Join us on our other sites!
  • Outspire
  • Hiking
  • Snowshoeing
    • Snowshoe FAQS
  • Bandelier
  • Geology
  • About Us & Santa Fe
    • About Santa Fe
    • Santa Fe Links
    • Outspire Blog
  • Rates&Reservations
    • Reservation form
    • Gift Certificates
  • Contact Us

The Importance of the Rare Event

3/25/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
The Narrows of Frijoles Canyon
The heart of Bandelier National Monument is Frijoles Canyon. This is the place of towering cliffs of warm volcanic tuff, the intriguing cliff dwellings of the Ancestral Puebloans, perched for centuries like swallows’ nests among the rocks, and fragrant Ponderosa pines whispering above a thread of water winding down from the mountains. It is a peaceful place.

But there is sudden violence concealed among the rocks. I made a hike yesterday along the middle reaches of Frijoles Creek, down from Upper Crossing to Alcove House, through the spectacular Narrows, upstream from more visited sites. The hammer blows of Nature were evident everywhere.

Nearly every tree in the canyon at Upper Crossing, from stream side to canyon rim, is dead, scorched in the holocaust of the Las Conchas Fire. The canyon floor is choked with boulder bars and snags of broken trees, piled high by flash floods. You can see an example in the photograph above.

But look up higher – and deeper. You can see an ancient canyon floor, cut into the orange volcanic tuff, and filled with the bouldery debris that marked its last flash flood. Above this are landslide deposits – perhaps the slide that pushed the creek into its present position, where it has resumed its canyon cutting.
​
And the sculpted walls of the Narrows seem eternal, but they are not. Part of the canyon is blocked by what must be a very recent rockfall:
Picture
This probably came down in one chisel stroke.

The geologist Derek Ager would call these observations small examples of “The Importance of the Rare Event in Geological History”. And so they are. Of course Bandelier conceals, in full view, evidence of a catastrophic event so large that it built the entire plateau from which the canyon is carved in a matter of hours to days: the emplacement of the upper Bandelier Tuff.

But that is another story.
​
If you are so minded, you might enjoy “The New Catastrophism” by Derek Ager.
​
0 Comments
<<Previous

    Outspire Blog | Inspiration from the Outdoors

    What we've been seeing around Santa Fe and northern New Mexico on our hikes.

    Archives

    March 2021
    February 2021
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    September 2014
    July 2014
    May 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    September 2012
    April 2012
    January 2012
    September 2011
    August 2011
    May 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011

    Categories

    All
    Animals
    Birds
    Man & Nature
    New Mexico Geology
    News & Events
    Plants

    RSS Feed

    NetworkedBlogs
    Blog:
    Outspire Blog
    Topics:
    Nature, New Mexico Outdoors, Santa Fe Hiking
     
    Follow my blog
Outspire Hiking and Snowshoeing

Check our Facebook page to
see what's happening now!

Tours

Day Hikes
Special Tours
Snowshoeing

Santa Fe

About Santa Fe
Santa Fe Links

Outspire blog

Outspire

Contact Us
About Outspire
Rates & Reservations
Gift Certificates
  • TripAdvisor
#1  for Santa Fe Outdoor Activities
#1 for Santa Fe Tours
Guides are members of Santa Fe Professional Tour Guides LLC