Sunday 4/12/15
Today we embarked on our week long geology field trip. We met up with Mark Johnson. He use to be a geology professor at Gustavus. Two decades ago he worked for a year in Sweden at the Mora Folk School and met a Swedish woman. Now he's lived and worked in Gothenburg for over fifteen years. He is an amazing professor and interesting person. I know the geology department at Gustavus misses him.
There are only two Geology majors on our trip so this course is a crash course on geology for those with little to no experience with rocks and minerals. Once upon time, 4.5 billion years ago, was the precambrian age. During that time in Sweden a gneiss (type of rock) peneplain (almost flat) landscape was formed. Over time different types of sediment built up including sandstone and granite. About 25,000 to 12,000 years ago there was the last ice age in Scandinavia where glaciers covered the land. As it slide over the land it created marks that can still be seen today. This will be explained more in the next post.
When the ice was here it retreated behind a mountain. On one side was the ocean at 125 meters. On the other side was the Baltic Ice Lake at 150 meters. The retreating glacier opened up a narrow straight between the mountain Billingen and the Baltic Ice Lake drained very rapidly (a matter of hours or days) into the sea. Today there is geologic evidence of this major event. Today all of Scandinavia is slowly rising because it was pressed down by the weight of the ice.
After several geology stops we boarded a ferry to the island Hållö (pronounced Hoelluh). The island has no sediment on it because it was scraped clean by the last glacier. The only buildings on the island are the hostel and a little cafe. We had to pack in all our groceries for the next three days. Although there are few people, there are several large rabbits! They must have come over on the frozen water at some point and now roam freely over the rocks eating the little shrubbery.
Today we embarked on our week long geology field trip. We met up with Mark Johnson. He use to be a geology professor at Gustavus. Two decades ago he worked for a year in Sweden at the Mora Folk School and met a Swedish woman. Now he's lived and worked in Gothenburg for over fifteen years. He is an amazing professor and interesting person. I know the geology department at Gustavus misses him.
There are only two Geology majors on our trip so this course is a crash course on geology for those with little to no experience with rocks and minerals. Once upon time, 4.5 billion years ago, was the precambrian age. During that time in Sweden a gneiss (type of rock) peneplain (almost flat) landscape was formed. Over time different types of sediment built up including sandstone and granite. About 25,000 to 12,000 years ago there was the last ice age in Scandinavia where glaciers covered the land. As it slide over the land it created marks that can still be seen today. This will be explained more in the next post.
When the ice was here it retreated behind a mountain. On one side was the ocean at 125 meters. On the other side was the Baltic Ice Lake at 150 meters. The retreating glacier opened up a narrow straight between the mountain Billingen and the Baltic Ice Lake drained very rapidly (a matter of hours or days) into the sea. Today there is geologic evidence of this major event. Today all of Scandinavia is slowly rising because it was pressed down by the weight of the ice.
After several geology stops we boarded a ferry to the island Hållö (pronounced Hoelluh). The island has no sediment on it because it was scraped clean by the last glacier. The only buildings on the island are the hostel and a little cafe. We had to pack in all our groceries for the next three days. Although there are few people, there are several large rabbits! They must have come over on the frozen water at some point and now roam freely over the rocks eating the little shrubbery.
This is a view from above of some erosion down to the precambrian peneplain
This is a drumlin, with exposed till. In english that means the glacier deposited a bunch of sand when it hit a rock. We can tell which way the glacier was going depending on where the sand was deposited.
Mark, the 'geologian', 'geologizing'
All of us preparing for our wet ferry ride to the island Hållö
On the island there are no prepared walkways. Here is picture of us trekking across one side to the other to our hostel.
Our hostel
Thumper in front of our hostel
Me!
Thumper and I exploring the island
Artsy photo from Amelia
Artsy photo from Amelia
Shell beach
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