Stephen Samuelson Week 5

The location I decided to visit this week was the convergent plate margin in India. This location is especially interesting because it is both a continental and an oceanic plate margin. This margin formed after the oceanic plate, carrying the continental plate we know as India, slammed into the eurasian plate. This resulted in the extreme mountain ranges we see today in the Himalayan Mountains. These were formed with strong compressive forces and formed very distinct antclines and synclines.

Some of the oldest rocks found in this region consist of gneisses and schist and you can really see the abundance of these materials in the mountain ranges of northern India. These mountain ranges were formed via very intense folding and faults in the region are reverse. The mountains in this plate margin are very intense, much more intense than other parts of the world. Mountains are giant and tightly packed together and really shows just how much pressure was involved when India slammed into the eurasian plate.

Concept of Geologic Time

I visited the mid-eastern area of California, where there was a lot of complex, red and orange geologic markers according to the map.

If I were allowed 3 pieces of information or resources to best aid my understanding of the geology, I would request:
1. The history of volcanic activity, because the rocks there are volcanic rocks, meaning there must have been an active volcano there at some point, possibly even still today. This volcanic activity would change the entire make up of the rocks, vegetation, even landscape of the area.
2. The nearby fault lines, because this would determine the likelihood of an earthquake or other disaster in that area. I know that it is fairly common for earthquakes to occur in California. These natural events also alter the landscape to an extreme extent, as an earthquake is literally two plates scraping each other.
3. Lastly, I would request the rock make-up of the area. Is it primarily sedimentary, volcanic, or igneous? How old are the rocks and where did the rock originate? These questions help to build a better understanding of the geologic area and it's history.