Room+10B

Nolan And Chads Journal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The first thing I said when I saw the canyon was “whoa!” Despite living in Arizona my whole life, I had never seen the Grand Canyon. It was immense; it was like it covered more space than your eyes could see. It looked like it extended on forever. The canyon was about 17 million years old, and the oldest rocks were actually at the bottom, not the top, because younger layers get deposited on top of the last. There were rock formations, called temples, which were so large that man decided it was to great to be named after something like an important president, so they named it after gods. On the hike down inside that canyon, we found an outline of a seashell on a rock. This was because of convergent plate boundaries, the seashell was pushed up from sea level by converging tectonic plates. It was tiring, but the hike was a lot of fun. = Journal #2: River Trip on Colorado River = On the second day of the trip we rode a raft down the Colorado River. We started at a dam, and would finish at the geologic end of the Grand Canyon. The dam stopped floods on the river, which actually put some species in danger that adapted to floods to work with their lifestyle. So, they make their own floods to keep the species in check. Sometime the floods could get really big, reaching high above our heads as we rafted. The Colorado River helped the Grand Canyon. As we neared the end of the ride, we saw remains of Lee’s Ferry, which was a person who lived on the river side and made money running a ferry because that was the only way you could cross the river. The ride was cold but it was very interesting. = Journal #3: Wutpaki National Monument = The second stop on the second day of the trip was the Wutpaki national monument, where we went inside some ruins. The ruins were a house that belonged to an Anasaze tribe, but the new term for Anasaze is Hotsosonin, because Anasaze means “ancient enemy,” so the tribe themselves probably didn’t call themselves Anasaze. The ruins were perched on top of sandstone, and there were some pottery remains. The house is called a “pueblo.” The doors were small, so you had to duck to go inside another room. If a family member were to die, they would bury their corpse inside their living quarters and wall of the room so the spirit could rest in peace. The ruins were on top of the Colorado Plateau. It was interesting seeing all of the ruins. = Journal #4: Hike on Sunset Crater = On the last stop of the trip, we hiked the Cinder Cone volcano Sunset Crater. The volcano really shouldn’t be called that because it is not a crater. The last time it erupted was in 1064 A.D., but that date could change over time. It is considered dormant. There was some limestone on volcanic rock, which is strange that it was there because limestone is only from the ocean, which was nowhere near Sunset Crater. This is called a xenolith, which essentially means alien rock. There’s something called lichin on the basalt rocks that absorbs water and expels acid, which helps the basalt live. Just stepping on the lichin can kill it. The hike was interesting and informative.
 * [[image:052.JPG width="328" height="249" align="left"]]Journal #1: Hike on South Kaibab Trail **