Mussels on the walls ( attention Wayne )

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dale eichel

dale eichel

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Wayne, we saw what I believe to be true.
About 20 feet up the wall from the water is a 3 foot stripe that appeared to have no mussels.
We looked, we took out the binocs and clear as a bell.
How could that be?
Wall west of Moqui.

dale
 

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Yes that looks clean with a dense line of mussels under it and over it. Maybe we had a rapid rise or fall in lake level. I doubt it was the answer to the mussel problem, but it is a peculiar event. Thanks for sharing it.
 
If it had been a rapid drop, there would be a solid "wall" of shells where they attached during high water. A blank section like that (with shells above and below) is something I cannot explain.
 
How about a fuel spill? The fuel (or something toxic) killed the mussels and made the rocky surface undesirable for mussels to attach there. Maybe a boat sunk there and released a bunch of oil and gas in the water that got absorbed into the sandstone. It just a guess, I don't know.
 
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dale eichel said:
Wayne, we saw what I believe to be true.
About 20 feet up the wall from the water is a 3 foot stripe that appeared to have no mussels.
We looked, we took out the binocs and clear as a bell.
How could that be?
Wall west of Moqui.

dale
Click to expand...
There are lots of types and compositions of rock and sand at Lake Powell. Some of the compositions are apparently not to the liking of the mussels. I scuba dive at the lake every year, including last year. There will be large areas covered by mussels and then other areas right next to the mussels that are devoid of mussels. Even a towel or discarded dish on the bottom of the lake (20 to 40 feet down) may be covered in mussels, while areas around the item will have none. There is usually a visual difference in the materials that do, or do not, have attached mussels.
 
I thought of that.
What we really need is to identify that elevation and see if that is the same no mussel zone equally across different strata.
I can't get down there now but if someone can look closely elsewhere that would be nice.

dale
 
dale eichel said:
I thought of that.
What we really need is to identify that elevation and see if that is the same no mussel zone equally across different strata.
I can't get down there now but if someone can look closely elsewhere that would be nice.

dale
Click to expand...
Thanks Dale - let me know when you are coming and we can look for similar events. My guess is this picture is from the back of the canyon and not in the main channel where mussels are less abundant.
 
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This mysterious absence of mussel's strip is predominate lake wide best I can tell. Is very easy to see up north where the mussels are more prevalent. I was wondering myself what caused it?
 
Pretty mysterious. First off, that's Navajo Sandstone, which is probably the most common strata at Lake Powell, and it's the same stuff as most of the vertical walls in that part of the lake, including Tapestry Wall, the entrance of Moqui Canyon, the walls with Defiance House Ruin in Forgotten Canyon, and the narrows of Smith Fork. Below that you've got the crumbly Kayenta formation that forms beaches pretty well--common in Knowles for example, which is why you have good beaches in there--and below that is another vertical monolithic sandstone, the Wingate Formation. So I suppose you could check Navajo Sandstone elsewhere--it's certainly common enough in many parts of the lake.

Your photo is date stamped May 23, when the lake was at 3581.27. FYI--the November 2018 flush dropped the lake from 3590 to 3587 in three days, which is the right vertical distance, but the wrong lake level to explain the mystery... if it was the right answer, it would have to be about 20-30 feet above 3581, which it wasn't...

The only explanation I can think of is that the strip is at about 3600-3610, and that's been one of the most dynamic lake levels on the lake in recent years--i.e., it's been covered and uncovered many times seasonally, more often than most any other lake level since 2005... Maybe the rapid seasonal changes from dry to wet to dry again in many recent years made it difficult for mussels to take hold... just a guess...
 
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