16 February 2011
Outcrops of the LaHood Conglomerate
Posted by Callan Bentley
Remember the LaHood Conglomerate?
Here’s a few field photos of my Rockies class visiting it last July:
Amphibolite clast:
Marble clast:
I love how well-rounded these clasts can be — like eggs.
When these grains were loose cobbles, tumbling down into the Belt Sea, the Earth was only 3 to 3.5 billion years old. The rivers which carried them downhill flowed past a landscape devoid of plants and animals. Since then, they have been locked away underground, fused to their neighbors, and only recently brought to the surface and exposed for the eyes of curious hominids like us. What a wild journey…
A few shear bands cut across the LaHood in the outcrops on the north side of the Jefferson River Canyon, and slickensides are visible:
Nice place to check out a cool geologic unit.
Callan Bentley is Associate Professor of Geology at Piedmont Virginia Community College in Charlottesville, Virginia. He is a Fellow of the Geological Society of America. For his work on this blog, the National Association of Geoscience Teachers recognized him with the James Shea Award. He has also won the Outstanding Faculty Award from the State Council on Higher Education in Virginia, and the Biggs Award for Excellence in Geoscience Teaching from the Geoscience Education Division of the Geological Society of America. In previous years, Callan served as a contributing editor at EARTH magazine, President of the Geological Society of Washington and President the Geo2YC division of NAGT.
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Am Geophysical Union and ScienceSeeker Feed, Melanie Messerer. Melanie Messerer said: RT @theAGU: New on Mountain Beltway – Outcrops of the LaHood Conglomerate http://bit.ly/fXANmG […]
I don’t think that’s too far from the IU field camp. Just down the street from that outcrop in the Jefferson River Canyon is a saloon/restaurant called La Hood that serves the best steak I have ever had.
Fincastle redux.
[…] is right next to the outcrops of LaHood Conglomerate that I mentioned earlier this week. My Rockies course co-instructor Pete Berquist and I bring the students here for several reasons, […]