Alex Steele - Week 6 - Mt. San Gorgonio

This week I visited Mt. San Gorgonio. It’s the highest peak 

in Southern California, so hopefully it can tell us a lot about 

the history of the area. The three things I would want to 

further request are: Are there any unconformities? 

Are there any fossils? Then lastly what minerals are 

present in what layers.

            Unconformities would indicate how much the mountain 

            can tell me about the area. Unconformities are a lapse in 

sediment deposition over some period of time. While there could 

be a multitude of causes, the most important thing to me is to 

know the limitations of the information at hand.

I would want to know what fossils were found in the area. 

If there are fish present, it may indicate the area was 

below sea level. If there’s limestone it may indicate a 

shallower body of water. Or if there’s dinosaur fossils it 

may even indicate there was no water during the period in 

which the rock formed.

            Then finally, knowing the minerals at a given layer can 

help me further characterize the events that most likely transpired 

at each layer. As stated above, the presence of limestone or clay 

would lend credit to the assertion of water being present at some 

given time.