Field geology blog '09

• July 3: All grading for field geology is now completed, and final grades have been entered. Students may pick up their reports and collections next week. Have a happy and safe July 4th!

• June 30: The course is now formally finished. Final grades will be posted by the end of the week (see student Buzz-in accounts). All photographs entered for student photo awards are now available online along with selected additional pictures by the course instructors.
  Collected 2009 field geology photos.

  Have a nice summer!

• June 24: Halfway through the final week of the course, students should be well along writing up your independent projects. For more background information and photos, see the following from geospectra.net
  Field geology 2009 general overview.
  Exploring the Flint Hills, eastern Kansas.
  Raton Basin and Rockies, southern Colorado.
  Identifying rocks from Kansas and Colorado.

• June 21: Field geology has returned to campus, where students will continue working on their final projects during the coming week. Draft versions may be submitted by Wednesday for review by your instructor; final versions are due by Friday (June 26) in printed paper format.

  During the past four weeks, many students have taken photographs of rocks, landscapes, people, wildlife, the sky, wild flowers, and other things that we have encountered. For the first time ever, we undertook a student photo competition. The winning photographs were selected by the "geo" committee and are presented now.

  Photo winners 2009.

• June 18: Our final field excursion took place this afternoon--a walk along trails in the Baker Creek valley above the Cuchara Mountain Resort. Tomorrow students will complete reports and prepare to return to Kansas on Saturday.

  Final field observations taken along the Baker Creek trail above Cuchara Mountain Resort. Left: group photo on a small hogback of conglomerate within the Sangre de Cristo Formation. Right: scenic view looking downstream along Baker Creek.

  Yesterday students divided into three groups doing different activities for final projects. It was a long and strenuous day for all.

  • Rock and mineral collections -- trip through La Veta Pass into the San Luis Valley.
    
  • Mapping surficial geology of the Cuchara valley -- Spring Creek and Baker Creek vicinity.
    
  • Ascent of Mt. Maxwell in the Culebra Range -- alpine structural geology (photos below).

  Ascent of Mt. Maxwell

  	Walking up a jeep trail, beginning at ~9600 feet, then climbing into the alpine zone above timberline. Students take a brief rest at ~12,000 feet altitude.
  	On the way up, we encounted the yellow-bellied marmot (Marmota flaviventris), also known as the rock chuck. About the size of a beaver, but with a bushy tail, marmots live in cracks and hollows beneath rocks in the alpine zone.

  	A large thrust fault is exposed on the eastern side of Mt. Maxwell at ~12,900 feet elevation. Left: students examine features in the fault zone. Right: vein of copper mineral (malachite), a product of hydrothermal metamorphism in the fault zone.
  	At the summit of Mt. Maxwell, 13,335 feet altitude. A strong wind made for chill conditions and standing was difficult. Left: students pose by the rock monument at the crest. Right: eating lunch in the shelter of a small ledge.

  All good things come to an end. Descending the steep ridge on the eastern side of Mt. Maxwell. By the time we got down, there were many blisters and sore muscles, but well worth the experience.

• June 15: Today students completed their geological observations in the vicinity of Blue Lake, near Cuchara, Colorado. This included collecting a peat core from a bog in a kettlehole of a glacial moraine. The basal peat was saved for later radiocarbon dating.

  Blue Lake vicinity

  Collecting a sediment core from a bog. Left: preparing to drive the coring tool down. Right: full extension of the coring tool (5 m or 16 feet) after bringing up the deepest sediment.

  	Left: removing sediment core from the tool onto a plastic sheet for examination. Right: acquiring GPS location for the core site. Notice the temporary wooden platform to prevent sinking into the watery bog.
  	Left: Erratic boulder in till that bears glacial striations and grooves. Right: "old man's beard," a moss that grows in conifers at high altitude. This moss does not harm the tree, and it indicates exceptionally clean air.
  	Measuring strike and dip. Left: Using a Silva compass to measure the underside of a sandstone bed (the correct way). Right: another way demonstrated by the ladies of field geology.

• June 14: Sunday afternoon picnic at a private ranch at North La Veta Pass combining good food, great views, horseshoes, some geological observations, and wildlife. North La Veta Pass is ~9400 feet elevation.

  North La Veta Pass

  Left: group photo in the forest after a late lunch. Following a brief rain the sun came out, although temperature remained cool. Right: western wallflower (Erysimum capitatum) displays bright yellow-orange flowers.

  	Spectacular views from the picnic site. Left: Mt. Maestas (center) and Rough Mt. (left). U.S. highway 160 runs across the bottom of scene. Right: East and West Spanish Peaks beneath dramatic clouds.
  	Elk herd grazing in the open meadow at North La Veta Pass. Left: overview of herd. Right: closeup view of several elk with their noses to the ground.

• June 13: After completing the first week of geologic mapping projects in southern Colorado, students take a break and visit the Great Sand Dunes and nearby Zapata Falls.

  Great Sand Dunes

  Kite aerial photography next to Medano Creek beside the dunes. Left: closeup view of the course instructors (center) and students. Right: farther view showing kite flyers and Medano Creek.

  Panoramic view looking westward with the dunes on the right and Medano Creek on left edge.

  	Looking toward the dunes with the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in the background. Note people moving over the sand like small ants.
  	View over Medano Creek with the full parking area to right. Many people are enjoying a "day at the beach."
  	The red asterisk (*) indicates where two field geology vans are parked in the picnic area. Medano Creek at bottom of view and the national park visitors center in right background.
  	Closeup view of Medano Creek bed with sun glint highlighing water in numerous shallow channels.

  Zapata Falls

  Students and other tourists prepare to enter Zapata Falls, where water pours through a chimney into chambers that resemble a cave or tunnel. The only way in is to wade through ice-cold water from melting snow.

  Hardy students brave the cold, swirling water in the lower chamber; white spots are water droplets in air illuminated by the camera flash.

  Climbing up slippery, wet rocks to reach the upper chamber with roaring water coming down through the chimney. Only a few students reached this level in the falls.

  Students emerge from Zapata Falls after a foot-numbing experience.

• June 10: First day of field mapping with the focus on dikes of Spanish Peak (yesterday) and a tour through the San Luis Valley (today).

  Dikes of the Spanish Peaks region

  Dikes are exposed as stone walls running across the landscape. Group photo at the Apishapa Arch, a tunnel through a dike on a county road.

  Closeup views of dikes. Left: near-vertical side of a dike in the San Isabel National Forest. Right: students on the dike at Apishapa Arch.

  San Luis Valley

  Climbing on Elephant Rocks on the western side of the San Luis Valley. The large rounded blocks are pieces of weathered granite at the eastern edge of the San Juan igneous region.

  Wild flowers blooming at Elephant Rocks. Left: claret cup cactus--beautiful but dangerous. Right: yucca. Both growing from cracks in granite.

  	Hellgate is a water gap where Carnero Creek cuts through a body of intrusive rock that has fractured into columnar joints. Left: overview of intrusive rock mass. Right: closeup view of columnar joints. Note students in lower left corner for scale.
  	Russell Lakes state wildlife area consists of marshes and pools where ground water comes to the surface in the northwestern part of the San Luis Valley. Left: typical wetland vegetation around a pool. Right: water flows from an artesian well into the wetland.

  Group photo at the head of a canal near Hooper with the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in the background. Water pumped from deep wells flows in this canal to New Mexico.

• June 8: Travel from Kansas (yesterday) and introduction to geology of southern Colorado field area (today).

  	Group photo at the Horse Thief Canyon dam construction site in Hodgeman County, west-central Kansas. A portion of the dam can be seen in the background.
  	First day in Colorado: group photo on a dike at Cordova Pass with the Culebra Range (Sangre de Cristos) in the background. San Isabel National Forest.

  Measuring strike and dip of beds in the Sangre de Cristo Formation near Cuchara, Colorado. The Sangre de Cristo consists of several thousand feet of Pennsylvanian and Permian red beds (sandstone, siltstone, shale and conglomerate) that make up much of the Culebra Range.

  Scenic views. Left: marsh marigolds blooming around the margin of a bog in the moraine complex near Blue Lake in the San Isabel National Forest. Right: sandstone of the Cuchara Formation outcropping at La Veta, Colorado

• June 3: Working on stratigraphy and structural features in the Elmdale vicinity of Chase County, which we accomplished just before a large thunderstorm moved through the area.

  Describing and measuring the Neva Limestone in a roadcut along K-150 highway west of Elmdale. The Neva here displays some rather unusual textures and secondary structures. Cottonwood Limestone stoneline in the background.

  Left: measuring a joint at 35° orientation in the K-150 roadcut. Right: multiple small faults offset the Neva Limestone on the crest of an anticline east of Elmdale.

• June 1: A new month and a new mapping area in the Flint Hills at the Nation Ranch off the cattle pens exit of the Kansas Turnpike, Chase County.

  Left: students pose for a group photo in the shade of a sycamore tree. Right: more cattle, the primary land use in the Flint Hills.

  	Left: spring emerging just below the Kinney Limestone. Right: closeup view of watercress growing in spring water. Note the tiny white flowers.
  	Left: Kinney Limestone forms distinctive "tombstone" topography on the hill slopes. Right: sycamore tree growing on the Cottonwood Limestone next to a spring-fed stream.

• May 31: Monday promises to be hot (90°F) and windy. So plenty of sunscreen, insect repelent, and light-colored clothing. Meet at ESU north parking lot for departure at 8 o'clock. For those with sore joints, take a couple Ibuprofen in the morning, before commencing activity. The remainder of the week should be much cooler with a chance for rain on Tuesday and Wednesday.

• May 29: Week one finished with the completion of field observations for the Lake Kahola mapping project. We will move to the Nation Ranch at the "cattle pens" exit on the Kansas Turnpike next week.

  Left: mercury and titanium teams standing on the Crouse stoneline, south side of Lake Kahola. Right: poison ivy, nemesis of field geology students, who quickly learn to avoid this plant.

  Left: cattails growing from joints in the basal bed of the Neva Limestone. Note meandering pothole in foreground, Lake Kahola spillway. Right: testing the sanitary facilities.

  Typical Flint Hills scenes. Left: traditional fence post with the Crouse and Funston stonelines in the background. Right: cattle grazing on the lush prairie.

  Resting in the shade at the end of a hot day of geology field mapping at Lake Kahola.

  More images from Field Geology 2009.

• May 26: First day, and we are underway! Here are some pictures from our initial visit to Lake Kahola for an introductory overview of our first mapping project.

  	Left: Group photo on the dock at the boat ramp on the edge of Lake Kahola. Right: blocks of Cottonwood Limestone pushed up next to the boat ramp.
  	Left: on the Crouse Limestone in an old quarry above the lake. Right: measuring joints in the Neva Limestone exposed in the spillway below the lake.

• May 21: Your instructors are previewing the field geology conditions in the vicinity of Spanish Peaks, Colorado. Most snow is gone below 12,000 feet elevation. County and forest service roads are open, and we should be able to access most field sites by the time we come in June.

  	View from Cordova Pass westward to the Culebra Range. Left: A - Mount Maxwell, B - Trinchera Peak. Right: closeup view of Trinchera Peak (left) and the English Saddle (right). Most of the snow should melt in the next 3-4 weeks.
  	View northward from Cordova Pass. Left: A - Mount Maestas, B - Silver Mountain, C - Goemmer Butte, and D - dikes of West Spanish Peak. Right: closeup view of Mt. Maestas. U.S. highway 160 crosses lower right portion of view.

  West Spanish Peak seen from Cordova Pass. Note nearly horizontal layers of metamorphic rock exposed on the sides of the peak.

Cucharas Creek. Left: overview of beaver pond. Right: recent beaver cutting of small trees.

Note: Our initial class meeting will take place in the Geospatial
Analysis Lab (SH 16) at 8 o'clock, Tuesday morning, May 26.

• May 11: Now just two weeks until the start of the course; see below for initial meeting. Note: your instructor will be out of town and away from email, May 15-25, conducting field work in western Kansas and southern Colorado.

• May 4: Just three weeks to go! Our initial class meeting will take place in the Geospatial Analysis Lab (SH 16) at 8 o'clock, Tuesday morning, May 26. We will review the basic course arrangements and take care of paperwork, etc. Then we will head out to Lake Kahola for an introduction to Flint Hills geology, geomorphology, and geohydrology--see Flint Hills guidebook.

  Following spring burning and lots of rain, the Flint Hills are beginning to green up nicely. By late May and early June, conditions should be optimal for geological observations. False garlic (Nothoscordum bivalve L. Britt.), a small member of the lily family, blooming in a wet seep zone on the south side of Lake Kahola. Photo © J.S. Aber

  All students should arrange for a physical exam and health insurance--please provide paper copies of these documents. Contact your instructor now with any questions about course preparations.

• April 21: The time for field geology is drawing close. Students should be aware that all tuition and fees for the course must be paid by the first day of class meeting, May 26. If fees are not paid, students will be dropped from enrollment.

• Mar. 25: The course GTA, Scott Smith, visited northern Colorado during spring break and brought back some pictures to show the geology and late winter conditions. These pictures were taken in vicinity of Steamboat Springs. All images © S. Smith (2009).

  	Some metamorphic rock along the Fish Creek Falls trail.
  	More metamorphic rocks and a pegmatite running through the middle.
  	Some metamorphic rock with folding also along Fish Creek Falls trail.
  	Glacial till along the side of the road north of Steamboat Springs.
  	Large granite boulders covered with snow with Fish Creek Falls in the background.

Strawberry Park hot springs

January: Field geology will be offered again during the summer session 2009. See the course homepage for general information and schedule details. The course is limited to 16 students. A preliminary deposit of $100 is due by April 1st in order to reserve a place.

Return to field geology syllabus.
GO 547/ES 767 © J.S. Aber (2009).