Students enrolled in GEOL 100 (Survey of Earth Science), GEOL 105 (Geology of Colorado), and GEOL 203 (Introduction to Environmental Geology) participate in a day-long field trip each semester. The field trip, which is scheduled on a weekend, begins in Grand Junction and ends in Gateway, Colorado; total driving distance is approximately 120 miles, with 11 possible field stops. The trip is led by the faculty members responsible for GEOL 100, 105, and 203. The initial stop, which is located on a river-cut terrace overlooking Grand Junction, provides an overview

of the major land forms and points-of-interest in west-central Colorado, including the Grand Mesa, Book Cliffs, Uncompahgre uplift, Grand Valley, and Colorado National Monument. After this orientation, the group travels to Whitewater, Colorado, then over the Uncompahgre Plateau (uplift) to Gateway. During the climb up the
 

northeast flank of the uplift, the route cuts down stratigraphically through the lower Mancos Shale (Upper Cretaceous), Burro Canyon Formation (Lower Cretaceous), the Jurassic Morrison, Wanakah, Entrada, Kayenta, Wingate Formations, the Chinle Formation (Triassic) and finally into Precambrian basement, which is composed of schist, gneiss, granite, monzonite, and pegmatite. Near Gateway, the field-trip route crosses the structural boundary (fault system) between the Uncompahgre uplift and the Paradox Basin. At Gateway, exposures of the Permian Cutler Formation are examined. Much of the drive across the Uncompahgre uplift follows Unaweep Canyon. This canyon is the subject of considerable study, speculation, and controversy. Most geologists attribute the canyon cutting to the ancestral Colorado or Gunnison Rivers, acting separately or in concert during the late Tertiary and/or early Quaternary, whereas others have suggested that the canyon reflects the combined actions of river erosion and Pleistocene glaciation.

Adjunct MSC faculty member, Dave Wolny points to a dinosaur bone

 

The Palisade near Gateway, Colorado. Photo by S. Hase