Stop #5 - Convict Lake
The rocks of Morrison Peak are made up of limestones and clay muds from a continental shelf ~400-600Ma. The rocks were crushed and uplifted by the successive…
Z takes in the view and a snack as the geology creeps into his thoughts.
A student gets the perfect shot of Convict Lake. The lake exists thanks to the major Sherwin Glaciation that occurred between an million and 850K years ago.…
Poorly-stiched pano of the Long Valley Caldera. Erupted 767,000 years ago with 50+ episodes of volcanism. Made a 10mi x 20mi caldera and erupted over 150 cubic…
Crowley Lake. The mountains in the background are the other side of the caldera.
Watching the world fly by.
Big Pumice Cut on Sherwin Grade, HWY 395. The bushy area behind the portapotties on the roadcut is actually Sherwin Glaciation till! It is topped by grus, and…
Heading down to Hot Creek!
Z heads down to Hot Creek. A geothermal area driven by remnant magma mush in the caldera. Lots of quakes in the region provide opportunities foe water to…
Hot Creek cutting through altered rhyolite domes that are about 330,000yrs old.
Amazingly blue hot springs and fumeroles.
Hydrothermally-altered banded rhyolite.
Hot Creek meandering though the gorge in 330,000yr old rhyolite dome.
Hot Creek with Eastern Sierra in background.
Z loved checking out the rocks and critters!
Stop 9- Horseshoe Lake, Mammoth Lakes. This lake appears to be sitting on a contact between granite and the lava domes that make Mammoth's composite cone.…
