{"id":84,"date":"2009-07-19T12:42:37","date_gmt":"2009-07-19T18:42:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cires.colorado.edu\/blogs\/bighorns\/?p=84"},"modified":"2014-06-05T21:27:18","modified_gmt":"2014-06-05T21:27:18","slug":"day-3-4-trilobites-and-tectonics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/bighorns\/2009\/07\/19\/day-3-4-trilobites-and-tectonics\/","title":{"rendered":"Day 3 & 4: Trilobites and Tectonics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

6\/24-6\/25<\/p>\n

After leaving base camp at the Iowa State Field Camp in Shell, we drove upstream through the canyon to take a look at Shell Falls. <\/span>The folding in Shell Canyon triggered a discussion on how the structure of the Big Horns fits in the big picture of the formation of the Rockies. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"Folding<\/a>

Folding in Shell Canyon<\/p><\/div>\n

Megan explained how her research in the Sierra Pampeanas in Argentina could be a modern analog of the Rockies in North America. <\/span>Currently the Nazca plate is being subducted under South America creating the Sierra Pampeanas. <\/span>Scientists are theorizing what will happen when the mid-ocean ridge in the Nazca becomes subducted. <\/span>In North America it is thought that once the Farallon plate subducted the spreading ridge, tectonic motion changed and a strike-slip fault formed. <\/span>Could this be the future of South America? <\/span>Chris and Eric creatively model this theory in the following video. <\/span><\/p>\n

[youtube]http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=zrF-CzXAGeo[\/youtube]\n

Shell Falls, still in its\u2019 geologic \u201cyouthful\u201d\u00a0phase, gave us a fantastic view of joints and trilobites. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"Joints\"<\/a>

Joints<\/p><\/div>\n

Digging through Gros Ventre shale, I played paleontologist in search of my very own trilobite fossil. <\/span>Karen made the find of the day, a trilobite mold!<\/p>\n

\"img_17861\"<\/a>

Shell Falls<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Karen's<\/a>

Karen's Trilobite Mold<\/p><\/div>\n

Driving along Highway 14 back to Sheridan, we stopped at several outcrops viewing sheer surfaces in the five springs fault zone and folding in the Amsden Fm.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The crew looking at folding in the Amsted Fm.<\/p><\/div>\n

The fourth and final day on my structural tour of the Bighorns started out slow. <\/span>After several hours of following dirt roads just to meet barred gates and private land, the crew settled for lunch overlooking the Piney Creek salient.<\/p>\n

\"Locked<\/a>

Locked gate...NOOOOOOOO<\/p><\/div>\n

From there we parted ways: Eric and his grad students headed back to Laramie and Chris, Megan, Tyler, Will and I back to Sheridan for a couple days of \u201crest\u201d<\/p>\n

before the storm of seismic installations. <\/span><\/p>\n

Overall the journey was a success. I was able to follow 2.9 billion years in the life of the Bighorns in only 4 days. <\/span>What a trip!<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

6\/24-6\/25 After leaving base camp at the Iowa State Field Camp in Shell, we drove upstream through the canyon to take a look at Shell Falls. The folding in Shell Canyon triggered a discussion on how the structure of the Big Horns fits in the big picture of the formation of the Rockies.… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-84","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-10 01:58:49","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category"},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/bighorns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/bighorns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/bighorns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/bighorns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/bighorns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/bighorns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":115,"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/bighorns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84\/revisions\/115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/bighorns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/bighorns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/bighorns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}