Honors Program Field Trip – 1 California
The Franciscan. What is it?
A trip to California lead by Dr. Mark Cloos during the summer of 2000.
The trip objective was to examine sedimentary, metamorphic and igneous rocks in outcrop and learn how to interpret faulting and folding patterns in the context of subduction zone and transform tectonics. Visit sites of active faulting, folding, as well as geothermal fields in areas of recent volcanism. Also emphasis on rates of erosion and sedimentation, changes in depositional environments over time, and alpine glaciation processes.
VIEW the slide show
Dr. Mark Cloos always says that the best geologists are those who have seen the most rocks. To support this truth, students of the Jackson School Undergraduate Honors Research Program had the good fortune to accompany him on a Spring Break trip to sunny California!
The purpose of the field trip was to study rocks and features associated with an active subduction zone. California is composed of three main geologic provinces associated with subduction including the Franciscan Complex accretionary prism, the Great Valley Group forearc basin deposits, and the Sierra Nevada volcanic/plutonic arc. We traversed 100 km’s of coastline dominated by exposures of melange, ophiolite complexes, pillow basalts, a triple junction mountain, faults and marine sediments all uplifted and exposed along the coastline of California allowing study of an active subduction-accretion zone. A picture is worth a thousand words! Check out our photo journal.