Today life was fairly simple. In the morning we met up with Dr. Alvis Lisenbee of the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. He gave us a quick lecture regarding the history and formation of the Black Hills and some information about the presence of gold and other mineral resources within the region. Dr. Alvis then led us on a 5ish mile hike up a canyon in the Black Hills to show us the layering of different rock types and how they related to the orogeny (mountain building) of the American central northwest. The hike we took is also a popular dog-walking path so we got to see some adorable puppies :) Half way through our hike we got a chance to rest on Precambrian rocks that are 2.5 billion years old. For comparison, the oldest formations within the Appalachian mountains date to between 1.1 and 1.6 billion years old. The unconformities I mentioned last post were present again today, however in this case the amount of time missing is 1.5 billion years old, or incomparison to the book analogy earlier the equivalent of 1/4 of the book missing.
My "Tom Sawyer" moment on the Precambrian gneissAfter our lovely hike, we went to Mount Rushmore to see "the heads". There was a storm approaching and it was later in the day, so there weren't many people at the monument. Overall, it was a very pleasant day :)
Mount Rushmore National Monument
Extra-ordinary Observation1. Sometimes the simplest days are the most refreshing
Silly face with the heads
Really cool globular cloud formations Posted via DraftCraft app
No comments:
Post a Comment