14 November 2011
Compton Peak: superb columnar jointing
Posted by Callan Bentley
After my talk Wednesday night to the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club, I got an email from PATC member Tom Johnson, with an extraordinary photo attached. It shows an exceptional outcrop of the Neoproterozoic Catoctin Formation, exposed atop Compton Peak in northern Shenandoah National Park, Virginia. The outcrop features enormous, well-preserved cooling columns from these ancient meta-lava flows.
Click on it for the full-size version (posted here with Tom’s permission). You know that I’ll be visiting this in person at the first possible opportunity.
Callan Bentley is an assistant professor of geology at Northern Virginia Community College. He is a fellow of the Geological Society of America and the 2018 National Association of Geoscience Teachers' James Shea Awardee. 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. Callan served as a contributing editor at EARTH magazine for many years. He is Past President of the Geological Society of Washington and the Geo2YC division of NAGT. He lives in the Fort Valley of Virginia.
Wow, what a fine example of columnar joints!
[…] geology hike with H-B Woodlawn students), and planning on going into the field again tomorrow (to see this), so it’s looking to be an excellent weekend. Hope yours is the […]
[…] finding out about the spectacular exposure of columnar-jointed Catoctin Formation exposed on Compton Peak in Shenandoah National Park, it didn’t take me too long to visit the […]
Here’s a gigapan look at the outcrop:
http://www.gigapan.org/gigapans/97851