Green River Formation From The Air

If any geologists out there have thousands upon thousands of dollars, lots of free time, and a daring streak, I think I have a hobby suggestion for you: build and fly your own airplane.

While out in the wilds of Wyoming, I had the opportunity to go up in a homemade RV-8 airplane (crafted and piloted by my advisor) and see my field area from above. From a purely geological viewpoint, it was actually an amazing chance to view some mega-scale architecture in real time. It really gives you a chance to see the basin at a scale that you rarely get, including the opportunity to actually see lateral changes across miles and miles of outcrop.

Of course, from a purely "havin-fun" viewpoint, I can only say HOLY CATS IT IS AWESOME I GOT TO FLY THE PLANE AND THEN WE PULLED 2-G'S WHEN WE DID A 60 DEGREE BANK AND YOU COULD SEE SO FAR AND I GOT TO WEAR A HEADSET AND IT WAS SO COOL CAN I GO AGAIN MOM PLEASE!?! So there's that, too.

Anyway, I brought up one of them there digital cameras along, so I though I might share some pictures with you guys.

The picture below is of the bustling burg of Rock Springs, going about it's pathetic, earthbound existence, while I soar, godlike, above the peons who call it home. In the background, you can see White Mountain, with the Wilkins Peak Member of the Green River Fm making up the white band. Nifty!


This next picture, below, shows pretty much all of the Green River Fm exposed down in this part of the Greater Green River Basin. The tan-yellowish stuff that caps these ridges is the Sand Butte Member of the Green River Fm, and represents the infilling of Eocene Lake Gosiute with volcaniclastic detritus sourced from up North somewheres (Absaroka or Challice Volcanics). The white band is more of the Wilkins Peak, and the very lowermost stuff is the Tipton Member.


This next picture shows more of the same, but from a steeper angle.


The picture below shows one of these enormous channelforms that I am particularly interested in, lemme-tell you. Its a pretty big body, too, on the ground; a good couple of km, easy.


I was camping a little off-picture in this area. It is quite pretty from the ground, too.


I think I'm at the limit of my google-mandated picture postin, so mayhaps I'll put some more up later!