"...When in doubt, make like the Reb's did in the civil war... leave a burned swath all the way to the freakin' sea..."
Perhaps you mean more like the Russians habitually do in front of invading French and Germans...the Wrebs didn't burn Georgia, the Ianqies did...(although considered an atrocity at the time, General T'sherman was much more polite than, for example, the Qaiser's army in Belchyum).
This dramatic view looks west along the Cucharas River Canyon in Colorado toward the 4,152 meter (13,623 ft) high Spanish Peaks, in the foothills of the Sangre De Cristo Mountains. The Peaks are the remnants of a 20-million year old volcano. Rising 2,100 meters (7,000 ft) above the plains to the east, these igneous rock formations with intrusions of eroded sedimentary rock historically served as guiding landmarks for travelers on the Mountain Branch of the Santa Fe Trail.
The above paragraph is the best possible argument for NASA to hire more earth scientists when they do earth science, such as the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission. They casually mention a whacking big mystery--sedimentary rocks seen intruding igneous rocks--and then leave us hanging. How did those sedimentary rocks do that?
Usually, sediments stack themselves on top of what's already there, instead of sticking themselves into the existing rock in an intrusive manner.
Sediment becomes a candidate for rockhood when the force moving it along goes away. The wind falls, the streams slow down, the ocean dries up. Mineral grains lie down and rise no more.
So if these sediments really got a volcano to bend over and be intruded, they were motivated by an unknown geologic force. Was it lust? Lust between consenting rock bodies has not been found to leave a distinguishable trace. But rock bodies can radiate sex appeal. French trappers saw mountains and canyons as giant erotic apparitions, and gave their lovesick hallucinations names which remain French because it won't do to translate them on public road signs. Perhaps these sediments saw the firm, youthful Spanish Peaks in the same rosy light--they look pretty good in rosy light, I can tell you--and before you knew it, innocence had become experienced. These unique sedimentary rocks deserve further study, for which I offer my services to NASA.
maqbroom
geologist
Note: They're talking about the remarkable dikes which tower over Colorado state highway 12 south of La Veta. Although these rocks look just like sedimentary rocks (vertical sheets and stacks of sheets), they're of igneous origin.
As the Spanish Peaks volcano grew in size 20 million years ago, the buoyant magma body below was covered by cubic miles of rock. The magma had not changed its elevation relative to sea level, but the deeper burial now made it more buoyant than when it first arrived near the surface. It was like a beach ball forced under water--the magma would return to its level, rising into the volcanic pile. The volcano, made of loose material and lava flows, cracked in a star pattern--as big, composite round things do when something else big and roundish intrudes it from below. Molten rock followed the cracks, freezing into vertical sheets. That's the impressive rock walls you see over the highway. Worth a side trip.
For a topographic map, go to http://www.topozone.com and enter La Veta, CO on their "Get a Map" page. Choose the "large" map format, and click on the arrow pointing south to see the highway route around the Spanish Peaks.
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"...When in doubt, make like the Reb's did in the civil war... leave a burned swath all the way to the freakin' sea..."
Perhaps you mean more like the Russians habitually do in front of invading French and Germans...the Wrebs didn't burn Georgia, the Ianqies did...(although considered an atrocity at the time, General T'sherman was much more polite than, for example, the Qaiser's army in Belchyum).
This dramatic view looks west along the Cucharas River Canyon in Colorado toward the 4,152 meter (13,623 ft) high Spanish Peaks, in the foothills of the Sangre De Cristo Mountains. The Peaks are the remnants of a 20-million year old volcano. Rising 2,100 meters (7,000 ft) above the plains to the east, these igneous rock formations with intrusions of eroded sedimentary rock historically served as guiding landmarks for travelers on the Mountain Branch of the Santa Fe Trail.
The above paragraph is the best possible argument for NASA to hire more earth scientists when they do earth science, such as the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission. They casually mention a whacking big mystery--sedimentary rocks seen intruding igneous rocks--and then leave us hanging. How did those sedimentary rocks do that?
Usually, sediments stack themselves on top of what's already there, instead of sticking themselves into the existing rock in an intrusive manner. Sediment becomes a candidate for rockhood when the force moving it along goes away. The wind falls, the streams slow down, the ocean dries up. Mineral grains lie down and rise no more.
So if these sediments really got a volcano to bend over and be intruded, they were motivated by an unknown geologic force. Was it lust? Lust between consenting rock bodies has not been found to leave a distinguishable trace. But rock bodies can radiate sex appeal. French trappers saw mountains and canyons as giant erotic apparitions, and gave their lovesick hallucinations names which remain French because it won't do to translate them on public road signs. Perhaps these sediments saw the firm, youthful Spanish Peaks in the same rosy light--they look pretty good in rosy light, I can tell you--and before you knew it, innocence had become experienced. These unique sedimentary rocks deserve further study, for which I offer my services to NASA.
maqbroom
geologist
Note: They're talking about the remarkable dikes which tower over Colorado state highway 12 south of La Veta. Although these rocks look just like sedimentary rocks (vertical sheets and stacks of sheets), they're of igneous origin. As the Spanish Peaks volcano grew in size 20 million years ago, the buoyant magma body below was covered by cubic miles of rock. The magma had not changed its elevation relative to sea level, but the deeper burial now made it more buoyant than when it first arrived near the surface. It was like a beach ball forced under water--the magma would return to its level, rising into the volcanic pile. The volcano, made of loose material and lava flows, cracked in a star pattern--as big, composite round things do when something else big and roundish intrudes it from below. Molten rock followed the cracks, freezing into vertical sheets. That's the impressive rock walls you see over the highway. Worth a side trip.
For a topographic map, go to http://www.topozone.com and enter La Veta, CO on their "Get a Map" page. Choose the "large" map format, and click on the arrow pointing south to see the highway route around the Spanish Peaks.