Geology 2300: Basic Mineralogy and Petrology
Spring 2006

Syllabus

Photo of rosette of gypsum Photo of agate stromatolite
Lectures
Labs
Grading
Exams
Minerals
Notes
Field Trip
Physical Properties
Other Power Points
Other Mineralogy Courses
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Field Trip, Sunday April 23, 2006

Stop 1. Thomson Dam. Rocks exposed at Thomson Dam include slates and greywacke of the Thomson Formation (Animike Group) which is about 1.9 billion years old. You will also see cross-cutting dikes of Keeweenawan age (1.1 billion years old). Sedimentary structures that we may see include concretions, soft-sediment deformation, graded beds, and cross-beds. Igneous structures include dikes which show columnar joints and chilled margins. Other structures we will see are anticlines, foliations, lineations and pseudo ripple marks.

Stop 2. Mission Creek. Here we see rocks of the Fond du Lac Formation. They are red shales and sandstones that are about 800 million years old. They are a result of sediments filling in the Mid-continent rift area after volcanism ceased. Here we will see cross-beds, ripples, shales and sandstone.

Stop 3. Grandview Site. Nopeming. Here we see the very earliest of the NSVG in the Duluth area. It is the contact between the basalts and the Nopeming Sandstone.

Stop 4. Bardon Peak. Rocks of the Duluth Complex are exposed at Bardon Peak. They consist of ophitic gabbro and layered troctolite with cross-cutting pyroxenite. The contact with the North Shore Volcanic Group is exposed at the far west side of the stop.

 

Stop 5. Anorthositic Series of the Duluth Complex: 57th Avenue East.

Stop 6. Lief Erickson Park, Duluth. Basalts, dikes, and interflow sedimentary rocks of the North Shore Volcanic Group. Basalts vary from porphyritic to massive, non-porphyritic.Tops of flows are recognized by sheeting joints, amygdules (with epidote and calcite), and rubbly weathering. Flow bottoms are massive and may contain pipe vesicles. In several places flows are separated by interflow sedimentary sandstone which varies from less than two inches thick to one unit that is 116 feet thick. This latter sedimentary rock displays trough cross-bedding. Dikes tend to be massive and very fine-grained and weather out in positive relief.

Stop 7 . 75th Avenue East, Lakewood Township Stop. A series of lava flows showing the contact between a vesicular rholite and a basalt. Structures seen include: vesicle cylinders, polygonal joints, vesicles, pipe vesicles, ropy lava and a small interflow sedimentary rock.

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Last updated January 15, 2006