Continuing
one geologist's travels in 2009...
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Three weeks were spent on the Hawaiian Islands, an absolutely glorious journey with enough sights (and pictures) to last a lifetime. Here, Halemaumau crater on Kilauea is belching out tremendous amounts of sulfur dioxide and other gases into the atmosphere. The eruption began only a year or so earlier, with a vent 300 feet across and 600 feet deep. Lava is bubbling inside.
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A July trip to Balboa Beach in Southern California saw the arrival of
unusually large waves from a
tropical storm off Baja. A couple of people were actually killed by them.
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July also saw a trip to Lake Tahoe, the giant subalpine lake (1,700 feet deep) formed as a huge fault valley (graben) was dammed by lava flows. Mount Tallac, on the skyline, is composed of metamorphic rocks intruded by Mesozoic granitic rocks.
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September included a field studies journey to the Cascades of Northern California and southern Oregon. We toured Mt. Shasta, Crater Lake (above), Lava Beds, and Lassen Volcanic National Park.
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October was a field studies trip to the
central Mother Lode, including an exploration of
Black Chasm cave.
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November included a tour of
Pinnacles National Monument (above), and a Geology Club tour of Natural Bridges near Columbia in the Sierra Nevada Mother Lode.
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And for December, a lot of family, and a quick look at the Grand Canyon!
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