Rock On, Mother Earth!

Ep. 4- Petrified Forest, Pt. 2: Imagine A Former World

To experience the “forest” of Arizona’s Petrified Forest National Park, visitors must imagine a lush tropical former world from more than 200 million years ago. In the second of two episodes, we meet the forest’s creatures through the Rainbow Forest Museum’s exhibits and staff (Jessica Barnett and Garrett Stone). Ranger Barnett guides us to the park’s most famous log and its panoramic view. Then Professor Andrew Heckert charts the rise and fall of the park’s fauna over the course of the Triassic Period, which set the stage for the long reign of the dinosaurs.

Read the rest of this entry »

Ep. 3- Petrified Forest, Pt. 1: Imagine Former Worlds

To experience the “forest” of Arizona’s Petrified Forest National Park, visitors must imagine a lush tropical former world from more than 200 million years ago. In this first of two episodes, paleontologist Andrew Heckert prepares us, revealing four former worlds along the route to the park from Gallup, New Mexico. Ranger Hallie Larsen welcomes us at the park visitor center by explaining how logs turned to stone. Professor Heckert then guides us through hoodoos and badlands along the park’s Blue Mesa Loop trail.

Read the rest of this entry »

Ep. 1- Capulin Volcano: How Tall Is Your Imagination?

New Mexico’s Capulin Volcano National Monument features a drive-up vista into four states across a volcanic landscape, as well as trail access to the crater and lava flows.  Its landscape and rocks tell a story of the power of Earth forces that expands the imagination. Meet interpretative ranger Geoff Goins and volcanologist Matt Zimmerer, to learn how less than a decade of eruptions may have built a mountain, and where New Mexico’s next eruption might take place.

Read the rest of this entry »

Ep. 2- Wild Rivers: the Power of Water

Rio Grande del Norte National Monument features the deepest canyon in New Mexico at its Wild Rivers Recreation Area. The Rio Grande River is continuously carving this gorge into the Taos Plateau, a dry plain dotted with extinct volcanoes. The cutting of the canyon began when a vast Ice Age lake in Colorado spilled over about 440,000 years ago.

The Taos Plateau itself forms the floor of the Rio Grande rift valley, flanked by mountain ranges both east and west. Like the East African rift valley, famous as the home of early humans, the rift is a place where the Earth's crust is pulling apart.

Join Rock on Mother Earth for a hike into the gorge with two rangers, and an interview with the lead author of a recent study of its geology.

Read the rest of this entry »