One-day field trip Saturday, April 10, 2010, 9am-6pm. (Rain date is Sunday, April 11, 2010.) This field trip will examine the geology of Maryland's Bear Island, considering the metamorphic and igneous rocks exposed by the river, sedimentary deposits, and the cutting of Mather Gorge and Great Falls by the Potomac River. Note: This trip involves strenuous hiking over very rough terrain. For further information call (703) 323-3276, or email:

ABOUT THE BILLY GOAT TRAIL
PRE-TRIP READING
LOGISTICS
ASSIGNMENT
PROPER FORMATTING

Here is a link to the current draft of the course handout (PDF; subject to change).

[LEFT] A coarse-grained, light-colored dike of granite cuts across darker-colored, finer-grained metagreywacke. The Billy Goat Trail is amazing for many reasons, but one of the most interesting to geologists is the partial melting of older rocks (amphibolite and metagreywacke), yielding granitic magma. That magma then migrated away from it's "birthplace," and eventually lodged in a fracture, then cooled and solidified into granite. Penny for scale.
To learn more about the rocks along the Billy Goat Trail, see the pre-trip reading.