Petrology

GOLDEN GEOLOGIC HISTORY REPORT It all started with the Big Bang then the whole universe is formed, continued with the formation of the Milky Way, where there is a solar system with the planet Earth and then there were this little town called Golden. This is a report that will travel through time telling the stories of the incidents happened in to this town of Golden. During our journey we must note that the whole geological of Golden is tilted and there were mining done here. Let’s start our journey at Red Rocks Park, the Precambrian Basement, around 1.7 billion years ago, when North America is forming along with the formation of the giant continent Columbia. This is proven by the deep marine limestone and the rock is deposited in the subduction zone. In this time, the rock formed there is the Idaho Spring Gneiss, which has a crystallize-size grain with the minerals K-spars, quartz, biotite, hematite, amphibole. Next, we could see a gap of 1.4 billion years because there is an unconformity caused by missing record of the rock during that time. Fast forward to 300 million years ago during the formation of the ancestral Rocky Mountain. Here, the young geologist of mines found an alluvial fan had formed which deposited a red rock called Basil conglomerate. The rock is red due the mineral hematite, the oxidation or rusting or iron. Besides hematite, the minerals found here is biotite and amphibole with grain size no smaller than 1mm but no bigger than 10mm. This place is called…

The Pinturas Formation (Middle Miocene) includes a sedimentary succession exposed at the Río Pinturas valley, Santa Cruz province, Argentina. It is separated in three members. The lower and the upper ones were dominated by ashfall episodes with paleosol formation during stability times; while the middle member is represented by desert eolian deposits. Mentioned palaeosols bears a moderately diverse ichnofauna. Trace fossils presents are Coprinisphaera murguiai, C. ispp., Loloichnus baqueroensis,…

The chemists' main objection focused on two isotopes of the element neodymium. By measuring the relative abundances of the isotopes in a rock, geochemists can tell whether the rock originated in the mantle lithosphere -- the slice of the North American jelly sandwich that, according to Bird, the Farallon Plate had dragged away. When the chemists checked the neodymium, however, the rocks proclaimed that the mantle lithosphere is very much intact. The evidence was compelling; many of Bird's…

2.4. Hydrocarbon potential Previous work reveals presence of mature sedimentary sequence was derived from Jurassic to lower cretaceous periods in the north part of Lake Malawi which has hydrocarbon reservoir prospects. Existence of thick sedimentary sequence rock could possibly trap hydrocarbon especially in lower Shire valley, northern of Lake Malawi. Presence of large proportion volcanic clasts interbedded with sedimentary rocks transported by rivers present for extensive alluvial plain…

For each sample, provide a detailed description, as precise of a rock name as you can, and an interpretation of the (possible) environment of formation. Quaternary: This is an igneous rock known as Tuff pyroclastic, which is a volcano-clastic rick composed mainly of volcanic ash. This conclusion makes sense as the quick cooling would cause the porous structures. This rock possesses sand to mud sized grains; therefore it is fine grained. This rock has interlocking crystals as well as a…

Onyx: The Practical and Metaphysical Story Onyx is a specific variety of the mineral known as chalcedony. It is a banded mineral, which means that the layering of the rock that formed it has caused “bands” of different colors to appear. Many people mistake onyx for a type of agate, which is another type of chalcedony, but where agate has curved bands onyx has parallel bands instead. Onyx is found in nearly every color, though bands of black and white are the most common. When onyx is banded…

During the Scottish Enlightenment, a period of increased intellectual activity in the 18th and early 19th century, individuals tended to explore multiple disciplines of study (Young, 2016). One prominent Scottish Enlightenment figure was James Hutton, living from 1726 to 1797. During his lifetime he was a lawyer, geologist, chemist, physician, farmer, and naturalist. Hutton, along with other prominent Enlightenment figures, Joseph Black and Adam Smith, founded the Oyster Club. This intellectual…

GEOLOGIC SETTING AT OUTCROP The rocks of the Wilberns Formation have a very involved history. Today, the Wilberns outcrops are found in the Llano uplift region of central Texas, the most prolific Wilberns outcrops are to the west of the Llano uplift area (Bell and Barnes, 1972, p. 28). The Llano uplift area is a geologically complex region of central Texas (fig. 3). Precambrian metamorphic and plutonic igneous rocks mostly dominate the Llano region. The uplift brought Cambrian Wilberns rocks to…

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…

Earth is composed of many different components such as minerals, and rocks. These components have several different properties and characteristics which are unique to each. In this paper, I will discuss some of the different properties, characteristics, and uses of three different factors, those being gypsum, coal, and nickel. Gypsum Gypsum is derived from the Greek word gypsos which means plaster (Gypsum Meanings, Powers, and History). Gypsum is composed of oxygen, calcium, sulfur, and water…