Hartwick college

Big Bend National Park

The complex desert ecology and well-exposed bedrock formations provide the focus of study in Big Bend National Park. Field mapping of volcanic formations and igneous intrusions.like the laccolith exposed in the Grapevine Hills (below) provide a challenge in this starkly beautiful terrain. Surge deposits and lahars are testament to a dynamic and violent history of the region.

The erosive power of water is demonstrated in the Pour-Off, a canyon and spillway carved by an intermittent river in Big Bend. Students climb over pyroclastic volcanics studded with large grey volcanic bombs.

At Ernst Tinaja, the students examine Cretaceous limestones deformed by Laramide mountain building. Its clear that Big Bend is an excellent place to learn structural geology firsthand.