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LAWRENCE -- Rocks and fossils of northwestern Kansas will be the focus of a nontechnical field trip sponsored by the Kansas Geological Survey, based at the University of Kansas. The field trip, scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 12, is open to the public and is part of national Earth Science Week activities (Oct. 13-19).
The trip also is sponsored by the Nature Conservancy, Kansas chapter, and includes a stop at the Smoky Valley Ranch Preserve, 16,800 acres of shortgrass prairie in Logan County that the group purchased in 1999.
The trip will provide an overview of the geology of the Smoky Hills and High Plains, including stops at Smoky Valley Ranch Preserve in Logan County, Monument Rocks and Lake Scott State Park. The first stop, at the preserve, will focus on the geology and history of the preserve.
At Monument Rocks, participants will learn about the inland seas that covered the region during the Cretaceous Period, roughly 80 million years ago, as they explore the chalk monoliths carved by wind and water.
The trip also will stop at Lake Scott State Park, where participants can visit El Quartelejo, site of the northernmost pueblo in the United States, learn about springs and get a look at outcrops of the Ogallala Formation, well known as an aquifer throughout the High Plains.
The last stop will allow participants to look for fossils in the region's Cretaceous chalk, which is famous for the large marine vertebrate fossils, including sharks, mosasaurs and giant fish.
The field trip will leave from Oakley at 8:30 a.m. Oct. 12 and return about 5:30 p.m. The trip is open to the public on a first-come, first-served basis. Space is limited. Registration costs $15 per person. Additional information about this and previous field trips is available on the GeoKansas Web site.
The Survey has conducted public field trips during Earth Science Week for the past three years. Earth Science Week was established in 1998 by the American Geological Institute, based in Alexandria, Va., to educate people about the earth and earth sciences. To find out more about Earth Science Week or to request an information kit, visit www.earthsciweek.org.
To register for the trip, contact Liz Brosius, (785) 864-2063 or lbrosius@kgs.ku.edu; Rex Buchanan, (785) 864-2106 or rex@kgs.ku.edu; or Bob Sawin, (785) 864-2099 or bsawin@kgs.ku.edu. Liz Brosius, Kansas Geological Survey, (785) 864-2063; Rex Buchanan, (785) 864-2106; or Bob Sawin, (785) 864-2099.
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