A day at the museum

A day at the museum

On Saturday, the Los Alamos Geological Society took its field trip to the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science. This was in lieu of a field trip to a geological site, necessitated by the closue of most public lands due to fire danger. (That danger has since mostly...Read more

Baby birbs

The eggs have hatched, and Momma Birb is feeding the youngsters. I’ve gotten a few glimpses of their fuzzy little heads from my blind; there are at least two of them in the nest, possibly three. Sorry, no photos; this is not a good time to disturb them. Momma is...Read more

Mount Taylor Wanderlust, Day 6

Dawn on the last day of the excursion. Our camp is near Show Low Lake, which is on the western margin of the Springerville volcanic field. This volcanic field is near the western end of the Jemez lineament, which we learned about on the second full day of the conference....Read more
Mount Taylor Wanderlust, Day 5

Mount Taylor Wanderlust, Day 5

We awake to another cloudless morning, and begin loading up Obsidian. We head west on I-40. Part way towards Gallup, the view north opens up. We pull off at Prewitt and I get a big panorama. You’ll definitely want to click on this one for the full resolution version. The...Read more
Mount Taylor Wanderlust, Day 4, Postconference

Mount Taylor Wanderlust, Day 4, Postconference

I’m splitting out the postconference part of this day as a separate post, since the conference days may attract an unusually wide audience from conference attendees. Of course, the attendees are perfectly welcome to read this and subsequent posts as well. (Or read the whole website if you like. I’m...Read more
Wanderlusting Mount Taylor, Day 4

Wanderlusting Mount Taylor, Day 4

We wake to another cloudless day for the final day of the conference. We will be seeing some of the uranium mining district east of Mount Taylor, and then some more volcanism. Since most of us will not be returning to the hotels afterwards, we rendezvous near Paraje to fill...Read more
Wanderlusting Mount Taylor, Day 3

Wanderlusting Mount Taylor, Day 3

It is a beautiful day, without a cloud in the sky. We rendezvous once more to organize car pools. Today we will head into Mount Taylor itself, to the Amphitheater. This looks a little like, but is probably not, a large summit caldera. (More about that later.) We drive east...Read more
Wanderlusting Mount Taylor, Day 2

Wanderlusting Mount Taylor, Day 2

We awake to a slightly cloudy morning and the first full day of the conference. We will be taking our own vehicles into the field, with carpooling to minimize the number of vehicles. The assembly point is just north of our hotel. Sheri Kelley (in white hat, with bullhorn) prepares...Read more
Wanderlusting Mount Taylor, Day 1

Wanderlusting Mount Taylor, Day 1

This week I attended the 2020 Fall Field Conference of the New Mexico Geological Society. (long pause) The New Mexico Geological Society has held an annual fall field conference since 1950. The participants spend about three days driving around a geologically interesting area in New Mexico or (occasionally) an adjacent...Read more
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