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Faculty and Students on Field Trip to Allegheny Front

In early September, geology's Charlie Jones led a field trip to various sites around Altoona, with several dozen students and faculty in tow. The trip focused on a sequence of rocks that showed how eastern North America was affected when a chain of islands collided with it some 450 million years ago.

Before the collision, the entire eastern half of the continent saw the deposition of limestone and dolomite in vast, warm, shallow tropical seas. Rapid fluctuations in sea level are indicated by frequent alterations between strong current conditions and quiet, hypersaline conditions. When the island chain finally hit the east coast, it bowed the sea floor down and released a flood of muds and sands into our ancient seas, leaving shales and sandstones full of fossils.

The field trip ended at a small observatory on Laurel Ridge that is now owned by the University Honors College. After camping for the night, a small contingent checked out nearby sandstone cliffs and natural bogs.