Monday, April 18, 2011

Monday Night Supplimental!

I couldn't contain myself.  Three quick photos.
The stand mixer decal came in the mail today.  Now we can really take down those pastries!
The pre-container planting tomatoes and peppers.

The herb garden.  Basil, dill and cilantro (that lazy rosemary still has a while to pop up.)
 Good night!


Rattlesnake Arches, the quick version.

Yes, another quick post.  Two of the tests from last week got pushed to today, then I have one more tomorrow.  Also, I found out that my final speech is to be presented on Thursday, so you get a post with lots of pretty pictures this week, then more on the Geology next week.

Yesterday, PBF, some friends and I headed out to hike the Rattlesnake Canyon trail.  I cannot stress how beautiful it is.  It has one of the larges collection of natural arches outside of Arches National Park in Utah. We took a 4x4 road to get to the upper trailhead instead of hiking in from the bottom of the canyon, and for the views, it was worth it (despite the climb back up the cliffs).

On a side note, I figured all the running I've been doing since moving here would get me in shape for hikes like this, but from the feel of my calves today, I need to hit up the stair machine a little more instead.

A veiw looking back from the upper road.
 You can faintly see Mt. Garfield (left) and  Grand Mesa(center-right)  in the background

The first great view of Rattlesnake Canyon from the 4x4 road.
It is hard to miss this on your way to the trailhead.
The first view from the upper trail.
This is from the backside of Rattlesnake Canyon, looking out northwest into Utah and  the Colorado River Valley.


The white layer in the middle is leaching out salts.
 (I know because I licked it. Geology involves all of the senses.)

Two of the three arches you first come upon.
I couldn't get back far enough to get all three without falling off the cliff behind me.

One of the most well defined arches.
There is an overlook trail that comes out on top of the canyon rim next to the top of the arch.
Have to undertake that one next time.

A formation below the trail we were on.  PBF named it the Railroad  Spike.
You can see the faint trace of an even lower trail in the canyon below.


On the drive back to Grand Junction.
View of the Colorado Plateau from the 4x4 road.
 The pictures don't do the place the justice it deserves, but hopefully you get an idea of the beauty.   Next week, observed sedimentary structures!

Monday, April 11, 2011

Monday Quicky

As I have a total of 5 tests in the next week, I'm going to wuss out and do a quick post today.  In my Historical Geology course, we are currently pursuing our fossil unit.  Here are my favorite fossils we have covered so far (and almost covered I suppose).

Trilobites.   So Cool.   They were amazingly diverse prehistoric bugs that completely disappeared from the fossil record during the Permian Extinction.     I don't have pictures of any yet (lab tomorrow!), but you can find several online.

Brachiopods.  While I don't find them to be particularly interesting, this specimen in lab was fossilized in a manner called permineralization.  It resulted in the shell being filled with pyrite.

Top shell.  you can't see the pyrite very well with this picture as it was from my phone.

Bottom shell.  You can see the top shell overlaying at the top of the photo.
One neat way to tell Brachiopods from their similar looking friends the Pelecypods is the symmetry.  Brachiopods have a strong symmetry looking down at the top, while Pelecypods are symmetrical from the side.

Diatoms are really neat single celled organisms.  They still exist today, but have been found as far back as the Jurassic (200 million years ago).  What I love about them, is the unique shell shapes (well, cell wall shapes would be a better term) they secrete.  Pretty complex looking for a single cell. They also used to be used as an abrasive in toothpaste!

Anyway, off to take one more run at my Weather and Climate practice test.   Happy fossil hunting!

Monday, April 4, 2011

Details from the No Thoroughfare Trail in Colorado National Monument Part 2

Last post, I focused on the older Precambrian rocks that make up most of the base of No Thoroughfare Canyon.  For this post I'm switching gears, actually more like throwing it in reverse, to look at some of the most recent activity in the canyon; the flood and rockfall deposits of less than a million years ago. That may still sound pretty old, but remember, we were looking at rocks older than 1.4 billion years last week.

Close to the mouth of No Thoroughfare, you come upon this:

The natural habitat of the elusive hiking backpack.   Look at  that camouflage!
My backpack on the ground is about a foot high so the larger boulders in the upper layers are a good foot in length at least. This is evidence of flood and possibly rock fall deposits (hehe, mass wasting). These poorly sorted deposits run up the canyon quite a ways. The sorting classification is based on variation in grain size of the sediments that make up the rock.  There is a system of measure called the Wentworth Scale  that is used in geology to classify the grain size of sedimentary rocks. This will come in handy in a few minutes. The next picture is a bit further up.  

Small cliffs in the mouth of the canyon.
I've highlighted the portions of the poorly sorted gravels in the next photo. Differences in rock size show differences in the environment in which the rocks were deposited.  The faster and stronger the force of the water, the larger and heavier rocks it has the ability to transport.  Each layer of the larger cobbles and pebbles represent a flood deposit, with the fine grained sands representing calmer water deposition.

Showing off a common tool in Geology.  Outlining rocks.
This picture has a very stark contrast between the fine grained sand deposits and the large boulders and cobbles above.  

Do not stand here during a flood.
 The rock piles on the ground have either fallen from the cliff above, or have been transported by another flooding event.
More exciting yellow outlining.
 Each of the deposits above are really just loose sediment.  They have not undergone the burial and lithification necessary to cement the grains together to become a full fledged rock. Lucky for us another deposit in the area, a bit older, has eroded into the canyon and shows what the rocks from similar deposition environment a few hundred million years ago can look like.  These are what the deposits above can become if they are not eroded away before they can be buried.
What the first deposits aspire to be....if rocks have aspirations I suppose.

A pebble conglomerate, and a foreshortened leg.

The last picture I'll leave you with is one I meant to put up last week, but for some reason or another spaced out.   If you ever needed proof the earth loves you, here it is.