Announcements

February 12, 2009

• Homework due Thursday, February 19. Using the prior lectures, readings, and geologic maps of Arizona and California available on line or from the ASU Libraries, do the following:
• Draw schematic cross sections from the Pacific basin to Eastern Arizona at these times: 800 Ma, 365 Ma, 250 Ma, 100 Ma, 20 Ma, 5 Ma, 0 Ma. Include your basic idea of the topography and the crustal thickness. Show the major structures, processes, events. These can (should?) be hand drawn and be a full landscape page width for each. Use the resources, including the geologic maps and your geologic intuition to draw what you think is going inside the blocks as well.
• Draw schematic cross sections from southwestern Arizona to the Colorado Plateau at 60 Ma and at 10 Ma.
• Provide a short (several sentences caption for each).
• Provide an overview commentary that summarizes the geotectonic history in a paragraph and describes the approach/assumption/sources that you used in your diagrams.
• Note also the Ron Blakey paleogeographic maps at NAU
• This might be useful (not required to use): Preliminary integrated geologic map databases for the WESTERN United States
• Field trips (NOW):
• March 1, 2009 (Sunday): South Mountains or Tucson area
• An occasional Thursday (1:30-5 pm) in February and March: South Mountains (normal faulting and the Basin and Range)
• March 21 and 22, 2009: Salton Trough and Mecca Hills (San Andreas Fault system)

January 29, 2009

• Please read for the Tuesday discussion: New Departures in Structural Geology and Tectonics edited by David Pollard.
• Field trips:
• February 28 and March 1, 2009: Salton Trough and Mecca Hills (San Andreas Fault system)
• An occasional Thursday (1:30-5 pm) in February and March: South Mountains (normal faulting and the Basin and Range)
• March 21 and 22, 2009: Colorado Plateau (overview and some reverse faulting/monoclines)

January 20, 2009

• Nothing yet!