Today was definitely another adventure in the field. Although we didn’t travel far from our home base in Ephraim (less than 1 mile from home), there was plenty of excitement. We tackled the Green River Formation at Gal Hill, which provided a 60 foot strat column of wonderful carbonates (and a 4 foot tuff bed).
Above is a scenic photo of Gal Hill. The thick, massive bed about 8-10 feet off the road is a air fall tuff. The stromatolite layer that we targeted is immediately below the tuff. Poor stromatolites...they never had a chance!!
Of course, stratigraphy is all serious business, as Elizabeth and Jesse prove in the photo below:
Wooster's rock climbing team hard at work.
We had to bring out “The Big Dog”, Jesse’s mega sledge hammer for some of our work today, as we needed to sample a continuous silicified stromatolite layer exposed along Gal Hill.
Elizabeth shows her enthusiasm for the silicified stromatolite layer, which is at hand level in this photo.
Throughout the morning, Jesse used the mega sledge hammer, chisels, and regular rock hammers to extricate a number of beautiful laterally linked and small domal stromatolites that we were measuring. In the end, though, I’m not too sure who came out on top: Jesse or the stromatolites.
Our motto of the day: No pain, no gain!!
Let’s hope our insurance agent isn’t reading the blog. Looks like much fun out there. I’ll be in northern Utah myself in 15 hours!
Sounds like a big fossil party out in Utah. I know you dig fossils, but just think of the eruption that formed that tuff layer! I’m sure you agree that it must have been impressive.