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Roxborough Tilted Strata: Geophotography Field Trip

Two years ago now (in the fall of 2013), I had the privilege of attending a workshop in Geophotography at the Geological Society of America meeting. This workshop was very influential on my development with geophotography. I learned a great deal from our trip leaders, who are leaders in the field of geophotography: Ellen Bishop, Marli Miller, and Stephen Weaver. Being in the field with other geologist-photographers was a great experience.

We visited Roxborough State Park, a short drive south of Denver, CO. This is a wonderful park along the Front Range where the red sandstones of the Pennsylvanian Fountain Formation are tilted upward due to the uplift of the Rocky Mountains to the west. The colors in the sky, the rocks, and the vegetation were fantastic. The images that I took on that trip now serve as the backgrounds of the pages on this website, and I used this one as the template for my watermark.

Tilted strata of the Fountain Formation at Roxbourough State Park, CO

This image is my favorite of the trip. This layer of rocks, tilted upward and now dipping steeply to the east, is the Pennsylvanian Fountain Formation. The Fountain Fm. was uplifted by the rising Rocky Mountains, about ~40 Ma.

The Fountain Formation is tilted in this manner all along the Colorado Front Range. These rocks can be seen to the south at Garden of the Gods near Colorado Springs, and to the north at the famous Red Rocks park near Denver.

The Fountain Formation itself was laid down much earlier, around 300 Ma in the late Paleozoic. The Fountain Formation is a coarse-grained, immature sandstone, which was derived by the erosion of the Precambrian rocks. These Precambrian rocks had been uplifted at that time, forming what are called the Ancestral Rocky Mountains.

More images in this set can be found on my portfolio page.

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