Spring Break Field Trip
Geology of the Colorado Plateau
February 22 - March 2, 2002


The Spring Break trippers at Goblin Valley State Park, Utah
Bryan Warner, Jon Gentner, Tony Han, Jake Barnes, Dr Forest (Rock) Haines and Dr. Sarah Hanson
These unusual erosional features are the result of differential weathering in the Entrada Sandstone.

You can click on the photos below to view them at a larger size.

Day 1. We left after classes were over on Friday and drove all afternoon, all night, and much of the next day.
Day 2. When Saturday afternoon rolled around (and we were still driving) we were treated to a beautiful view of the Colorado Front Range and Pikes Peak.
Our first geology / tourist stop was at Mesa Verde National Monument.
Pikes Peak, CO  
View of Cliff Palace dwellings from across the valley. These dwellings, built in natural alcoves that formed as a result of differential weathering in the upper part of the Cliff House formation, were inhabited from about AD 1180 to AD 1270.
The town of Mexican Hat is named for this unusual erosional feature that resembles a sombrero.
Monument Valley Tribal Park
Jon Gentner and Bryan Warner enjoy lunch at Navajo NM.
Rock takes advantage of the ride to catch up on sleep
Day 4. We spent this day looking at the geology of Sunset Crater Volcano and Wupatki National Monuments.
Sunset Crater Volcano is the youngest of over 600 volcanoes in the San Francisco Volcanic Field. The SFVF is unique because, although most of the volcanoes are cinder cones, there are also composite volcanoes, volcanic domes and one shield volcano. Sunset Crater is a cinder cone. These cinder cones began erupting about 6 million years ago to the west of here and, through time, the locus of volcanism has shifted eastward.
The San Francisco Peaks (2.8 - 0.2 Ma), a composite volcano, is pictured in the background. The highest peak, Mount Humphries (12,633 ft), is the highest point in AZ. We are standing on the Bonito lava flow, a basalt flow from Sunset Crater Volcano.
Back row: Jake Barnes, Bryan Warner
Front Row: Dr. Forrest (Rock) Haines, Tony Han, Jon Gentner and Dr. Sarah Hanson
Tony Han and Bryan Warner emerge from a small lava tube near Sunset Crater.
The students get a lesson in structural geology as Rock explains the motion along the Doney Fault located in Wupatki NM. Ranger Rex Vanderford (lt) and David Hodge (rt) joined us for the day there.
Day 5. Grand Canyon National Park.
The Grand Canyon The intrepid hikers head down the icy trail to the bottom of the Canyon.
Day 6. We spent morning driving toward Zion National Park with a brief stop at Glen canyon Dam. We spent the afternoon hiking the Angel's Landing trail at Zion National Park.
Three of us went to the summit of Angels Landing. Here we are near the summit. Bryan Warner, Tony Han and Dr. Sarah Hanson.
We were rewarded with this view from there.
We camped that night at Zion's Watchman campground.
Day 7. We began our trek east taking the scenic route through Bryce Canyon NP, Capitol Reef NP, Goblin Valley State Park. We camped that night at the campground in Arches NP.
These "hoodoo's" at Bryce Canyon NP formed as a result of jointing that occurred during uplift of the Colorado Plateau. These fractures were widened by mechanical weathering (primarily ice wedging) leaving the pinnacles you see behind.
Angular unconformity just outside of Capitol Reef National Park. Here the highly dipping beds of the Carmel Formation and Entrada Sandstone terminate upward against more gently dipping Quaternary deposits of basalt rich alluvium. The contact of these two units represents more than 100 million years of Earth history that has been eroded away.
Just east of Capitol Reef NP we stop along the side of the road to admire the geology. Sarah explains how monoclines form.
At the campground at Arches, Rock cooked burgers and dogs; until his were done. Then he abandoned that task to eat. Here it snowed...
Day 8. The snow stopped and the sun came out (although it was still cold) so we spent the morning and early afternoon at Arches NP and on the Island in the Sky road at Canyonlands NP. After that it was a short drive up to I-70 and the start of the long trip home.
Our first stop was a 2 mile hike to Delicate Arch. Rock and the students drifted off the trail so Sarah got there way before them. She enjoyed the excellent opportunity to photograph them on their "back country" hike. They are the tiny figures you see to the right of the arch.
Delicate Arch formed as weathering attacked a plane of weakness at the contact between the Moab member of the Curtis Fm (upper portion) and the Slick Rock member of the Entrada Ss (base). Notice Tony Han is standing underneath the arch for scale.
View of Canyonlands NP with the lacolithic La Sal Mountains in the distant background.
Day 9. We were still driving and returned to MI shortly after dark.