 |
Medium Large |
Our first stop was at the Salt River Canyon || || \/ |
|---|---|---|
 |
Medium Large |
|
 |
Medium Large |
Catherine talked about spheroidal weathering, and we looked at a great example along the road near the canyon || || \/ |
 |
Medium Large |
|
 |
Medium Large |
|
 |
Medium Large |
Neat flaky weathering of the rocks in the outcrop |
 |
Medium Large |
Petroglyphs near where we stopped || || \/ |
 |
Medium Large |
|
 |
Medium Large |
View to the other side of the Salt River Canyon, where we can see layers of lava that intruded into the sedimentary rock before the canyon was cut by the river |
 |
Medium Large |
Rim gravels of the Colorado Plateau, near our lunch stop on the first day. Despite the fact that the Colorado Plateau is higher than the surroundings, these gravel beds are compositionally similar to the rocks of the surrounding areas and show evidence of having been carried by water from those areas, indicating that the Colorado Plateau was originally much lower and has been uplifted. |
 |
Medium Large |
Cinder cones in the Springerville Volcanic Field, the third largest volcanic field in the continental U.S. |
 |
Medium Large |
Colin talking about jointing in rocks at La Ventana, a natural sandstone arch |
 |
Medium Large |
Good examples of jointing |
 |
Medium Large |
The arch || || \/ |
 |
Medium Large |
|
 |
Medium Large |
|
 |
Medium Large |
Random caterpillar on the trail |
 |
Medium Large |
El Malpais National Park, a volcanic area active as recently as 3,000 years ago. The dark ares amongst the green are exposed lava flows || || \/ |
 |
Medium Large |
|
 |
Medium Large |
|
 |
Medium Large |
Mt. Taylor in the distance |
 |
Medium Large |
Amusing warning sign near the overlook of at El Malpais |
 |
Medium Large |
A toreva block landslide at the edge of a mesa. It slid off towards the left, and the intact part of the mesa is on the right, capped by a lava flow that predates the landslide. |
 |
Medium Large |
Shatter cones in an outcrop on Rt. 475 close to Santa Fe. Shatter cones are produced in impact events, and the ones here are evidence of an impact that occured very close to this spot, although a crater is not known. They were not produced in the K/T impact. || || \/ |
 |
Medium Large |
|
 |
Medium Large |
A goat in the back of a car at one of our gas stops |
 |
Medium Large |
The view as we left our campsite in Trinidad, Colorado on the morning of day 3. It was a bit cold that morning. |
 |
Medium Large |
Our first K/T boundary layer outcrop, Madrid East || || \/ |
 |
Medium Large |
|
 |
Medium Large |
|
 |
Medium Large |
The K/T boundary layer. The layers in the continental U.S. have a double-layer structure, with a lower, grey layer of material consisting of material ejected from the Chicxulub crater, and an upper, darker clay layer about 5 mm thick that contains material from the impactor. This upper layer is found worldwide and contains high levels of iridium, impact spherules, and shocked quarts that are evidence for an extraterrestrial impact event. The thick layer above the K/T boundary layer is sandstone and the other layers around it consist of materials like mudstone, shale and coal, indicating a swampy environment. || || \/ |
 |
Medium Large |
|
 |
Medium Large |
Our second K/T outrcop, Longs Canyon || || \/ |
 |
Medium Large |
|
 |
Medium Large |
|
 |
Medium Large |
Set of images of one section of the boundary layer || || \/ |
 |
Medium Large |
|
 |
Medium Large |
Another set of images of a section where the upper boundary layer is very well-defined || || \/ |
 |
Medium Large |
|
 |
Medium Large |
|
 |
Medium Large |
Several sections showing significant variation in the boundary layer thickness || || \/ |
 |
Medium Large |
|
 |
Medium Large |
Our final outcrop, Starkville, where we collected our own samples of the K/T boundary layer. If you visit any of the areas mentioned here, don't collect samples from anywhere other than the Starkville site, as those other sites are still used for ongoing scientific research! || || \/ |
 |
Medium Large |
|
 |
Medium Large |
A volcanic dike that was cut through to build a road. |
 |
Medium Large |
A Jerusalem cricket, aka. nino de la tierra (child of the Earth), near our last rest stop. It was about 2 cm long. |
