Summer 2004 
Field research in southern Utah
In May of 2004,  Renee Scalise, Tim Jenesky and I went to southern Utah for two weeks to do geology field research.  Dr. Ed Simpson and his wife Wendy (both geologists) accompanied us for a few days to share their expertise.
Top left: Dr. Tindall, Tim and Renee at Bryce Canyon
Top right: Doc Simpson examining sedimentary structures
Bottom left: Wendy goes in for a closer look
Bottom right: Tim and Renee hard at work
Our project is an extension of the work begun by Greg Zellner in the summer of 2003.  We suspect that Cretaceous sedimentary rocks near the northern end of the Kaibab Uplift contain a record of seismic activity (big earthquakes) that occurred around 80 million years ago. This year Tim, Renee, Ed, Wendy and I were looking for  evidence of ancient faulting and earthquakes in the area.
The Kaibab Uplift extends from northern Arizona into southern Utah.
Tim standing by an exposure of a fault in Cretaceous sedimentary strata.  Fault movement is responsible for most earthquakes.
We observed many fascinating features in the Cretaceous sedimentary rocks, and we all learned a great deal from Ed.  The strata in our field area contain abundant features that could be attributed to earthquake shaking at the time the rocks were forming.
Soft sediment deformation. These folds formed while the sediments were still soft, like the sand on a beach or a desert dune.  Some sort of disturbance, like a big storm or an earthquake, could have caused this. This pattern of concentric rings (look closely...they're there) we think represents the cut-off top view of a fluidization pipe (like when water and sand bubble out of the ground during an earthquake).

Top right: Tim and Renee swimming at Upper Calf Creek Falls.

Bottom left: Mountain lion tracks.  We saw tracks several times during our field work.

Bottom right: Tim and Renee hiking on a day off.
 

 

During the 2004-2005 school year the field team analyzed our data and presented our research at a Geological Society of America meeting in Grand Junction, Colorado in the spring:

*Jenesky, Timothy A., Tindall, Sarah E., *Scalise, Renee L., Simpson, Edward L., and Simpson, Wendy S., 2005, Seismogenic normal faulting during deposition of the Late Cretaceous Wahweap Formation, Kaiparowits Basin, Utah: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 37, No. 6, p. 10.