Geo 365: May 9, Day 129: May 8 Teasers

...and my 5th blogoversary (as of May 8th, when I'm writing this). We had hoped to get to Brookings or Crescent City last night, but we got to the Gold Beach area and were just wiped out. We found a really nice and inexpensive hotel there, lopping 35 miles and a large number of stops off of our day. We covered that ground this morning. We had planned to spend some time in the redwoods, then the rest of the day on the Josephine Ophiolite. Since we started off behind, we decided to drop the Redwoods (though we saw plenty in drive-by), and head straight up the Smith River. We ended up coming into Grants Pass when we realized it's half the distance to Cave Junction, which we'll hit up tomorrow, that Crescent city is.

Yesterday, the coast was relentlessly cold, windy, misty and cloudy. Today it was warmer, and nearly still. The clouds were thinning outside of Brookings, showing blue patches in N. CA, then gave way to full sun at Hiouchi on Rte. 199. After that it was glorious.

Folded, faulted sediments in the south cove of Arch Rock (Samual Boardman State Park)

More arches at Natural Bridges Cove (SBSP)

Rainbow Rock, deformed bedded chert, just north of Brookings, OR, at the southern end of SBSP.

Sheeted dike in the Josephine Ophiolite, along Route 199 and the Smith River in northern California. This spot is near the waterline, and is frequently scoured during floods, so the textural features are unweathered, pretty well polished, and easy to see. Note chilled margins- one near the hammer's head, the other near the end of the handle. These indicate that the single dike under the hammer is younger than the material on either side of it. Thought problem: What would it indicate if the chilled margin near the handle was *not* in this dike, but in the neighboring material? (And that is a very real possibility in other cases)

And a bonus teaser,  for the blogoversary. Serpentine glistens in the sun, along Patrick Creek, in the Josephine Ophiolite.

Photos 1-3 run through auto levels routine; photos 2 & 3 have had blue channel reduced. May 8, 2013. Locations will be specified when I post on these spots in more detail.