Heading into some volcanic craters near Merriam Crater, source of the flow that made Grand Falls
Goopy lavas!
'Duff,' Jim (with hammer), and Eldar
Grand Falls - quite the dramatic basalt flow!
Rainbow in the falls
On our way down to the river
Ole headed down the slope
A pretty clear illustration that this basalt flow and Kaibab limestone have been weathering differently.
Eroded edge of the flow
Yeah, I *guess* that's columnar jointing...
The flow looms up
A cyclopean cave smiles at me.
Ryan and Briony inspect the lava
The Niagara of the Desert
Fallen block - erosion at work
I thought this was an interesting transition between textures in the lava flow
A little side waterfall, with Ole for scale.
Looking down the canyon: two very different types of rock on each side!
Fording the river
Zulu makes it across.
Arrival at the dune field
Trek to the dunes!
Windstreaks behind the scrub and ripples in the basalt sand.
Ripples ON the windstreaks.
Some ancient pottery we found!
Lots of streaks and ripples
Pretty desolate here, too
...and Shoshe found an arrowhead!
Cool rock I found
Ripples
More ripples
These looks like some mini-barchans
BABY CROSSBEDS!
Dan inspects the grains
I'm sure he'll be thrilled that I took this picture
Ann heads off into the dunes
Footprints
Some interesting color-sorting going on here (black = basalt sand, light = Kaibab and Moenkope sand)
Andrew and Eldar take a look at some more crossbedding
You can see nascent cressbeds from several wind directions here
Best crossbed picture ever.
Slipface of the dune
Playtime for geologists: Amanda and Kassie make their own little avalanches
Karrie on the brink
Taking field samples.
Digging down to the dune-field substrate
San Francisco Peaks.
Twister takes the river on the return trip
Here comes Zulu.
Dear Toyota Corporation, I will sell you these pictures for testimonial purposes.
Twister crosses
Check out those particulate flows!
Eldar, Dan, and Karrie genuflect to...er, try to undermine...Mel.
OH GOD YOU GUYS THE WATERFALL IS LIKE RIGHT OVER THERE
Concentric spatter-cone rings marking successive episodes of less- and less-energetic volcanism. Merriam Crater in the background.
Grand Falls overlook mosaic
Grand Falls mosaic - really showing off the flow into the old Little Colorado River Canyon
Waterfall mosaic. Of course, that limestone wall *should* look like a straight line...
PSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHH
Big ol' dune field mosaic
San Francisco Peaks, and ripples
