Baja, Day 3: November 11, 2005

We broke camp just after sunrise and headed to a large marshy area near the campsite at Laguna Figueroa where we talked about astrobiology and walked around the much. Afterwards we headed south to see some spectacular beach cliffs near San Quintiun made from eroded Cretaceous and Pleistocene sedimentary deposits. There we heard some talks about marine terraces and paleo shorelines. Next we headed south past the town of El Rosario, over some rough dirt roads, then finally ending the day in Cañon San Fernando. There we explored an area that might be evidence of a massive landslide associated with the K/T boundary impact that hit the Yucatan 65 million years ago.

Daylight over the camp
The Laguna Figueroa campsite
Another view of the campsite
Skeleton on the beach
Sand ripples lit by the sunrise
Another view of the ripples
We all went down to look at the muck
Laguna Figueroa had some interesting life
Algal mats
Being scientists
I tried to get a picture of the spiders that were darting around the plants
Catherine Neish getting a picture of the lifeforms
Oleg Abramov looks over the cliff
Looking down the cliff to the beach below
Panorama of the marine terraces (warning, big file!)
Another panorama (warning, big file!)
We had lunch by the edge of the cliffs
Looking down to the beach
I climbed down the cliffs to get a better view of the deposits
Close-up of the deposits
Another view of the deposits
Back on the road. A hillside near El Rosario.
Saguaro-like cactus along the road
More cactus
Another view of the scenery
Heading out to a volcanic tuff layer at Cañon San Fernando
Oleg above the tuff
Another view of the tuff
Close-up of the tuff
Looking out over the valley