Field Geology Photos 2007

The following photographs were taken during the course of field geology, May and June 2007. These pictures represent field sites from the Flint Hills of east-central Kansas and the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and San Luis Valley in southern Colorado. Click on the small images to see larger versions.

Flint Hills, Kansas

**Lake Kahola mapping area**
	First day of the course--before sunburns, poison ivy, bee stings, blisters, and other assorted field experiences. At the historical marker as rain clouds raced by, Lake Kahola.
	Students examine the Crouse Limestone in an old quarry on a hill top near Lake Kahola.

Mercury team, from left: John Waechter, Andy Vogelsberg, Erin Allen, and Cara Haas.
Silver team, from left: Robert Frederick, Dina Wingfield, and Tracey McGann.
Bronze team, from left: Roxanne Puckett, Andy Holt, Tyler Ringler, and Kallie Moore.
Platinum team, from left: Brenda Zabriskie, Jennifer Richmond, Anna Robles, and Kacey Ford.
Cobalt team, from left: Stephanie Trump, Tracey Schroeder, and Lanny Massey.
Using a Silva compass to measure the strike of a joint in the Funston Limestone.
View over the Flint Hills through pine trees of an abandoned farmstead.
Exposure in bank of Indian Creek, a tributary of Kahola Creek. Below: Speiser Shale displays maroon-red and greenish-gray layers. Above: Threemile Limestone Member of the Wreford Formation.

Matfield Green mapping area
Group photo on the Cottonwood Limestone at a small ford near the southern end of the mapping area. Sycamore trees favor perennial stream banks.

**Matfield Green mapping area**
	Group photo on the Cottonwood Limestone at a small ford near the southern end of the mapping area. Sycamore trees favor perennial stream banks.

Platinum and silver teams take note of the "tombstone" appearance of the Kinney Limestone on a hill side.
Watercress blooming (tiny white flowers) in this spring that emerges just below the Kinney Limestone near the southwestern corner of the mapping area.
Prickly pear cactus blooming in the tallgrass prairie of the Flint Hills. Students quickly learn to watch their step for cactus, rattlesnakes and other obstacles in the field.
View up Camp Creek showing the gravel bed and clear water typical of streams in the Flint Hills. Near the center of the mapping area.
Students compare notes in the shade beside Camp Creek.
Cattle coming for a drink at Camp Creek.

Southern Colorado

	In route to Colorado, the class paused to view Pawnee Rock, an outcrop of Dakota sandstone in western Kansas. Graduate teaching assistant, Kary Reznicek, to far left; course professor, J.S. Aber, to far right.
	Horses grazing in a meadow with Spanish Peaks in the background. The peaks are covered with new-fallen snow. View looking toward the southeast from northwest of La Veta, Colorado.

Group photo on the boardwalk at Russell Springs State Wildlife Area in the San Luis Valley north of Monte Vista. Water flows from an artesian well into the wetland complex.
Bronze and Mercury teams take a break after hiking several miles (uphill) on the road to Cordova Pass in the San Isabel National Forest.
Students take an afternoon break while mapping dikes at Cordova Pass, elevation ~11,400 feet.
West Spanish Peak with newly fallen snow, as seen from Cordova Pass.
Cactus blooming from a crack in lichen-covered granite at Elephant Rocks, north of Del Norte, San Luis Valley.
Students extract a 2.5-meter-long core of peat from a bog in the Blue-Bear Lakes vicinity, San Isabel National Forest, near Cuchara.
Wild orchids blooming in the forest at Blue Lakes campground, near Cuchara, San Isabel National Forest. Photo courtesy of Erin Allen.
On the way to Zapata Falls, students stand on a boulder above the ice-cold, swirling water. From left: Cara Haas, Roxanne Puckett, Kallie Moore, and Tracey McGann.
Relaxing at a picnic halfway through the Colorado portion of the course. North La Veta Pass, courtesy of Jack Estes.
Alpine wildflowers surround a lichen-covered stone. North of Bear Lake, near Cuchara, Colorado.
Group photo at the mine prospect on the side of Mt. Maxwell at elevation ~11,400 feet. To reach this site students had to walk up a steep trail, climbing more than 1600 feet. Mt. Mariquita in the background; peak 13,405 feet.
In route to Mt. Maxwell (right background), students observe local geology from a narrow ridge in the alpine tundra environment.
Mt. Maxwell, elevation 13,335 feet. The summit crew, from left: John Waechter, Rick Moran, Erin Allen, Kallie Moore, and Kary Reznicek. This peak was the highest site reached during field geology 2007.

	Mercury team, from left: John Waechter, Andy Vogelsberg, Erin Allen, and Cara Haas.
	Silver team, from left: Robert Frederick, Dina Wingfield, and Tracey McGann.
	Bronze team, from left: Roxanne Puckett, Andy Holt, Tyler Ringler, and Kallie Moore.
	Platinum team, from left: Brenda Zabriskie, Jennifer Richmond, Anna Robles, and Kacey Ford.
	Cobalt team, from left: Stephanie Trump, Tracey Schroeder, and Lanny Massey.
	Using a Silva compass to measure the strike of a joint in the Funston Limestone.
	View over the Flint Hills through pine trees of an abandoned farmstead.
	Exposure in bank of Indian Creek, a tributary of Kahola Creek. Below: Speiser Shale displays maroon-red and greenish-gray layers. Above: Threemile Limestone Member of the Wreford Formation.

	Platinum and silver teams take note of the "tombstone" appearance of the Kinney Limestone on a hill side.
	Watercress blooming (tiny white flowers) in this spring that emerges just below the Kinney Limestone near the southwestern corner of the mapping area.
	Prickly pear cactus blooming in the tallgrass prairie of the Flint Hills. Students quickly learn to watch their step for cactus, rattlesnakes and other obstacles in the field.
	View up Camp Creek showing the gravel bed and clear water typical of streams in the Flint Hills. Near the center of the mapping area.
	Students compare notes in the shade beside Camp Creek.
	Cattle coming for a drink at Camp Creek.

	Group photo on the boardwalk at Russell Springs State Wildlife Area in the San Luis Valley north of Monte Vista. Water flows from an artesian well into the wetland complex.
	Bronze and Mercury teams take a break after hiking several miles (uphill) on the road to Cordova Pass in the San Isabel National Forest.
	Students take an afternoon break while mapping dikes at Cordova Pass, elevation ~11,400 feet.
	West Spanish Peak with newly fallen snow, as seen from Cordova Pass.
	Cactus blooming from a crack in lichen-covered granite at Elephant Rocks, north of Del Norte, San Luis Valley.
	Students extract a 2.5-meter-long core of peat from a bog in the Blue-Bear Lakes vicinity, San Isabel National Forest, near Cuchara.
	Wild orchids blooming in the forest at Blue Lakes campground, near Cuchara, San Isabel National Forest. Photo courtesy of Erin Allen.
	On the way to Zapata Falls, students stand on a boulder above the ice-cold, swirling water. From left: Cara Haas, Roxanne Puckett, Kallie Moore, and Tracey McGann.
	Relaxing at a picnic halfway through the Colorado portion of the course. North La Veta Pass, courtesy of Jack Estes.
	Alpine wildflowers surround a lichen-covered stone. North of Bear Lake, near Cuchara, Colorado.
	Group photo at the mine prospect on the side of Mt. Maxwell at elevation ~11,400 feet. To reach this site students had to walk up a steep trail, climbing more than 1600 feet. Mt. Mariquita in the background; peak 13,405 feet.
	In route to Mt. Maxwell (right background), students observe local geology from a narrow ridge in the alpine tundra environment.
	Mt. Maxwell, elevation 13,335 feet. The summit crew, from left: John Waechter, Rick Moran, Erin Allen, Kallie Moore, and Kary Reznicek. This peak was the highest site reached during field geology 2007.