Advertisement

You are browsing the archive for December 2014 - Mountain Beltway.

31 December 2014

Tril-o-bits-and-pieces in a boulder on the Athabasca Glacier moraine

I love moraines, rocky beaches, gravel bars – they are like a giant smorgasbord of delicious goodies. Here, for instance, are some close-ups of a trilobite-bearing boulder on the south lateral moraine of the Athasbasca Glacier, Jasper National Park, Alberta. And what are these things? Any ideas?

Read More >>

1 Comment/Trackback >>


30 December 2014

Skolithos in Gog quartzite, on the trail to Helen Lake

Some boulders seen on the trail to Helen Lake sported lovely sets of Skolithos trace fossils. Here are two boulders, with the perspective on the tubular paleo-vertical Skolithos burrows being “map view”: Another boulder, in the middle of the trail, showed them in a fine cross-sectional view: (click to enlarge substantially) It also included some interesting “ribbed” vertical traces that I didn’t recognize as familiar: …Diplocraterion, perhaps? Seems too “linear” …

Read More >>

3 Comments/Trackbacks >>


29 December 2014

Intense bioturbation in limy mudrock on the trail to Helen Lake

Look at this! A whole boulder made of trace fossils. Three photos, each more progressively zoomed in than the last. Update: The @ichnologist identifies these as perhaps Thalassinoides.

Read More >>

No Comments/Trackbacks >>


26 December 2014

Friday fold: another gem from the Chancellor Slate

That pretty much speaks for itself, I reckon.

Read More >>

1 Comment/Trackback >>


25 December 2014

The stromatolites of Helen Lake 2: GigaPans

Posted this morning as my “Christmas gift” to blog readers in both photo and GigaPan form, here are the exquisite stromatolites of Helen Lake, Banff National Park, Alberta. link link link link link link link Finally, three other non-stromatolitic GigaPans from the site: One of Artomys Formation siltstone / shale interbeds… link …and two of Cirque Peak itself, showing its gorgeous internal folding: link link Happy holidays to you!

Read More >>

No Comments/Trackbacks >>


The stromatolites of Helen Lake 1: photos

The exquisite stromatolites of Helen Lake, Banff National Park, are presented in photographic and GigaPan renditions. Enjoy unwrapping them as your “Christmas gift” from Callan.

Read More >>

3 Comments/Trackbacks >>


24 December 2014

A rock slide and a protalus rampart (?) on the trail to Helen Lake

A hike to Helen Lake, Banff National Park, Alberta, brings your intrepid geoblogger face to face with a fresh landslide and a curious landform parallel to the glacial valley. Is it a pro-talus rampart?

Read More >>

4 Comments/Trackbacks >>


23 December 2014

More oncoids (from the Peyto Formation?)

Two years ago, I posted on some interesting structures my students and I saw at Consolation Lakes, near Moraine Lake in Banff National Park. They were little concretions, “oncoids” roughly speaking, and may have indicated (thanks Howard!) that the boulders were sourced to the Peyto Formation, a Cambrian carbonate within the Gog group: The purpose of today’s post is to confirm that these structures are still there two years later, …

Read More >>

No Comments/Trackbacks >>


22 December 2014

Digitate stromatolites

Want to see something cool? Itty bitty stromatolites… like baby’s fingers! There’s a big weathered-out stylolite at the base of this stromatolite-bearing layer, too.   These elfin stromatolites are part of the boulder in the lower left (foreground) of this GigaPan, taken at the Icefields Center parking area in Jasper National Park, Alberta: link

Read More >>

1 Comment/Trackback >>


21 December 2014

Self destruction of a shale boulder

“Kablooey!”

Read More >>

2 Comments/Trackbacks >>