South California-Nevada field trip

My post-doc advisor, Cin-Ty Lee, took me on a field trip that was originally designed for the undergrads to give me more experiences in the field. This four-day field trip started from San Diego and finished in Las Vegas, and covered from forearc sedimentary sequence to backarc rifting settings.

Lunch at a camping site.

Student taking notes for the class project.

Discussion by an obsidian outcrop.

Waiting.

Lavas from mud volcanos.

Cin-Ty and Raj.

Salt? Snow? In the southern California desert, salts from weathered moutain rocks accumulate in dried lakes and rivers.

Raj looking at a piece of salt.

Cin-Ty joked about taking a piece of desert salt back to Houston for cooking…

Granite climbing.

Class on a cliff.

A tortoise in the Joshua Tree National Park.

James on a basaltic lava outcrop.

A light beam in a lava tube.

Red Canyon National Recreation Area in Las Vegas.