Ge136 Photos

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Ge136 is a 3-credit course offered nearly every term at Caltech.
The trips are geology-based and led by a professor in the department.
They are one of the coolest things about being at Caltech, in my opinion.

Destination	Dates	Trip Leader	My Report
Colorado Plateau Bryce Canyon National Park Zion National Park	May 13-17, 2004	Prof. Joe Kirschvink	Cross-bedding in the Navajo Sandstone (4.9 MB)
Death Valley National Park (Racetrack Playa)	Oct 22-24, 2004	Prof. Joe Kirschvink	Sliding stones of Racetrack Playa (3.5 MB)
Colorado Plateau Grand Canyon National Park	April 14-18, 2005	Prof. Joe Kirschvink	Navajo Sandstone (5.1 MB)
Death Valley National Park (Incised valleys during Neoproterozoic time)	Nov 10-13, 2005	Ryan Petterson Prof. Joe Kirschvink	Incised valleys in Utah and Idaho (0.5 MB)
Imperial Valley and Salton Sea Anza-Borrego Desert State Park (CA)	April 14-16, 2006	Prof. Joe Kirschvink	San Andreas Fault in the Imperial Valley (2.2 MB)

Preliminary Imperial Valley photos: here

Photos from other pages:
Imperial Valley 2006: Yoshi
Colorado Plateau 2004: Alisa, Vala





Jump for joy for Ge136 (that's me)!
This sequence of photos, taken by Andrew Matzen, was from
Algodones Dunes in southernmost California, the largest dune ecosystem in the U.S.
Also perhaps one of the largest off-road areas (see parked vehicles in background).
Also where they filmed scenes for Return of the Jedi.

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This is our leader, Joe Kirschvink.
Left:  speaking in front of Tecopa Hot Springs, just outside of Death Valley.
Right:  making his famous strawberry ice cream at camp, using liquid nitrogen.
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Bryce Canyon, May 2004. Photo: Alisa Miller


Bryce Canyon, May 2004. Photo: Vala Hjorleifsdottir


Spectacular cross-bedding in the Navajo Sandstone in Zion National Park, May 2004.
That's our fearless leader, Joe Kirschvink, in the foreground.
Photo: Alisa Miller


Valley of Fire, Nevada State Park, May 2004.
Extravagent sleeping accomodation.
Photo: Vala Hjorleifsdottir


River walk in a canyon in Zion National Park, May 2004.
Photo: Alisa Miller
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Salt weathering, Death Valley National Park, Oct 2004.
This is incredible! In the background is an abrupt termination of an aluuvial fan --
it is reminiscent of a glacial morraine.  What causes this abrupt cut is in the foreground: salt weathering!
The salt in the soil simply destroys the boulders -- the dark rock is disintegrating into rubble.


Downstream from Gower Gulch, Death Valley National Park.
In Death Valley, when it rains, it pours. 
In this case, the erosion was assisted by the man-made diversion of Furnace Creek.
Now, the stream is cutting a new, steeper, path, and the effects can be seen in Gower Gulch.
Here, Vala and I hold a piece of pavement that has washed down
through the mountain range from the highway to the north.
In August 2004, flooding moved a 42,000-lb. outhouse structure in the downstream direction.
Photo: Alisa Miller


Racetrack Playa, Death Valley National Park.  I am giving my talk next to an impressive
track in the dried playa mud made by the stone that is situated at the end of the track.
Even without the sliding stones, this is an exquisite, mystical place.
Photo: Vala Hjorleifsdottir


Tarantula near Racetrack Playa, Death Valley National Park, Oct 2004.
Photo: Ryan Petterson

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