Week 7 - Death Valley

This week my wife and I ventured to Death Valley. The location is immediately a dessert and no vegetation can be seen. We decided to venture out to the Butte Valley Formation, specifically Striped Butte. The formation has clear examples of horizontality and has layers and layers of sediment. The layers mainly consist of limestone and dolomite. By studying the rocks more we are able to see they are carbon-rich, meaning there could have been life here, most likely an ocean. This would have been formed during the Paleozoic era and into the early Mesozoic era. Normal faulting has caused the strata to become displaced. It would be beneficial to learn more about the body of water that would have been near to help geomap the location. Looking further into the rich soil not far from Butte Valley would be helpful also to learn about what shifted. It would also be useful to take rocks back for more mineral composition to see what is rich in them. Knowing this area is carbon-rich can help us jump to some sound conclusions though.

Original Photo
This photo show's Striped Butte and the clear stacked sediments. It has been shifter vertically by faulting.