Arches National Park

We're back in Arches National Park again!   The summer Upward Bound students are learning about the geology of Arches and Canyonlands for their Geology Field Studies course this summer.  The first morning we learned how arches form and why arches are so common here.   This is a picture of the class at Sand Dune Arch.     

 In the afternoon we hiked to Delicate Arch.   

Saturday was a guided hike in the Fiery Furnace in the morning, fossils, faults and petroglyphs in the afternoon.  Sunday we visited the Island in the Sky District of Canyonlands National Park and Deadhorse Point State Park.   

Check out more pictures on picasa: http://picasaweb.google.com/faatzfamily/UB09#

Spring 2009 Field Excursion to the Grand Staircase National Monument

Dr. Alan Titus, Paleontologist Grand Staircase National Monument invited us back again this year to help out in the field.  Our trip began at the Monument Headquarters in Kanab with an excellent overview of the geology and paleontology of the park.  This was followed by a tour of the prep lab to see turtles, hadrosaurs, crocodiles (dinochampsa?) etc.   

Then it was off to the field.   This year we worked in the Wahweap Formation in the southeastern part of the park.   We stopped to see the relatively new museum near Big Water.  Wish I had a picture of this from the air - it is shaped like an 

ammonoid!    The

diorama inside showed all the creatures that have been found in the park including the hadrosaur we would soon work on.  Our journey into the monument included a stop in the Tropic Shale where we heard tales of plesiosaurs but only saw clams, snails and an ammonoid.   In the Straight Cliffs formation we saw fossil wood that had borings of ship worms!

Day two we headed out to the sites - one Hadrosaur, one Tyranosaur.  We split into teams and worked hard all day to find more of the already exposed tibias.   Team 1 - Alan, Jake, KayeLinda, Renee, and Tyson found lots of plants - water lilies, redwoods, etc, but no more bone.   We did jacket the tibia and carry it out.   Team 2 - Tania, Brad and Scott jacketed their tyranosaurid bone and found its jaw as well.  

What an incredible and unforgettable experience for all of us!  Thanks to Alan Titus and Scott Richardson for including us in your field work.   Snow College is so fortunate to have this opportunity.     We'll be back if you'll have us.

Day 2—I thought I would find diamonds!

We started the day like the reptiles do—slowly and sleepily—trying to get warmed up and fed. Once our blood was warmed and the sun gave us its’ brilliant rays that shined majestically into the Wahweap formation, we packed up the gear (poor Jake) and headed out to the field site.

We hiked into nowhere and it seemed to me for a time that Allen was just pulling our leg, for it appeared that we were  going out to the middle of nowhere (which we were). Along the way we had fun looking for fossils. We were definatly in what was once marine. Our first stop was at the Hadrosaur (aka the cow of the Cretaceous). The two fossil sights that we saw are both Hadrosaurs; in fact, both sites might be just one Hadrosaur. A theory about how it got so scattered is that it might have been drug by a predator after it was killed. Also, this Hadrosaur might have been a bloat-and-float because it was found in a mud layer around aqueous organic matter. The layer in the Wahweap where it was found is estimated to be around 81 million years old. This could mean that this is a new species of Hadrosaur.

The next sight that we looked at was an imprint of a palm leaf. It looks surprisingly well preserved. We were going to carry it out, but it was too big as you can see in the picture. We walked along the edge of the mountain and found fossils poking out, including a turtle; it looked really cool sticking out there.

We returned back to the second dig sight—the one with the tibia—where we went to work looking for more bones to the Hadrosaur. We did not find any; in fact, we almost lost one. After we lost one I thought that Allen would have kicked us all off his dig sight, but he was really cool about it; plus we found it again. We took turns digging and taking down the rocks to the base of the mountain. One time we thought that we found one, but then Allen determined that it was something else. The dig was not fruitless because we found a lot of plants. (Such as the ones shown.) It was very cool how we kept on finding these brilliant plants within the layers of prehistoric mud. Not to mention a very friendly lizard.

After we found no bones we decided to get the Tibia back to the camp. To do this we used burlap sacks and plaster of Paris to encase the bone in a sort of cast. We put one more layer on the top and then we did the bottom. 

After we, somewhat carefully, carried the bone back to the truck using a tarp and rotation method; we packed up and got ready to head back. Meanwhile, the other group was searching for bones to a new type of Tyrannosaur. They found a jaw bone to the Tyrannosaur and many other bones; they too carried back a bone.

After we got back from all of the excitement, we went to a Mexican restaurant ate to the end of a full day of paleontology.

 

Day 3-heading home

April 18 (day three of our field studies trip)

Heading home from Kanab we made a ton of geology stops that were absolutely amazing. The first stop we made on our way was at the Coral Pink Dunes. They were so neat to see. It was reworked sand from the Navajo sandstone that are from the Jurassic period. We jumped down the sand dune and messed up the angle of repose. It was a lot of fun. The wind blowing this very fine, soft sand around filled every pocket and our shoes full of sand. The sand was very cold too. We got back from in the car and headed for Ephraim.  Along the road we got to see the fault that is responsible for the sand that has created the sand dunes -the Sevier Fault.  Our next stop was just north of Mount Carmel junction by the state road shed. We went and fossil hunting in the limestone of the Carmel formation from the middle Jurassic. We found crinoids  - small echinoderms... the cutest small little sea stars. This picture located on the right is of the echinoderms that I found. The other fragments are pieces of shells. We were right near Zion National Park and because some of us hadn't been to Zion, we decided to take a little side trip. (I [KayeLinda Heineer] was one of those who hadn't been through the park.) So we went through the park and stopped to looked at the large scale cross beds. They looked like huge sand dunes. The only thing is that it was sandstone not sand. We also smelled a vanilla tree. It smelled incredible. This picture just below on the left is of us sniffing the tree. It smelled a lot better than Jake's sage that he had been sniffing during the trip. We also tried to look at a slot canyon by the entrance to the tunnel but we got in trouble with one of the park workers, so we missed out on that. We then went through the longest tunnel I have ever been through. Around the corner from the tunnel we stopped and look at a channel deposit in the Kayenta formation. We also found a rock with trace fossils called worm tubes. Then along the way we looked at a giant arch forming that is in the alcove stage right now. Springs are eroding the rock to form the alcove. Then outside the market by the other entrance we stopped and climbed up the land slide that was caused by and earthquake in 1992. We looked across the landscape to the other side and saw slumping in the Moenave formation. This slump could become a landslide as well. In the picture on the right, you can see that line braking the hill side this is the slump we looked at standing on the landslide on the opposite side of the valley. Our next stop was near a hill side were we collected pieces of petrified wood. We then got back in the car to finish our tip as we are driving we drove past several cinder cones. We then stopped to look at a huge disconformity. The disconformity was between the Moenkopi and Pleistocene which is several million years of time missing. We also found piece of basalt with olivine crystals in it. Our next stop was near Hurricane. We pulled off the road and got to touch and see slickensides, and we even found fault breccia. This fault is responsible for the earthquake that caused the land slide in Zions. The picture on the left is of us looking at the fault breccia. The slickensides are the smooth rock face right above our heads. They were beautiful! Many different colores purple, pink, and some orange. Then it was on the road again and we stopped to look at the Virgin Anticline that is plunging. This anticline has vertical beds of gypsum. The gypsum was what caused the erosion to erode out the center. It also caused the dam that was built in the middle to fail. The picture on the right shows the dam in the distance and the ridges on the right and left are the sides of the anticline. That was the last geology stop. We then drove the the rest of the way to Ephraim and saw a few geology things a long the way. The trip was completely amazing.

Day 1: Don't put it in your pocket!

16-April-2009
Kanab, Utah (Jake)
The Grand staircase National Monument Offices/Lab

We were in the waiting room at 9:00 a.m. waiting for the Paleontologist Dr. Alan Titus. I was under the impression it would be this old, tired man with a very dry if not in drought sense of humor. Suddenly we heard someone running down the hall and a young (relatively) man in DNR clothes came running past, looked at us as he passed the hall we were in and skidded to a stop, introduced himself as Alan Titus, and said he would be right back, and ran on.

Sitting down for the presentation/lecture before going out into the field we learned a lot of things. First was the "Paleo-resource Protection Act" Which is no picking up vertebrate fossils. (No more sharks teeth!) It is legal to pick up petrified wood and invertebrate fossils such as snails and clams and things, as long as you are not on the actual Monument itself, or in a National Park.
Alosaurus is the State Fossil. And the Mesozoic Era of time is the greatest fossil record we have. They have a lot of fossils from the Morrison formation and have been more excited about the Cedar Mountain Formation which is the new "hot spot" for dino fossils.
We learned some of the geology of the Kaparowits Basin where we would be digging with Alan. The area would have been tropical to sub-tropical so there are a lot of plants like ferns and palms trees, as well as turtles, crocodiles, fish, and more. The next day we actually found some fish vertebrae and also some turtle shell pieces.

After the presentation we headed out towards Big Water where we stopped at the Dino Museum and looked at the fossils and books and pictures of trucks that got hit by flash floods in a wash. (we later followed Alan right up a wash in the trucks to get to the dig site, I thought that was ironic.)
After we got to the campsite and set up camp we all sat around and told stories and ate Renee's amazing Chile! (thanks Renee) Gathered firewood and sat around the fire. Great Day!!!

Stratigraphy of Dead Horse Point

Stratigraphy is simply the record of strata layers in rock. Chronologically they follow what's called the law of superposition, which establishes that the oldest rocks are on bottom and the youngest rocks are on top. Pretty simple principle right? Well out at Dead Horse Point, which is right in the heart of canyon country, there's a far reaching, visible geologic, layered record of the history of the earth. Strata layers help geologists determine many components of geologic history like: environment of deposition, fossil record, and the sequence of events throughout the history of the world. To see the stratigraphical history of Dead Horse Point go to: http://www.utahgeology.com/stratcolumns.php?URLVariable=strat_83

Colorado Plateau

For satellite image see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Four_corners.jpg

The Colorado Plateau is located in the three states of Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah, with the central point lying just slightly west of the four corners area. The modern topography of this region contains, arguably, the world's most beautiful canyon country, arches, and desert landscapes known to man. Just to rattle off a few from an impressive list: Arches, Canyonlands, Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Zions, and Capital Reef National Parks. Also found within this region are the laccoliths (Abajo, Henry, and La Sal mountains) of South Eastern Utah, Lake Powell National Recreation Area, and Escalante Grand Staircase and Natural Bridges National Monuments.

The Colorado Plateau has maintained a relative stability over the past 600 million years, this is unlike all the areas that are found along it's borders (Rocky Mountains, Wasatch Mountain Range, Uintah Mountains, Basin and Range Province). The Grand Canyon is one of the wonders of the world and is especially useful to geologists for it's stratigraphical rock record, dating all the way back to the Precambrian with 2 billion year old rocks! The Colorado Plateau region has been one of continual change throughout geologic time. In the Paleozoic era it was periodically inundated by ocean water from the east, thus forming thick layers of siltstone, limestone, sandstone, and shale from shallow marine water deposits. About 250 million years ago this region was greatly affected by mountain-building events (called orogenies) that caused widespread crustal uplift and formed new mountains obviously. The area then became a drainage plaine for the mountains that were to the west of the Colorado Plateau Area. These streams and lakes, made from the drainage of the western mountains, formed the Chinle, Moenave, and the Kayenta formations of the Mesozoic. Skipping much of the history we arrive at a more recent era of the Cenozoic where more uplift occurred, resulting in an increased gradient level. The streams of the region then started cutting down through the rock and formed much of the canyon country we now know today. Mass wasting and erosion of the cliffs produced spectacular buttes, mesas, and plateaus. The geologic history is rich and extensive, if you're interested in a more complete report of this area see http://www.blm.gov/education/colplateau/diversity/ and even though Renee doesn't like it, there's a lot of good information at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_Plateau. The Colorado Plateau is home of some of the best, if the not THE best wild desert country in the world, take every advantage you can to go and see it.