Ophiolite outing

San Francisco Bay Area, California

"An ophiolite is an assemblage of oceanic crust that has pushed its way onto or into a
continent. John McPhee, in his awesome geology text 'Assembling California,' discusses the
ophiolites of the American Pacific coast.

"One day, David and Bradburn became aware (from textual clues, in a topic on the Well in
which participants suggest taglines to SF Chronicle columnist Jon Carroll) that they were
both reading "Assembling California." They decided they'd like to see what ophiolites
looked like, so they asked their friend Andrew if he knew where they could find some.
Andrew said he knew a lot of places, so they all planned a trip to ophiolite sites around
the Bay Area, and they invited their friend Jef to come along.

"Andrew is near a bunch of gabbro at California State University of the East Bay. David is
near some greenstone on Ring Mountain in Marin County and near some amphibolite in another
shot. Bradburn is near some serpentinite at Crystal Springs. Jef is near some greenstone
on Ring Mountain, some amphibolite at California State University of the East Bay, and
some basalt pillows (a magnificent phenomenon) on the Marin headlands. Jef, Andrew and
David are at Ring Mountain in Marin County." --Bradburn

Thanks to David, Andrew, Bradburn and Jef for phooning. Photo idea: mine.


Apr 28, 2010

This picture is in these categories:
California    Rocky Terrain
Phoons Main Page