Up next is the Dahkota sandstone, the 100-million-year old formation which with the sign of oscillating ripples indicate a beach front property. The Dahkota sandstone is consisted of quartz, hematite and clay and transgression of sea happened during that…
Trans-Pecos Province Magma Types Nathanial Matis 01/12/2014 Trans-Pecos Province Magma Types Nathanial Matis Abstract The Cretaceous was the starting point when the Laramide Orogeny began to fault and fold as a result of tectonic activity which pushed the Farallon plate into the North American plate forcing the subduction of the Farallon. This subduction caused the plate to melt and form magma that either formed laccoliths, or intruded country rock with different igneous compositions. These compositions ranged from alkaline to mafic to rhyolitic based on their interactions as they made their way to the surface with country rock.…
The deposition of ordovician dolomite could have been formed from flooding with high sea levels. The melting of glaciers could have carved out the sides of the rocks and areas where there are bluffs that cause the rocks to cliff at a higher elevation. The quaternary alluvium is most likely deposited from where there was erosion of sedimentary rocks from the movement of water or wind erosion. The large boulder found at the Kasota Prairie was most likely brought in from a glacier. It is an erratic boulder meaning the material the boulder is made out of, does not match its surroundings.…
The natural processes that shape the earth, such as uplift and erosion try to balance each other out. All of this sediment caused by the erosion of the Blacks and Rocky Mountains was carried east and…
The first stop was on the parking lot, which is located north west of our topographic map with a P letter on it. The elevation of this area is 6000 ft. to get to the top of North Table Mountain we have to ascend about 450 ft. On our way to the top we first observed a road cut exposing sandstone rock that has clay content. In the rock record there was a Denver formation with uplifting evidences. The rocky mountain uplifted before 68 – 68.5 million years a…
The Sierra Nevada is the longest mountain range in America and it lies partially within the parks. Along this range lies Mt. Whitney, at an elevated height of 14,491 feet and considered the tallest mountain within the lower United States. In Sequoia National Park, resides another prominent ridge of mountains called the Great Western Divide and it has been posed as the rival of the Sierran Crest. The topography and its gradual formation was the result of the uplift of the southern portion of the Sierra block over an elevation of 8,000 feet during the Plio-Pleistocene time (Konigsmark 2002).…
Patrick Johnson Engr 597 Tectonics Dr. Gifford 10/14/2016 Formation of the Rocky Mountains Abstract • How did they form? • Sevier orogeny • Laramide orogeny • prevailing theory (flat slab subduction) 1. Very low angle subducting slab 2. rubbing against underside of North American plate 3.…
The heat and lack of rain means that there is little vegetation to hold the crumbling rock in place. Then, when rains do occur, they sweep enormous amounts of debris down the sides of the mountains through city streets and even to the front doors of peoples’ houses. A system of debris basins have been built to catch material sliding down before it reaches people’s homes. The debris basins fill up and then need to be emptied. McPhee’s book ends with the strangest scene of all: trucks lugging rocks back up the mountain, where they might slide right back down…
Exfoliation, mass wasting, and trickling water remove the lessened material enlarging hollows into alcoves. A final uplift caused the streams to down cut rapidly, removing sediment and creating canyons. If the bedrock is wetter, then older alcoves will form, deepen, and then collapse within the canyons walls, while new alcoves are being created. Headward erosions in the canyon, made a drainage pattern, which was really intense during the cooler and more humid climates. In present time, we have a much drier climate, which is causing the erosional process to move at a much slower rate.…
This makes the sandstone a mature sandstone. The sandstone is probably well rounded, well sorted, and well cemented if it is mostly made up of quartz and feldspar. Analysis of cross bedding and other sedimentary directional indicators imply that the formation was derived from a terrane consisting of igneous, high-grade metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks (Morey 1967). Morey’s study agress with what Ojakangas and Matsch put into the Minnesota’s geology book. Both of these studies state that the sandstone came from the weathering and erosion of the igneous and metamorphic rocks.…
Grand Canyon “Beautiful doesn't begin to describe it. A flower is beautiful. But this is beautiful the way that a person is beautiful- terrifying with its jagged edges, yet seductive with its crevices that hide so many secrets.” (Jeri Smith-Ready, Requiem for the Devil) This quote explains how beautiful the Grand Canyon is perfectly I think.…
In 1980, Walter Alvarez and his team published their hypothesis about the dinosaur extinction. A huge asteroid impacted Earth 65 million years ago and eliminated almost all species in the Earth, including dinosaurs. After a surprising observation in the evidences related to plate tectonic, Walter started to ask questions. He consulted his father the physicist and noble prize winning Luis Alvarez. Alvarez analyzed a rock sample found by Walter at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary in Italy, and he discovered a rare element iridium in the clay, rare in the Earth, but abundant in comets and asteroids.…
I’m a Glacier! I am a glacier! I am a piece of ice that comes from the top of mountains. I start off as snow. But, sometimes I sit on the mountains for years, the next thing you know I’m sliding down a mountain.…
The minerals that we could identify in this rock were Quartz, Muscovite, and Potassium Feldspar. The intrusive body of the rock is Dike and one of the things we got to get for evidence was that this rock has schist and it’s weak and that it also cools slowly and by the time crystals get to be bigger and bigger. Then Upper and Lower Adair Formation comes with being younger. The younger of this two is the Lower Adair Formation with 30 million years old. Its color is red with sediments of Sandstones abd also with Sedimentary Breccia.…
Overgrown grass grew between the crevices that the rocks had formed. I walked up to the majestic flat stones and placed my hand on the one closest to me. Taking a deep breath, I found a crevice that my foot could reach and hoisted myself up and continued to climb to the top. Once up there, I turned to face the city and sat down. The rocks were warmed from the sun and although they were rigid, they seemed unbelievably comfortable.…