This beautiful meadow is high in the mountains, just outside of Los Alamos, NM. It is a very special place. Why?


Many of the bluffs here have layers of sandstone that tilt up and down at different angles. What caused that?


The stone marked by the arrow looked very green when I found it, although it was really grey. Why does the color look different?


Nancy and I found these geologic wonders in a dry stream on our way to Bryce Canyon. What are they?


One of the beautiful parts of the landscape in Utah and Arizona is the way erosion shapes the land. Looking at the buttes and mesas, we can see that the entire area was once covered with quite a bit of rock. Most of it has eroded away, leaving the eroding buttes and mesas to tell the story. Is this a butte or a mesa?


I took this photo during a visit to Bryce Canyon National Park. What special erosional conditions formed these amazing rock structures?


Just looking at this boulder-strewn landscape can tell a geologist what kind of rock the boulders are made of, and how they got there. Can you tell the same thing?

Homemade Fossil Dig

Fossils are what lead me into my science career, and I still enjoy finding them. If you live near a place where you can dig for real fossils, you should definitely give it a try. If you do not have a fossil site nearby, you can simulate the experience with this simple activity.