Here I am pointing at an abrupt transition from bouldery alluvial-fan conglomerate to marine sandstone near the base of the Fish Creek-Vallecito basin. This marks the flooding of marine water into the Salton Trough about 6.5 Million years ago, into what was probably a closed sub-sea level basin at that time. I think it would have been amazing to witness this event.
Month: September 2023
This happened on the last day of fieldwork in the eastern Sierra Nevada in May after a very wet winter. This road looked passable, but the thin dry crust hid a thick sticky layer of mud. My poor field truck was doomed. Had to pay for professional help to get pulled out of this mess.
I am the faculty director for the Lassen Field Station, one of the newest additions to the University of California Natural Reserve System. Above is the view of Battle Creek Meadow from the staff campground at the Park Headquarters, where our field station is currently based. This is where I am now teaching our summer field course (GEL 110A).
The photograph above was taken at Bodega Head in Sonoma County. Dramatic cliffs of granite rise up out of the Pacific Ocean here. This is the northernmost exposed outcrop of granitic rocks west of the San Andreas Fault. Slip on the fault juxtaposes rocks sliced off the Sierra Nevada batholith against the Franciscan subduction complex. But what about the rocks that were between the Sierra Nevada and the Franciscan complex? Shouldn’t those have been translated north also? Instead the granitic rocks meet the sea here, and that forearc basin is missing! This is a clue to events prior to formation of the San Andreas Fault that took place in Southern California during subduction.
Being that this is a WordPress site, it comes with a blog function. It’s so 1999! So I put a field photo here from Isla Tiburon that I took in 1999. I know this will get stale because that’s what blogs do, so my plan is to keep it light and post interesting pictures and stories from my teaching and research experiences. The purpose is so that visitors (especially prospective students) can get a better idea of who I am and what it’s like to work with me. Enjoy!