More Pictures from Ireland

Here are some more pictures from my geology field camp for everyone to enjoy. The weather has been even more rainy than usual according to the locals, and I am starting to feel a bit soggy. Nonetheless it is a beautiful country and I am very happy to be here.

Enjoy the pictures.

Great s-folds in schist

Very well defined xenolith in this rock

Big Daddy Cirque near Doo Lough

Look at these great en echelon gashes!

Hopefully I will be able to take more pictures when it stops raining. When I do I will put them up here.

Take care.

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Pictures from Ireland

Hey everyone.

Here I am writing from Ireland, after a long day out in the field I thought I would come back to home base and share some pictures with everyone. Alan also put up some great pictures in a post a few days ago, and you should check those out as well. I am little tired so the explanations might not be up to snuff, so please forgive me.

Onto the photos!

Here is some serpentine in the Connemara marble with it’s lovely green color.

The famous D3 folds fold in Connemara

Well preserved crinoid stems. (spoon for scale)

Inclusions of 468 Ma schist in the 420 Ma granite.

And finally, a hastily taken picture of drumlins from the van.

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Do You See What I See? #1

Hey everyone, I am back! Another semester has come to an end, and that means more time I can dedicate towards blogging again. Unfortunately to anyone who enjoys reading this blog, and fortunately for me I am a day away from boarding a plane to Ireland for 7 weeks and Switzerland for one. I will be joining the JMU Geology Field Study to Ireland to explore and map the lands of the Emerald Isle. Though I will not let my absence from the country continue my absence from the blogosphere. Today begins the series of weekly posts containing pictures I have taken through various field trips over the past semester with the question asked: “Do you see what I see?” After showing the original photo I will include an annotated version of the geologically significant feature I am noticing.

Let’s get started.

In this picture, Jeremy points at an outcrop along I-64 in Virginia that we saw on the Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology class field trip this April. Do you see what I see?

What I see in this picture is the rifting of two supercontinents hundreds of millions of years apart. At this outcrop, the Catoctin, a metabasalt from the rifting of Rodinia approximately 610 Ma, is cross-cut by the younger basalt dike from the rifting of Pangaea 175-200 Ma. Notice that the Catoctin, a favorite on this blog, is distinguishable by the greenish-gray color from the chlorite minerals within it. The chlorite formed during the metamorphosis associated with the Appalachian Orogenies. Also note that the younger basalt dike does not share this characteristic because it is yet to experience the formation of a supercontinent.

So, within this one section of highway exhibits one rifting feature cross cutting an older rifting feature. Pretty cool.

*Unfortunate update: due to cancellation issues with the airline I was unable to finish writing the other posts of this series. I promise to finish them when I get back or if I find down time in Ireland. Sorry.

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