This summer, Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument welcomes four summer interns–two paleontology and two interpretive–as well as new and returning seasonal staff members and volunteers. Seasonal training finished this week just in time for summer visitation.
On Wednesday, training included a tour outside the park, beginning with a visit to overlook the Thirtynine Mile volcanic field, which includes the Guffey volcanic center, now deeply eroded. Guffey may have produced the lahars (volcanic mud and debris flows) that dammed ancient Lake Florissant.
The next stop was a roadcut near Evergreen Station, which passes through one of the lahar deposits. Here you can see chunks of Cripple Creek Granite and other rocks carried along by the lahar.
The Barksdale Picnic Area, located in the park off Lower Twin Rock Road, is one of the most accessible places to see the Wall Mountain Tuff, a volcanic rock which underlies the Florissant Formation.
The day finished with a trip to the privately owned Florissant Fossil Quarry, so seasonals could split some shale for themelves. They found some small plant fossils, including redwood needles and Fagopsis leaves.
You can take the driving tour yourself by following the directions in A Roadside Guide to the Volcanic Beginnings of Ancient Lake Florissant or “Field guide to the paleontology and volcanic setting of the Florissant fossil beds, Colorado,” by Herbert W. Meyer, Steven W. Veatch, and Amanda Cook (available at the park’s visitor center for $3.00), which includes stops within the park as well. The Barksdale Picnic Area (Stop 2), Evergreen Station (Stop 3), and the Thirtynine Mile Volcanic-Field Overlook (Stop 5) are all stops on the Gold Belt Byway Tour as well, described in Geologic Guidebook to the Gold Belt Byway, Colorado, by Thomas W. Henry, Emmett Evanoff, Danial A. Grenard, Herbert W. Meter, and David M. Vardiman (2004), available for $19.95 at the visitor center.
-Melissa Barton
Photo Credits: Melissa Barton
More Gold Belt Byway Posts:
- Stops 4, 17, 18: Dome Rock and the Shelf Road
- Stops 12, 14, 15, 16: Garden Park and Skyline Drive Fossil Sites
- Stops 19, 20, 21: Indian Springs Trace Fossil Site and Phantom Canyon
The Friends of the Florissant Fossil Beds, Inc. is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) Friends of the Park group supporting
[...] this summer during seasonal training, we visited several of the stops in the Florissant area (Stops 2, 3, 5; the park’s visitor center and petrified forest are Stop 1). If you want to [...]
Pingback by The Friends of the Florissant Fossil Beds, Inc. » Blog Archive » Driving the Gold Belt Byway: Dome Rock and the Shelf Road (Stops 4, 17-18) — August 27, 2007 @ 12:47 pm
[...] Stops 1, 2, 3, 5: Seasonal Training Field Trip (Florissant Area) [...]
Pingback by The Friends of the Florissant Fossil Beds, Inc. » Blog Archive » Driving the Gold Belt Byway: Garden Park and Skyline Drive Fossil Sites (Stops 12, 14-16) — August 29, 2007 @ 12:03 pm
[...] Stops 1, 2, 3, 5: Seasonal Training Field Trip (Florissant Area) [...]
Pingback by The Friends of the Florissant Fossil Beds, Inc. » Blog Archive » Driving the Gold Belt Byway: Indian Springs Trace Fossil Site and Phantom Canyon (Stops 19-21) — August 31, 2007 @ 12:32 pm