Characteristics of Dinosaur Ridge - Essay Example

On 20th September 2014, there was a trip to Dinosaur Ridge in Denver, which was mainly for hands-on activities that included fossil sifting, gold panning, metal detecting, and dinosaur track painting. At the site, there were visitor experts and FODR geologists who took their time in explaining faulting, volcanic eruptions, volcanic ash, and earthquakes. There were also a lot of other participants like the Denver Firefighters Museum and West Metro who came to explain all about this geological phenomenon.

As it was explained, every geohazard is different from each other and the difference is based on several factors such as the geological composition of the land where it happened. The geological composition may vary in terms of the types of rocks found there or the tectonic activity. For instance, a big earthquake on a barren land would be less problematic than a small earthquake in the middle of a city. Such a small earthquake will cause damage to structures while the one in the desert will hardly cause any damage.

Some of the results of geohazard activities at the site were the volcanic ash bends. Such bends were deposited during a volcanic eruption that happened in present-day Colorado. To determine the occurrence, crystals of mineral zircon found in the volcanic ash were used to date the rocks. The results showed that the ash was 105.6 million years old, revealing that it must have happened a long time ago. Scientists use radiometric and other dating techniques to measure the age of these geohazards. Therefore, using different rocks obtained from different sites of geohazard locations, scientists can date the time that these hazards took place.

Other types of geohazards that have been recorded in history include Karst Hazards. These include the different types of sinkholes that occur on the earth’s surface. The sinkholes are of various sizes and depths. They cause direct risks to infrastructure like buildings if they happen in urban areas and roads. The cause of these sinkholes is the dissolution of the underlying limestone. There are also earth fissures that occur as a result of geodynamic processes such as earthquakes. Similarly, they can happen as a result of the excessive withdrawal of groundwater and result in large cracks on the ground’s surface (SGS).

While the results of these geohazards are sometimes dangerous to human life and the lives of other living organisms, they have resulted in great phenomena of natural features such as volcanic mountains. When scientists explore these geohazards, they come up with other discoveries like living creatures such as dinosaurs. Using dating techniques they can estimate the time when they were in existence. Other techniques used to explore the earth are seismology and scientists have been able to come up with many other discoveries that explain some of the natural phenomena in the world today.