PEDD 9643 - Geology of the Owens River Valley

Course Description

We will car caravan the length of Owens Valley from Fossil Falls in the south to the Bishop area in the north. The geologic history of the Owens Valley will be discussed while viewing rocks as young as 10,000 years and as old as 500 million years. On Day 1 we will visit Fossil Falls and see sculpted basalt worn smooth by glacial melt water during the Pleistocene Epoch. We will stop at Owens Lake and discuss its natural and man-made history. We?ll visit the scarp of the 1872 Lone Pine earthquake, an estimated 8 magnitude, one of the largest in California recorded history. Our last stop on Day 1 will be the basalt flows of the Big Pine Volcanic Field, just south of Big Pine. Day 2 will include a look at some 500-million-year-old rocks ? the Poleta Folds and 5,000-year-old trees ? the Bristlecone Pines of the White Mountains. Our last stops will be in Round Valley, just west of Bishop. We will visit the Buttermilk Boulders and the Pine Creek moraine.

The 3 Professional Development Unit option is section 008 ($300).

The Non-credit section option is 007 ($50).