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10 July 2007
Today at the School of Rock 2008 we went on a field trip to Summerville Reservoir. The focus of our trip was to observe and interpret the stratigraphy of the outcrops below the lake. Tom Yancey from the A&M geology department and John Firth from IODP led the trip. It was an exciting day to be out and everyone was energized and running around like kids in a candy bowl! Must be something about turning a bunch of science teachers loose in the field!
The section we observed was upper Eocene, of alternating layers of sandstone, siltstone, claystone and lignite. The idea was to make observations that led to understanding of the depositional environment that occurred in Texas at the time. A unique feature of this outcrop is the various layers of ash that were deposited and are well preserved. Some of the other cool things we were able to identify and correlate to the environment were cross-bedding in the sandstone, lignite deposits with evidence of logs, plant impressions and bioturbationÉ(big fancy word for evidence of organisms). To cap the field tripÉwe took a much needed lunch break at Dairy Queen. Back in the lab we observed core samples that correlated to the outcropping we observed and Tom prepared slides of contrasting sands for us to observe under the microscope. Reported by Stuart Perez
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