Hurricane, Utah — This is our morning view to the north from our Team Utah headquarters in Hurricane. The snowy Pine Valley Mountains were especially beautiful as the clouds lifted overnight. Such colors. A much warmer day was ahead of us after our freeze-fest yesterday.
Today we returned to the Water Tank location we briefly visited yesterday. This time we concentrated on this meter-thick set of cross-bedded oolites. We described this little column, took four samples, and named the location WTR (for “water tank road”). The coordinates are: N 37.25500°, W 113.60436°.
Anna is here examining the top of the sequence, which appears to represent an ooid shoal.
A very covered Evan does the same. Today he is not protecting himself from the cold as much as the sun.
Dr. Judge, with Anna’s help, collected measurements of the cross-beds to eventually calculate current flow direction, which will be very interesting.
While on a scouting trip for the team, Nick found this mysterious quartzose sandstone unit 5.4 meters above the WTR oolite. It is very much an oddity in an otherwise carbonate sequence. In some parts the sand is loose enough to later run through the Ro-Tap sieves.
For lunch we went to a favorite Wooster restaurant — Veyo Pies! Very appropriate (and crowded) on Pi Day. Photo by Shelley.
Every time I visit this region I make a pilgrimage to the 1857 Mountain Meadows Massacre site north of Central, Utah, on Highway 18. Today it was snow-covered, which made the place seem even lonelier. Please read the historical account of what happened here.
The rock cairn over the mass grave. Lest we forget.
