Geology Field Trip

Hello all! This past Thursday, Friday, and Saturday I spent my days in Millard County Utah studying geology with my 112 class. I'm so grateful for the opportunity I have to study a subject I love. Studying it at BYU-Idaho gives me the unique opportunity to connect science and the gospel with my classmates and professors as we study how great God really is in all His creations.

Thursday Justin dropped me off at the Romney building at 7 AM. We took two vans and 22 people. Most of that day was driving, but we stopped at the Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point Utah. We had lunch where one of my classmates stood beside me and said, "If you don't mind me asking...have you always been that skinny?" A couple people have been asking about that lately, so that's been fun that people have noticed a change. A girl who was in my relief society in the winter saw me at the grocery store and the first thing she did was gasp and say, "Kelsey! You've lost a lot of weight!" So...huzzah!

In the museum we met with a world-renown paleontologist, Cliff. He's named 60 dinosaurs! He showed us a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff and I was amazed to see the likeness in our anatomy compared to dinosaurs! I was asking him a lot of questions, like why dinosaurs don't have patellas (knee caps), why their scapulas (shoulder blades) rest on their ribs, and if scientists can tell the difference between male and female dinosaurs based on their bones. I am really glad I took anatomy and physiology last semester so these things were fresh in my mind. He had an answer for almost everything. He also told us that when they made "Jurrasic Park" they consulted him and others at the museum for their expert advice. He knows his stuff!

dinosaur femur

this bone is examined to determine gender

tibia and fibula

two fossilized fish

different femurs &  tibia/fibula

very expensive turtle shell

Cliff wrote a journal about this "minotaurasaurus"

Cliff donated this $800 stromatalite to BYU-Idaho

colored bones show our similarities with dinosaurs

giant tortoise

From there we drove to Delta and had fast food for dinner along with our last encounter with running water until Saturday afternoon. We drove to Little Sahara sand dunes and had a lecture there. We hiked out onto the dunes where Brother Gahn let us loose to determine what the prominent wind direction was, what kind of sand dunes they were, and what structures would be preserved in the sand. At camp the temperature was quickly dropping. We set our tents up in the dark and got a fire going. I gave the spiritual thought that night and the stars were amazing. I'm in physics as well, so it was fun to see the constellations and show them to people. When it was time for sleep, I discovered my dufflebag had water spilled all over it in the trailer because it was shoved next to the cooler. My clothes, blanket, and pillow got wet, and due to the weather, they were frozen! I pulled out my sweater and it felt like holding a piece of plywood. Really? Luckily my sleeping bag was dry, but it made for a pretty miserable night.

Friday morning we woke up to frost on the ground. We checked the thermometer and the temperature had dropped down to 21 degrees. For goodness sake! It was frigid! I could barely fold up my tent and sleeping bag, my hands were so stiff. We ate breakfast and headed to "U Dig" which is where we split fossiliferous mudstone to find trilobites! I found a couple, but I was a little sad I didn't find some bigger ones. After lunch we drove and examined some more geology, including the famous Notch Peak and its great unconformity. Once again, we were let loose to observe our surroundings and interpret them. A few of my classmates ran into a rattlesnake. I was acting like Mom the whole time making noise everywhere I went so I didn't get bit! From there we took a look at a Stromatolite and snail copperlite and then drove to our campsite. Here the weather was noticeably better; the temperature only got down to 40 degrees. We ate hamburgers that night that were amazing! Brother Gahn bought bacon for people to put on their burgers -- awesome!

frost!

diggin up some trilobites with my rock hammer

lunch after three hours of fossil excavation

snake skin

beautiful orthoclase

Notch Peak

Granite on top of marble and shale

vesicular granite--very rare!

Saturday we had a late start because the burners weren't working. We ended up putting breakfast on the fire to get it cooked. After breakfast burritos we drove to the base of fossil mountain where Brother Gahn had us explore for an hour and a half to figure out which formations were present, how it formed, what the full names of rocks were, and the ancient depositional environment. What I loved about this is none of it was something we couldn't do. We had the tools we learned in class to figure it out, so now was application time -- can you go from text book to real life? As a class we were right on a lot of things, and I learned a lot about the formation. I loved it! I collected a fossil star fish along with a plethora of brachiopods.

basin and range; ancient regression

violation of original horizontality

fossil mountain

blue grasshopper

how we make breakfast

From fossil mountain we drove across a playa lake and looked at eubacteria, which are organisms that are some of the first producers of oxygen. We can thank them for some of the air we breathe today. I got a handful of some of it and dug some mud to hear the gases release. We tossed my frisbee around for a bit and then headed to an ancient coral reef. After that we headed back to civilization in Delta Utah for some gas and pressed on to Brigham City. Some people grabbed some Subway and we were homeward bound. We saw a lot of fires on the way which all the guys in my van got really excited about. Did I mention I was the only girl in my van? Good thing we all smelled like camp fire smoke so we cancelled each other out. We pulled into Rexburg around 9:30 and my dear husband came to get me. It was so good to see his handsome face after so long!

eubacteria!

Brother Gahn zoomed across this playa lake. It was awesome! At leave 70 mph

Notch Peak in the background

Sunday we had stake conference. The stake first counselor gave a powerful talk about people mattering more than things. He said all the work he's ever done in his career, no matter how impressive it is to the world, cannot compare to the work his wife has done in their home. Justin and I really love that; Justin is very grateful that I want to stay home with our kids when we get there, and I really appreciate that because it's not easy these days. The world mocks that standard. The other day I read a bumper sticker that said, "Well behaved women never make history." I immediately thought, "Satan!" Never made history? Maybe not in this world...I'm equally grateful that Justin is majoring in something that will provide for a family so that, ideally, I won't have to work.

After church we carved our pumpkin. We also practiced our duet for Christmas and had a very relaxing day. It's very much needed! Next week I have three tests and a presentation due. Justin is going to Seattle to see his brother get home from his mission on Friday. Busy busy!

flame face