Conglomerate in the Mojave Desert. Here the cobbles and pebbles are mostly volcanic rocks and lie in a matrix of volcanically derived sand.
Spectacular breccia in Mosaic Canyon, Death Valley National Park.
Cross-bedding in the Coconino sandstone, along the Kaibab Trail in the Grand Canyon.
Cross-bedded sandstone (fossilized sand dunes) near Kanab, Utah.
Evaporites in the process of formation, Devil's Golf Course, Death Valley. Brines evaporate to a variety of different salts.
A view across the Devil's Golf Course. Pretty rough going.
Tilted shales and sandstones in Rainbow Basin, near Barstow, California. White layers are thin tuffs. These strata are about 15 million years old and contain a rich variety of mammalian fossils of "Barstovian" age. Barstow is in the middle of the Mojave Desert and is the western terminus of Interstate 40, a mere 2500 miles down the road from Chapel Hill.
Angular unconformity along the Kaibab Trail, Grand Canyon. Note mules for scale along the right side of the trail. Tilted red strata below the unconformity are overlain by the flat Tapeats sandstone, which is also seen in the distance lying upon granites and metamorphic rocks of the Inner Gorge.
