Mafic blocks in Wind River Range granite

Got these photos from a reader, showing outcrops in the northern Wind River range (ESE of Island Lake). The question, inevitably, is are these MMEs (microgranular mafic enclaves) or xenoliths? They’re fine grained and mafic… but some lithologies of xenolith could be too! This next set shows what appear to be a bunch of blocks … Read more

Wyler Aerial Tramway and the Franklin Mountains of West Texas

Riding a cable-car up the side of the Franklin Mountains, Callan checks out the local stratigraphy and structure (and igneous intrusions). Join him on an insightful cruise up several thousand feet and through a billion years of geologic time.

Contact of the Campus Andesite with host rocks

First thing we saw on the post-InTeGrate field trip to the rocks of El Paso, Texas, was this contact between the aforementioned Campus Andesite, and the Cretaceous sedimentary rocks into which it intruded (contact metamorphosed in the area of this photo): I decided to try switching up my annotation fonts. Whaddya think?

Superior Craton trip, stop 1

The first stop on our pre-GSA field trip to the subprovince boundaries of the Superior Craton was a place just north of Virginia, Minnesota, where the Mesabi Iron Ranges are mined (same Proterozoic banded iron formations that were portrayed as the backdrop of the mining activity depicted in the film North Country). The pull-off is … Read more

Roadside wonders of Route 287

Northern Colorado’s route 287 connects Fort Collins, Colorado with Laramie, Wyoming. Along its length, it displays roadcuts into Archean-aged basement complex. Two of these outcrops are featured in this post: one metamorphic (mostly), and a second igneous (mostly), with some intriguing polka-dotted plutons.