Crestone Science Center, Inc.
600 East Galena Avenue
P.O. Box 837
Crestone, Colorado 81131
USA
2001 RESULTS: FIELD METHODS IN NEOTECTONICS AND PALEOSEISMOLOGY (June 7-20, 2001)
For 2 weeks in June, a mixture of university graduate students, government geologists, and consultants attended the inaugural offering of the Field Course in Neotectonics and Paleoseismology. Here are a few glimpses of our activities.
The sunroom at CSC was the initial meeting place, but also doubled as a theater for video night. In the kitchen (through open double doors in distance), we finally figured out how to program the coffee maker to brew at 6:45 am. Photo courtesy of D. Batatian.
Several days were
spent in the computer lab, upstairs at CSC, plotting GPS traverses on digital
topos and manipulating the trench log. Students like Zoe Shipton (at left)
became well acquainted with CorelDraw and MapInfo. We had to block off the
magnificent view windows to keep sunlight off the monitors. Photo courtesy of
D. Batatian.
Our trench in
2001 transected a 2.5 m-high fault scarp on the Villa Grove fault zone, about
0.5 km SW of Valley View Hot Springs, Colorado (30 km north of Crestone). This
is scarp A of the VGFZ described in Colorado School of Mines Quarterly, 1982,
v. 77, no. 3. The trench was up to 3 m deep and utilized a half-bench design.
This view looks SW toward the San Juan Mountains on the western side of the San
Luis Valley. And yes, OSHA, we had our hard hats and steel-toed boots. Photo
courtesy of D. Batatian.
The trench crew
before the start of wall cleaning. Yes, we also rob banks. From the left, Dick
Heermance (Utah State U.), Craig Nelson (consultant, Salt Lake City), Jim
McCalpin (CSC), Zoe Shipton (Univ. of Dublin, Ireland), and Carrie Denesha
(Kansas State U.). Photo by the shy and retiring Darlene Batatian (Salt Lake
County Geologist, Utah).
Of course, there
are always surprises in a trench. For example, there should have been a 2.3-m
displacement normal fault beneath the scarp. Instead, what we found were a
narrow graben beneath the upper half of the scarp face (far ladder), and a
reverse fault beneath the scarp toe (near ladder); no normal fault ! (see the Digital Logging Page) CSC Director Jim McCalpin
(bottom) is attempting to work out this paradox by communicating with the
Spirit of the Graben, but the Spirit must have temporarily been off soaking at
the hot springs. Photo courtesy of Z. Shipton.
The shy and
retiring Ms. Batatian, caught finally by the camera. What exactly is in that
glass? And why is she smiling??
After the end of
the course, some students took off and climbed high peaks in the Sangre de Cristo
Range adjacent to Crestone. A favorite destination was Challenger Point (14,018
ft), the high point on the skyline at center of the photo. Next year we’ll know
to bring ice axes and crampons. Photo courtesy of D. Batatian.
For
more information, contact Crestone Science Center at the
address below:
600
East Galena Ave.
P.O. Box 837
Crestone, CO 81131
Phone: (719) 256-5227Fax: (719) 256-5228E-mail: mccalpin@geohaz.comJames P. McCalpin(mccalpin@geohaz.com)