March Event:
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In 1881, a rock quarry in Switzerland had a massive wall failure wherein 10 million cubic meters of rock fell 2,000 feet, shattered, and then flowed 110 mph for 1.4 miles into the town of Elm, destroying 2/3 of the people and their houses. The event was brilliantly described by Albert Heim who labeled the event as a sturzstrom. There are many counterintuitive features in this phenomenon.
Split Mountain Gorge has world-class exposures of two huge sturzstrom deposits. One flowed along the ground in latest Miocene time, the second flowed along the sea floor in earliest Pliocene time. The two sturzstrom deposits look identical within their bodies, but there are marked differences in their bottoms and tops. We will talk about truly unique features on Friday that should leave you full of doubts. On Saturday, we will go to Split Mountain Gorge and do what geologists do best – look at the rocks and discuss their origin in the field. In 1996, Pat led a South Coast Geological Society field trip there with 275 geologists in attendance. All participants began with massive doubts, but they left with new perspectives. Steele/Burnand Anza-Borrego Desert Research Center 401 Tilting T Drive, Borrego Springs CA Pat Abbott: emeritus professor of Geology, San Diego State University |
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PLANTSThe presence of petrified wood scattered across the desert floor tells a vivid story of pre-historic woodlands in the distant past.
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PALEOCLIMATEThe climatic and environmental story told by the rocks and fossils of the Park begins about 7 million years ago in the Miocene.
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VERTEBRATESDiscoveries from the fossil beds of the Anza-Borrego Desert have contributed to our understanding of the evolutionary history of many vertebrate lineages.
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ROCKSA look inside the rocks of Borrego. Bright colors identify the components of this plutonic rock.
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MAMMOTHSThe climatic and environmental story told by the rocks and fossils of the Park begins about 7 million years ago in the Miocene.
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INVERTEBRATESMany of the species live today in the Gulf of California and a surprising number survive only in the Caribbean Sea.
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STRATIGRAPHYForces originating in the relative motion between the Pacific and North American plates are tearing the southwestern edge of North America apart.
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RECENT DISCOVERIESA fossil bird beak found in the 1960s has recently been re-identified as belonging to a “terror bird" - family Phorusrhacidae.
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EVENTSPlan to join us in October for our annual Open House, November for the start of our Certification Program, and at our monthly lectures from December to April. Read More |
