Hi again!
I spent all day yesterday on a field trip. Out of all the
places in the Central coast, Point Lobos State Park is difficult to beat, even
if you do not care at all about rocks. The updated links from the Point Lobos State Park Website have
all the information you need to plan your visit.
The oldest rock there, a plutonic rock called granodiorite, is about 80 million years ago. We got to walk on top of it and see the amazing big crystals of feldspar this rock has. But the main attraction (as always) were the tilted layers of sedimentary rocks called the Carmelo Formation. This formation has three main types of rocks (from coarser grains to finer ones): conglomerates, sandstones, and mudstones. You can even sometimes find fossils!! All my students blanket the Carmelo Formation fast and learn to identify the different types of layers and what their location is telling us about the rocks and their formation processes.
The students get to measure the orientation of the layers with the North ('strike') and the inclination of those layers ('dip') with a Brunton compass. This is a fun part...'experiencing the rock' is always the highlight of this area called Weston Beach...judge for yourselves..I prepared a short video with some of the best moments; let me know what you think!!
I hope they come back again soon and show off what they know now to their friends and families!!
Follow them on Twitter and get the latest information about this a-m-a-z-i-n-g place: @Point_Lobos; @iheartptlobos
What an interesting post! I love Point Lobos and didn't realize that there was rock there 80 million years old. That's a neat fact.
ReplyDeleteYes!..all my students are in love with the place after we are done...rocks are c-o-o-l!
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