Earth Camp 2016 – Day 4 (Marquette, MI)

Today we moved on from the perfectly horizontal, sedimentary rock layers of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore to the crazy, amazing, rocks a bit west near Marquette.

We started at a road cut where Forrest showed us a dolomite and schist, separated by a fault. We also walked around this area and found stromatolite fossils – stromatolites are layered mounds, columns, and sheet-like sedimentary rocks. They were originally formed by the growth of layer upon layer of cyanobacteria, a single-celled photosynthesizing microbe.

Our next stop was the banded iron formation at Jasper Knob – the hands-down favorite rock of most instructors here. The students learned about the Great Oxidation Event responsible for forming these rocks approximately 2 billion years ago!

Next stop, Presque Isle Park in Marquette to view the Jacobsville Sandstone, the “Great” unconformity between the serpentinized peridotite and the Jacobsville Sandstone, as well as search for sulfide minerals at Black Rocks cliffs.

We ended the day with sunset rock-skipping on the beach, and dinner and cake celebrating Forrest’s birthday at his house nearby.

Off to Houghton, MI tomorrow to look for copper!