Earth Science Week field trip-sign up now!

In search of ancient shorelines and volcanoes in the Grimes Point and Lahontan Mountains area

October 15 or 16, 2011

By D.D. LaPointe, J.G. Price, D.A. Davis, and Craig M. dePolo  

National Earth Science Week (ESW) 2011 encourages people everywhere to explore the natural world and learn about the geosciences.  The Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology (NBMG) welcomes you to participate in its fourteenth annual Earth Science Week field trip.  In keeping with the National ESW theme, “Our Ever-Changing Earth,” this year’s trip will focus on the Cenozoic geology of the region around Grimes Point and the Lahontan Mountains, including evidence for a large Pleistocene lake in the area; volcanism related to crustal extension in the Basin and Range Province of the western United States; hydrothermal (hot water) activity associated with volcanism; tilting of volcanic and sedimentary rocks related to faulting and extension; and production of electricity using geothermal power, related to hot water that gets close to the surface along extension-related faults.  Many of the features we will explore are related to ongoing geologic processes that continue to alter the face of the Earth.  Frequent reference will be made to recently published NBMG geologic maps of the Lahontan Mountains Quadrangle and the Grimes Point Quadrangle, by NBMG geologist John Bell and others.

Sign up:

http://www.nbmg.unr.edu/ESW/ESW_11/index.html

Road log (Educational Series 51):

http://www.nbmg.unr.edu/dox/e51.pdf