Friday, July 6, 2007

Sweet, sweet soils


Fossil soils that is. (Paul and Tracy at the top of Axhandle Canyon)

Quick recap: spent the 27th through the 2nd in Nevada, drove to Utah on the 3rd, scouted sections on the 4th (and saw fireworks in Moroni) and 5th, and started measuring and collecting today. So far, it is even hotter here in Utah than it was in Nevada. We've been swimming in a nearby reservoir at the end of everyday; we get up at ~5:00 AM, to get as much time when it is still cool. Our brains are a bit heat-addled by 3 as temperatures have been in the hundreds (yesterday was 110 I think), so we try to finish up by then when possible.

The sections here are great, though most of my pictures are strange shots of pits we dig with a small whiteboard with the locality number on them. Beware of asking to see field photos. BUT, there are some beautiful canyons. So far Axhandle Canyon (aka Axle Rose Canyon, and he sings us out of the canyon) is our favorite. A few of our very own arches....

Ok, time for some geeky geology photos:
Paul and hammer displaying cool conglomerates that are erosionally overlain by limestone, where the front edge of an alluvial fan is interfingering with a lake. fossil soils forming a cliff in Axhandle Canyon. We will be taking souveniers for the mass spec tomorrow.
An arch framing, yes, more fossil soil.
Sheep! Ok, so they're not rocks, but Tracy and I were entertained this morning.
And, a sweet, sweet soil. Just imagine the LARGE number of photos like this at the end of the trip. Slideshow anyone?

2 comments:

Trifarina said...

Where exactly in Utah are you? I spent a very hot summer at field camp in a small town called Ephraim (pretty close to Moroni, the turkey shit capitol of the world...)
If you pass through stop at a restaurant called the Satisfied Ewe... You might find some Buckeyes!

kes said...

We are in the same, hot place. In fact, I'm poaching internet in Ephraim right now. I've seen that restaurant; now we know what to look for..... And I agree about Moroni. But they're fireworks display was nice!