Field trips
Pre-meeting trips
Trip 1 - Igneous Stratigraphy of the Layered Series at Duluth - Type Intrusion of the Duluth Complex
Wednesday, May 18; Leader: Jim Miller (UMD/PRC).
This trip will profile the lithostratigraphy of the Layered Series at Duluth, highlighting its differentiated character, its various layering styles, and its enigmatic contact relationship with overlying anorthositic rocks.
(Transportation will be provided from AmericInn in Ashland for the field trip. Participants traveling from the west will be able to join the field trip in Duluth, leave their vehicles for the day, then drive their own vehicles to Ashland at the end of the day. Please notify Tom Fitz (tfitz@northland.edu) if this is your intention.)
Trip 2 - Midcontinent Microcosm *This trip is now full
Wednesday, May 18; Leaders: Marcia Bjornerud (Lawrence U.) and Bill Cannon (USGS)
This trip will examine rocks in the area around the falls of the Marengo River in southeastern Bayfield County, WI, which chronicle much of the history of the southern part of the Superior Craton, including: 1) formation and deformation of a Neoarchean granite-greenstone terrane; 2) Paleoproterozoic sedimentation and magmatism; 3) Penokean convergent tectonism; 4) Mesoproterozoic Midcontinent Rift volcanism; and 5) subsequent closure and inversion of the Rift. Outcrops to be visited include Neoarchean granitic gneiss; an enigmatic Paleoproterozoic igneous breccia; Penokean-age quartzite mylonite; amphibolite-facies stromatolitic dolostone; and cataclasite and pseudotachylyte along one of the primary faults that closed the Midcontinent Rift.
(Departs from and returns to the AmericInn in Ashland.)
Trip 3 - Geology of the Bayfield Peninsula: Keweenawan Bayfield Group and Pleistocene Deposits
Wednesday May 18; Leaders: Dick Ojakangas (UMD), Drew Cramer, Tom Fitz (Northland College).
This trip first examines the sandstones of the Bayfield Group, including where juxtaposed against basalt along the Douglas Fault, then visits Quaternary deposits and landscapes of the Bayfield Peninsula.
(Transportation will be provided from Ashland for the field trip. Participants traveling from the west will be able to join the field trip in Duluth and caravan in their own vehicles. Please notify Tom Fitz (tfitz@northland.edu) if this is your intention.)
Post-meeting trips
Trip 4 - Geology and remediation at the Ashland/Northern States Power Site
Friday, May 20; Leader: Jamie Dunn (WI DNR)
A tour of the Ashland Lakefront Manufactured Gas Plant site and discussion of the geology, the contaminants, remediation work to date, and plans for a major remediation in the near future.
(Departs from and returns to the AmericInn in Ashland.)
Trip 5 - Fish and sediment passage in the Bad River Watershed
Friday, May 20; Leader: Michele Wheeler (Bad River Watershed Association)
Fish passage and sedimentation problems at road stream crossings limit fisheries and degrade habitats. In response the Bad River Watershed Association, USFWS and many regional partners have inventoried sites to find priority problem crossings, restored many crossings, and monitored project affects to improve conservation delivery in an adaptive management context. Visit restoration sites in the watershed to learn more about program successes and challenges in this collaborative approach to local resource management.
(Departs from and returns to the AmericInn in Ashland.)
Trip 6 - Geology of Copper Falls State Park
Friday, May 20; Leaders: Allison Mills, Drew Cramer, and Tom Fitz (Northland College)
Hike approximately 2 miles through Copper Falls State Park to see Keweenawan volcanic and sedimentary rocks as well as the scenic Copper Falls gorge.
(Departs from and returns to the AmericInn in Ashland.)
Trip 7 - Geology of the Montreal River Monocline
Saturday, May 21; Leader: Bill Cannon (USGS)
This trip is a traverse through 25 km of crust, from the Mesoproterozoic Freda Sandstone to Archean metavolcanic rocks.
(Departs from and returns to the AmericInn in Ashland.)
Trip 8 - Rocks of Archean/Paleoproterozoic unconformity near Denham, Minnesota
Saturday, May 21; Leader: Terry Boerboom (Minnesota Geol. Survey)
This trip will examine evidence that deeply weathered Archean crust provided sediment to the base of the overlying Paleoproterozoic strata, which are mixed with carbonates and volcanic rocks in a marginal rift environment, and will also examine the Thomson Formation.
(This trip takes place entirely in Minnesota, but transportation will be provided round-trip from Ashland. Participants will also be able to drive their cars to the Thomson, Minnesota area, get on the field trip bus, then return to their cars at the end of the trip. Please notify Tom Fitz (tfitz@northland.edu) if this is your intention.)
Trip 9 - Granitic, gabbroic, and ultramafic rocks of the Keweenawan Mellen Intrusive Complex
Saturday, May 21; Leader: Tom Fitz (Northland College)
This trip will examine the major rock types and geologic relationships within the Keweenawan Mellen Complex.
(Departs from and returns to the AmericInn in Ashland.)