Description
Field trip no. 24 from “Geologic Excursions to the Rocky Mountains and Beyond,” field trip guidebook of the 1996 Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of America. This two-day field trip begins at the community of Divide and terminates in the vicinity of Cañon City, with a suggested overnight in the Cripple Creek area. (SP-44 has the complete set.) 48 pages. Digital PDF download. OF-96-04-24D
From the Introduction:
Traversing major portions of one of Colorado’s most geologically interesting and scenic routes, this two-day field trip (suggested duration) begins at the community of Divide and terminates in the vicinity of Cañon City, with an overnight in the Cripple Creek area. The field trip route is in south-central Colorado and extends along the western portion of the Gold Belt Tour Scenic Byway, managed through a cooperative effort between the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the National Park Service (NPS), Teller and Fremont Counties, many of the communities in the area, and the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT). Rocks traversed extend in age from the Early Proterozoic (Precambrian) through the Late Proterozoic, into the Paleozoic, through parts of the Mesozoic, and into the Eocene, Oligocene, and Quaternary. The field trip route and stops were selected to demonstrate, in the limited time available, important aspects of the geologic history of the area, including features associated with the Ancestral Rockies, the Laramide Orogeny, and the subsequent Cenozoic history of the Southern Rocky Mountains, including significant volcanic features and mineralization. Where possible and appropriate, human history and cultural aspects of the area are included.
