I haz been to the black hills (warning: image heavy)

[Ibrahim]

as the title suggests, I went to the Black Hills over the weekend, as part of my GEOL 401 class (in fact, the field trip is the class). the trip was hosted by Dr. John "Riddler" Ridley, and my sedimentology professor, Dr. Sven Egenhoff (ignore the first name-he's German).

naturally, not wanting to miss the scenery, I took my camera with me. I'm a photography noob btw, so forgive me if the pictures suck

now for the pictures. I hope you fellows like them:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

This particular feature is in Wyoming IIRC, on the way to the black hills. One of the few interesting sites on the way, as much of the distance is flatish plains

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

this IIRC is on the edge of the Black Hills, as we stopped to deliver the first round of presentations (I presented a lecture on the Black Hills and Religion). the Black Hills (from Lakota "Paha Sapa", with the same meaning), is named for its dark color when viewed from a distance. the color is from the trees. bear in mind the Human eye is not very sensitive to green, especially over large distances.

The Black Hills has been inhabited by the Native Americans for ~13,000 years, and naturally several legends and myths arose to explain this lush, high feature in the middle of the plains. Harney's Peak was believed by the Oglala to be the center of the Universe, while devil's tower was apparently believed to have been involved in the creation of the Pleiades. Oddly, the Lakota (Oglala included) are relatively recent arrivals, only being in the area for ~250 years, having originally lives in what is now Minnesota or Wisconsin

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Mammoth death trap in the Hills. this area was once a sinkhole, some 26,000 years ago. this sinhole was filled with warm water, which kept grass green year round in the area. Noob Bull Elepahants (and desperate idiots, like the fellow above), would be lured to this area by the grass (they grazed, unlike Loxodonta and Elephas), fall in, and be unable to get out, due to the steep sides of the hole. I leave the rest to your imagination.

this idiot up there is IIRC nicknamed Napoleon Bonaparte. he was ~47 years old Colombian Mammoth, so he's old for the Elephants in this pit (who are mostly teens and young adults-and always male). there are two species of Mammoth here: Colombian, and Woolly. the two are distinguished by the shape of their teeth, and partly by size (the former is bigger). other species, ranging from Short face bears to rats, were also found. the rock is yellow due to Limonite, an Iron Oxide IIRC, created in part by the interaction of the hematite(?) with the decay by-products of the Elephants' corpses.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I'm not sure about this, but myself and my friends suspect this Rock is somehow related to National Treasure 2. the silhouette to the left is the Driver, a guy name Max. He's also a local of the area, and a grad student at CSU. He's from (get this), Custer, South Dakota. but he oddly enough thinks-rightly-that Custer was a Jerk.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

some scenery, I believe it is not far from Custer or Lead (pronounced "leed" btw)

I was not able to photograph Harney peak, since I forgot the camera on the 2nd day , and Mt.Rushmore was not on the itinerary.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

a Beautiful waterfall, towards the are of Lead. the area is geologically tied to the Williston basin, north of the Black Hills. it is one of many areas where I lost my dignity, by asking a single question: "are there any fossils found here?"

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

on the third day, we went to the Badlands (not part of the Hills). I almost ***** my pants when I got there:

this particular badlands photo was taken in Badlands national park. it is mostly Eocene and Oligocene deposits. unless you have a permit, don't dig here plz. that's 25 years in Jail if you do. (Sven told me, but I already knew. Nate Murphy's story is still fresh in my mind).

Sven (the fellow in the red shirt), standing near an exposed section of the Badlands. well, to be Honest, he is almost entirely red . he's apparently also shocked (in fact, the whole party was), that I was doing very well in the heat, even though I have fair skin, and was wearing full, woolen clothes, and was fasting the whole time

I kinda looked like this in fact, only my tunic was Black (faded from a blue-black), and I had sky blue jeans instead of woolen jeans.

same age as the previous photo, same depositional environment, but 10-20 miles away. Back in the day, this was a plain, which witnessed massive and regular volcanic activity, burying the poor saps in Ash, where they are excavated). the Eruption, Felsic in nature, were part of the Laramid Orogeny, which helped create the Rockies. We contributed to the beauty of the area, by increasing the erosion that creating the scenery in the first place-mostly by kicking at, and running over, the surface

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

some more outcrops from the area, this time showing Paleosol (fossilized soil). this area is ~ 60 MA old, or around/slightly before the badlands above. this paleosol was created by one of the earliest rain-forests (which didn't exist prior to 65.5 MYA-so I was told).

those are some pictures. I won't upload all of them, since some are just embarrassing to my subjects (I'm not in any of my photos BTW), or I value them too much.