly measure or capture in theoretical models.”

On June 27, 2013, with campfires blazing around the USA, NASA launched the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) – a space-based solar observatory designed to get to the bottom of how the solar atmosphere is heated.

“IRIS studies the transition region between the sun’s surface and the corona,” explained De Pontieu, who is the science lead of the observatory. “It can track the temperature and motions of hot gas at unprecedented spatial (0.33 arcsec), temporal (2 s) and spectral (2 mi/s) resolution.”

Most researchers agree that the corona is probably heated in several different ways. For instance, plasma waves from the sun can rise into the corona and crash, depositing their energy there.

At the same time, “heat bombs” could be going off. These explosions happen when magnetic fields in the corona criss-cross and realign, exploding like a miniature solar flare.

One of the big questions of coronal heating has been: Is the corona heated everywhere at once, or is heat delivered in discrete, bomb-like events?

De Pontieu said, “These two possibilities are very different, but the distinction can be difficult to observe.”

The problem is the corona is a great thermal conductor. If a heat bomb goes off, the resulting heat rapidly spreads out over a large region. Blink, and it looks much the same as uniform heating.

Fortunately, IRIS never blinks. A recent observation by the observatory’s spectrographs has found evidence for these discrete, explosive events.

Paola Testa of the Harvard-Smithonian Center for Astrophysics, lead author of the paper reporting the results said, “Because IRIS can resolve the transition region ten times better than previous instruments, we were able to see hot material rushing up and down magnetic fields in the low corona. This is compatible with models from the University of Oslo, in which magnetic reconnection sets off heat bombs in the corona.”

Testa emphasizes that other heating mechanisms may be at work, too. Even so, these new observations could help tease out how much of the heating comes from discrete heating events, helping researchers sort out a decades-old puzzle of great complexity.