Marcy, Camp Internet: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 7:46AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Hello Campers - this morning we will have Erin OConnor who is an instructor at Alan Hancock College as our expert Trail Guide.......... Mr. OConnor has experience in several areas we will be studying this year, and the first one we will enjoy learning about is the geology of the four Corners area and how the Colorado Plateau was formed. ..........Mr. OConnor actually takes college students from California to the Four Corners for live field trips - and when you become college age, keep an eye out for these kinds of exciting learning adventures....... Mr. OConnor also has worked with the Remote Access Astronomy Project that helps students view pictures of the night sky that they take themselves using a remote access telescope - very cool science !!

Marcy, Camp Internet: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 7:47AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Please describe to us the geologic forces that slowly created the Colorado Plateau .... how long did it take ?

Ayami, PHS: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 7:49AM PST (-0800 GMT)
How can those rocks at the bottom of the Grand Canyon really be 1.7 BILLION years old ? How do they measure that span of time ? And why are they called Vishnu Shift ?

Morgana, PHS: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 7:50AM PST (-0800 GMT)
What about the petrified forest - how did that happen ? And is there only one in the Southwest ?

Adam Simmons: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 7:50AM PST (-0800 GMT)
What do you do with the students when you go to the southwest ? what do they see and learn ?

Sarah G: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 7:51AM PST (-0800 GMT)
What makes the different sandstone colors in the arches ?

Carrie James: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 7:52AM PST (-0800 GMT)
How long did it take the Grand Canyon to be carved ?

Eddie Ramos: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 7:52AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Hi there Mr OConnor - do you ever go to volcanoes in the southwest ? any active ones ?

vinnie: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 7:54AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Was the Colorado PLateaw there in the Ice Age when there were wooly mammoths around ? did any fall off the edge ?

Mrs. Mitchell: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 7:55AM PST (-0800 GMT)
We are learning about the Grand Staircase - what caused it to form ? How old is it ?

Mrs. Mitchell: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 7:56AM PST (-0800 GMT)
We'll be back in about 8:15 to see if there are any answers posted .... thank you for joining us today

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:00AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Greetings everyone! The South is a very significant geologic regioin of the US, and schools from all over the country (and the world) travel there to learn more about the geology. I will try to share with you some of the things we do in our courses and trips to the area.

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:01AM PST (-0800 GMT)
The Soutwest displays the history of geologic time laid out like the pages in a book.

Marcy, Camp Internet: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:02AM PST (-0800 GMT)
We are thinking about sending students on a Fri-Sun trip that would use the train to get to Flagstaff and then bus down into Sedona, up to Walnut Canyon and Petrified Forest, overnight, and then visit the Grand Canyon the next Day. Have you taken Students to any of these locations ? Any suggestions ?

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:02AM PST (-0800 GMT)
We try to take students there (to the Southwest) every year to tell them the geologic story. It begins a long time ago, some 5 billion years ago, when the entire solar system was being formed.

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:03AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Hi Marcy, Yes, we have. We have taken students to all these places, and I couldn't recommend a better trip!

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:04AM PST (-0800 GMT)
I will tell you a bit about that area.

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:04AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Flagstaff is the site of a famous Volcano, that once erupted similar to how Mt. St. Helen's did in Washington.

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:06AM PST (-0800 GMT)
It's a special kind of eruption where half the mountain becomes unstable and slides off the top, causing a tromendous mud slide that can be very devestating to the area. Now, this happened long ago, and the mountain is now not active and so there is no danger of this happening today. That is why there is the city of Flagstaff at the base, where people live.

Marcy, Camp Internet: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:06AM PST (-0800 GMT)
HINT to all chat room users - to get back up to the top of the room, type a big number like 50 in the scroll back box, click on the 'chat' button and it will take you back up to see waht happened earlier .....

Marcy, Camp Internet: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:06AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Are you talking about Sunset Crater or are there more volcanos there ?

Timothy - Camp: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:07AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Be sure to take a look at the Southwest Geology & Caves photo album in the Canyon Lands unit. The album is at button - you'll find some good maps of Pangaea there as well.

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:07AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Near to Flagstaff is an area called Sunset Crater. This is a really neat area because it has recent volcanoes, small ones called cinder cones, which erupted in historic times. I believe one of the last eruptions was in 1064 when the Indians where there.

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:09AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Actually, I was talking about San Francisco Peaks, and with the nearby Sunset Crater cinder cones nearby.

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:11AM PST (-0800 GMT)
If you want to see some photos of the lava flows, try this web address: button

Marcy, Camp Internet: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:11AM PST (-0800 GMT)
We have read that the San Fancisco Peaks are held scared by several tribes .. have you ever heard any legends about the volcanoes there ?

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:13AM PST (-0800 GMT)
This shows pictures of our group walking on the fresh lava flows of 1064. The lava flow is so fresh that the rocks are very jaged and you have to be very careful walking on it. The Hawian word for this type of lava flow is "A A", perhaps because that's what you say when you step on the sharp rocks.

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:14AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Of course my specialty is in the geology of the region, but yes, I am aware that there were many legends. The large volcano erupted before people were probably there, but the smaller cinder cones at Sunset Crater erupted during recent times when Indians were there. You can imagine what they must have thought. They probably were afraid that they displeased the "great spirit"...

A.T.: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:15AM PST (-0800 GMT)
I visited Sunset Crater as a little kid and it tore up the bottoms of our shoes - the lava rock was everywhere and we had to lay pine needles down under our tent so it wouldn't cut up the tent ... but it was beautiful ... is that lava from the 1000 ad eruption ?

Marcy, Camp Internet: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:17AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Mr O'Connor - please remember to scoll back up and catch those earlier questions so the students see some responses when they come back into class .. thanks ! And please do tell us the geologic story ... the idea of pages of a book is very evocative - tell us more !

Ayami, PHS: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:19AM PST (-0800 GMT)
We were in the Colordao Nat monument recently on a field trip and saw amazing rock formations - how are those made ? and how do those single tall tower like rocks get left there ? It looked like we thought Utah must look - red, weird, and amazing ....

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:19AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Here is another link to a day during one of field trips where you can see the big volcano in the background of the first picture, and below you can see the lava flow picture with our entire group. You can also read about our daily adventure at the bottom of the page. button

Mrs. Mitchell: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:21AM PST (-0800 GMT)
We are back in class and have a few more questions - how is the sandstone in the Santa Barbara area related to the sandstone in Utah - were they all under the ocean once ?

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:22AM PST (-0800 GMT)
A.T., Yes, that that lava at Sunset Craters is from the eruption of 1064. It is really worth visiting! Ayami, Yes, Colorado National Monument is also a very beautiful place, but the geology and rocks are very different. Those are sandstones you are looking at, not volcanic eruptions.

Marcy, Camp Internet: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:23AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Where is the Lowell Observatory ? It is mentioned on your web site ...

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:23AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Hello Mrs. Mitchell, Yes, the sandstones of the Colorado Plateau (the geologic name we give to the entire Southwest 4-corners region), is related to the sandstones we find in CA, but not necessarily those in Santa Barbara.

Sammy: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:25AM PST (-0800 GMT)
How do they know how old the rocks are in the Southwest ? how can they measure back billions of years ?

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:25AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Here is how it works. The entire western US was once under water and it left sandstones that stretch all the way from the Col Plat to SB, but the SB sandstones are very young and are no longer found in the South West.

Arista: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:25AM PST (-0800 GMT)
What makes logs get petrified ?

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:26AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Hi Sammy, They use differnt techniques to measure age of rocks, but for the really old stuff that goes back billions of years, they use a radioactive technique.

Terry G: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:27AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Why are those Utah pictures so red ? what makes the rock that color ? Why aren't there colros like that in california ?

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:27AM PST (-0800 GMT)
They do the same with petrified logs. Here is how it works. All living things are radioactive (just a little, it's perfectly safe). When trees die, the radioactivity starts to go away. By measuring how much is left, they can determine how long ago the tree died.

Marcy, Camp Internet: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:28AM PST (-0800 GMT)
HINT to all chat room users - to get back up to the top of the room, type a big number like 50 in the scroll back box, click on the 'chat' button and it will take you back up to see what happened earlier .....

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:29AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Hi Terry. That's a very interesting question. The rocks in the Southwest are red for a very simple reason... rust. Rocks have iron in them, and with millions and millions of years of time the iron essentially rusts (we call it oxidation in science lingo), and it helps to give rocks really great red colors.

Rich torres: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:29AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Have you ever been down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon ? how do people get down there ? what is it like ?

Eddie: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:30AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Those big boulders sitting on top of little tiny points of stone - are those for real ? it looks like Disneyland !

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:30AM PST (-0800 GMT)
You can really see how red the rocks are at Arches National Park. Look at these pictures to see the colors and spectacular arches in sandstone. button

Marcy, Camp Internet: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:31AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Mr. O'Connor - please tell us about the different ways the sandstone arches and bridges are made ... are they all in Utah ?

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:32AM PST (-0800 GMT)
There are so many questions, that I can only answer a few at a time. If you don't get your question answered right now, be sure to check back later (and tomorrow) so that I can try to go back and answer as many as I can.

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:33AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Let me start to answer many of your questions by telling you a story, the story of how the Southwest came to be (geologicaly).

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:33AM PST (-0800 GMT)
The story is like the pages of a book, so let's start at the beginning... some 5 billion years ago.

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:35AM PST (-0800 GMT)
First we must realize how long ago that is. A billion years is such a long time that if I gave you a dollar bill once a second non-stop for every year that the Earth is old, it would take me about 160 years to give you all 5 billion dollars. And that's how old the earth is in years.

Marcy, Camp Internet: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:35AM PST (-0800 GMT)
What are orogenies (from your web site) ?

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:36AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Well, 5 billion years ago the Earth and all the planets and the sun too "condensed" out of a large cloud of interstellar dust and gas. Some other time, we can have a chat on astronomy and I will tell you more about that, but for now, all we need to know is that we ended up with a hot, molten Earth -- completely molten like hot lava.

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:37AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Hi Marcy. Orogenies is a scientific term for mountain building. It's a strange term, but used very often.

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:38AM PST (-0800 GMT)
To continue my story, the hot and molten Earth begins to cool, the top part makes a crust like a thin eggshell.

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:39AM PST (-0800 GMT)
But because the there is so much heat still trapped in the newly formed Earth, and the heat wants to escape, it cracks and breaks the thin eggshell, causing it to have what we call "plates".

Marcy, Camp Internet: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:39AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Here is a picture of Mr. O'Connor so you know who you are talking to !!

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:40AM PST (-0800 GMT)
These "lithospheric plates" (as geologists call them), then move around the Earth (not so fast though, just a few inches a year), and move apart to make oceans, crash together to create mountains, and slide past each other like they do here in CA to make the San Andreas Fault.

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:40AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Every time the eggshells (or plates) move, we have an earthquake.

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:41AM PST (-0800 GMT)
It takes many earthquakes to create large mountains and other geologic features, but this happens over a very very long time, and so we don't really notice.

Tsunami, PHS: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:41AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Did you see any Anasazi rock art on your trip ? was it carved or painted ?

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:43AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Well, now you have a picture of the Earth as being molten inside, with a hard shell on the surface (we call the crust) that is broken up in sections (we call plates) that move around. Now the Earth does this for many billions of years. It was formed some 5 billion years ago, and it has been doing this continuously every since.

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:44AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Hi Tsunami. Yes, we did see some Anasazi rock art, but since I am not a specialist on rock art, just like you, I was learning and admiring the rich indian history of the region.

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:45AM PST (-0800 GMT)
To continue my story, the Southwest region before a billion years ago was part of a continental collision!

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:46AM PST (-0800 GMT)
It was a very violent crash (in geologic terms) and it metamorphosed the rocks that made up our continent. That means that the rocks were changed from one type to another by intense heat and pressure resulting from the collision. You can see those rocks today at the bottom of the Grand Canyon.

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:47AM PST (-0800 GMT)
So, you see, now is where our story can really begin, because I can now show you pictures and tell you where in the Southwest we can see these rocks.

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:49AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Here you can see pictures of us at the Grand Canyon, the very botom of which there is a rock type called Vishnu Schist, as I described. button

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:50AM PST (-0800 GMT)
This picture, in particular, shows the inner goerge where the dark ancient Vishnu Schist can be found.

Mrs. Mitchell: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:51AM PST (-0800 GMT)
This must be the origin of the 1.7 billion year old Vishnu Shift ( is that right ?) ... and then how did the layers above that come to be formed ?

Tara Angeles: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:52AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Are there any fossils in that old vishnu rock ? Was there any life then ?

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:52AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Now we have to explain how the rocks on top of the Vishnu Schist came to be. After about a billion years ago, the Southwest was on the trailing edge of one of these moving plates, and mountains that were eroding, dumped their sands into the sea and made thousands of feet of layered rocks like we see in the picture.

Paul: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:53AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Cool story !

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:54AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Yes, Mrs. Mitchel, this can be considered the origin of the very old Vishnu Schist. I am approximating the dates to keep the story kind of simple, but yes, this is one way we get metamophic rocks.

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:56AM PST (-0800 GMT)
No Tara, there are no fossils (like what you imagine a fossil to be) in the Vishnu Schist. Fossil life only showed up on Earth half a billion years ago, and this is back one to two billion years, where only microscopic life or soft bodied life lived, no complex organism with hard shells that can leave fossils. Also, the continental collision would have created pressures and temperatures that would have destroyed any fossils.

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:57AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Hi Paul, I am glad you like the story. So, I will continue...

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:59AM PST (-0800 GMT)
So we see that the bottom of the Grand Canyon, the dark, "scary" looking rocks are the result of a continental collision, and the nice layered rocks you see above the Vishnu Schist are the younger sediments eroded from the continents when the Soutwest was at the trailing edge of the continent. But how long did this last? What happened next...

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 9:01AM PST (-0800 GMT)
All those nice layers were deposited in what geologist call "Paleozoic Time", which spans roughly from 600 million years ago to about 250 million years ago. During this time, we did have fossils, but they were not dinasaur fossils. This is before the age of dinasaurs.

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 9:02AM PST (-0800 GMT)
So, in the Grand Canyon, you can find some fossils of mullusks, trilobites, the first land plants and first land vertebrates and fish and insects and reptiles, but no dinasaurs...

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 9:03AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Then starting about 250 million years ago, the continent collided with another plate. This formed a massive "supercontinent" called Pangaea. This is when dinasaures came on the scene, and they roamed accross this supercontinent.

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 9:04AM PST (-0800 GMT)
When the continents collided, it was a very dramatic and violent event (geologically speaking - you wouln't really notice it yourself if you were there). This caused volcanoes to form in the West (the Ancestral Sierra Nevada's) which erupted huge amounts of ash...

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 9:05AM PST (-0800 GMT)
The ash covered the skies world wide, but especially the Southwest. Entire layers of ash can be found and in them are the fossils of dynasaurs. The ash/mudd mixture helped to preserve the dinasaur fossils.

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 9:06AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Now, we are talking about ashes and layers found above the Grand Canyon. These are the layers of the Navajo Sandstone, the layers you find at Arches National Park, and even Zion National Park.

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 9:08AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Here is a picture of one of our students at Arches...

Ayami, PHS: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 9:09AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Does this mean the sandstone we see in the SW parks is not just sea bed sediment but also volcanic ash ?

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 9:09AM PST (-0800 GMT)
You can see the sand colored rocks. They preserve footprints and even the bones of dynasaurs. Near to this site, we take students to go looking for dynasaur bone chips that they can keep for themselves.

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 9:11AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Hi Ayami. Yes and no, it depends as to which sandstone you are looking at. For example, some of it may be deposited by streams (we call that feluvial), others are depostited in lakes, and others in inland seas, and others in shallow oceans. Yes, water playes a very important part in all this, but the ash gets mixed in with the mudd and sediment.

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 9:13AM PST (-0800 GMT)
This picture shows the ashes mixed in witht he sediments at Monument Valley. You can tell they the ash makes for wonderful colors...

Ayami, PHS: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 9:14AM PST (-0800 GMT)
we did a dinosaur dig in COlorado last month and were working in shale - white and buff, with a layer of volcanic ash above that was sort of purple .. it was an old lake bed .. found allosaurus bones .. pretty cool ...

Marcy, Camp Internet: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 9:15AM PST (-0800 GMT)
What is in the ash that makes the colors ? We are studying how the ash has silicates that turn logs into petrified stone - but what are silicates ? how deep from inside the earth do they come in an explosion ?

Marcy, Camp Internet: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 9:18AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Where is the Lowell Observatory ? Do they let students arrange telescope time ?

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 9:18AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Hi Ayami. Sounds like you had a great experience at the dinosaur dig. Yes, shales are good rock types to find bones. Marcy, the colors found in ash is due to the chemical composition. I am not an expert on the chemistry, but I would imagine sulfer plays a role. Sulfer is a colorful chemical that is comonly outgassed in eruptions...

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 9:19AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Hi Marcy. Yes, the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff is a famous telescope used by Percival Lowell to study Mars.

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 9:20AM PST (-0800 GMT)
He was convinced that there were Martions on mars that lived there and that they had an elaborate canal system. He devoted his life to mapping the canals. Today, we know the canals were just in his imagination, but the global sand storms on mars made it dificult for him to map.

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 9:24AM PST (-0800 GMT)
This is a picture from the Lowell visitor center. It's not the main telescope, but you can see what telescopes look like.

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 9:26AM PST (-0800 GMT)
One of my favorite areas in the Southwest is the view from Dead Horse Point.

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 9:27AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Can anyone tell me why they call it "Dead Horse Point"???

Marcy, Camp Internet: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 9:27AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Have you seen Mission to Mars ? I suspect we will find many unexpected things once we get there ..... our volcanologist online last night from the SW Volcano Research Center started out in lunar geology .... geology is SO interesting ? and sometimes almost unbelievable in how it challenges our expectations of time and earth development.

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 9:28AM PST (-0800 GMT)
From the picture, you can see the Colorado River as it winds through Mesozoic sediments, that's when the dinasaurs lived. This is a good region to look for dinosaur fossils, because they are preserved in the sediments you see below.

Marcy, Camp Internet: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 9:29AM PST (-0800 GMT)
We'll be wrapping up in a few minutes as the chat closes out at 9:30 - any final comments or questions ? (Why IS it called Dead Horse Point ? - is that in the Grand Cnayon ?)

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 9:34AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Hi Marcy, no I haven't seen the movie, but I can tell you that Mars is a very exciting topic. We will certainly be colonizing the planet in the future, and it could be this very generation that is chatting online here today that may lead the missions...

Marcy, Camp Internet: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 9:34AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Camp Internet thanks Mr. O'Connor for his great geologic storytelling today - and his first hand expertise in the region we are studying. We'll be posting this in the Camp Chat Archive next week so you can come back and see it all unfold .... thanks everyone for participating !!

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 9:35AM PST (-0800 GMT)
Dead Horse Point got it's name for gelogic reasons. When rivers form and mature with time, they wind their way so much that they create a goosneck (where it almost winds back on itself).

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 9:36AM PST (-0800 GMT)
The story goes that they built a very short fence to keep horses, and perhaps once upon a time, some horses died. The view is spectacular though...

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 9:37AM PST (-0800 GMT)
I want to thank everyone for having me visit. I will try to answer additional questions later today so that when you check later as many questions can be answered as possible. I hope you will follow our future trips. You can always access our field trips on line at button

Marcy, Camp Internet: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 9:44AM PST (-0800 GMT)
The chat room will be open all day until 5 pm - so drop back by anytime to ask/ answer ....

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:48PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Greetings everyone! I have come back to answer questions I did not get a chance to respond to earlier today.

Mr. O'Connor: . . . . Fri, Oct 20, 8:55PM PST (-0800 GMT)
Morgana asked (at 7:50 this morning) how do petrified forests "happen". Weed becomes petrified when it is buried by mud, and sometimes volcanic ash. If the conditions are right, the wood is preserved instead of decomposing. When the muds solidify, the preserved wood is chemically replaced molecule by molecule by other minerals. In the end, there is no wood left, just rock minerals in the pattern of the original wood. We call this petrified wood and tells us much about the trees and forests of long ago. There were many forrests back then, but the conditions for preserving them had to be just right. There are numerous localities in the Southwest where you can find petrified wood. The most famous, of course, is Petrified Forrest park and visitor center. On our trips we visit other petrified wood sites where our students can legaly take a piece of petrified wood home with them.