Field Location: Canyonlands National Park, Island in the Sky
District (click on link to see photos).
Geologic Feature: Depositional environments through time. Colorado and
Green Rivers.
Necessary
Background Information:
Paleozoic to Mesozoic paleogeography and paleotectonics.
Geologic Problem: Determine the environments represented and document
them. Discuss how changes through time and space are related to sea level,
climate, and tectonics.
Rock Units Exposed: Pennsylvanian - Jurassic.
Skills: Correlation and interpretation of measured sections.
Petrographic interpretation of sand grain sizes, grading, sources and
morphology.
Other Questions to Consider: (1) Which way is up? - what clues tell
the orientation of a sedimentary layer. (2) Compare the depositional rates of
sediments from an arid to a wet climate. (3) What do geologic ages represent?
(4) Is it a coincidence that the characteristics of rock units change across
a major time boundary? (5) Why is this sometimes the case and sometimes not
the case?
Anticipated Outcomes: Increased awareness of depositional
environments. Correlation of rock units to geologic time scale transitions.
Understanding of how processes result in the development of different
stratigraphic successions.
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