McKittrick Canyon and Carlsbad Caverns
May 9, 2005
The first stop on the trip was at McKittrick Canyon National Park. The trail that we hiked is in the Guadalupe Mountains. The trail name is the Permian Reef Geology trail and it starts out at an elevation of 5,013 ft. The thing that I found most interesting during the hike was in between trail markers 15 and 16. While walking up to marker 16 I found a fossil of an ancient sea creature called a Nautoloid. The best way to describe a Nautoloid is to call it an ancient squid with a shell. This particular Nautoloid was found in rocks dating back to . The Nautoloid was living in ocean waters around this time and when it died the creature’s hard shell preserved, and can now be found imbedded inside a rock along the trail. If anyone has, questions about Nautoloids ask and I will try to answer them.
May 10, 2005
Our next stop was at Carlsbad Caverns National Park. During the hike, we saw many different cave features. We saw a large number of stalagmites and stalactites during our cave hike. The cavern hike was exciting because many of the structures in Carlsbad Caverns are “dead” structures, or a structure that is no longer transporting water. The majority of the structures in Carlsbad are in fact dead structures. There are so many dead structures in Carlsbad because New Mexico is a dry area and the lack of water causes the structures in the cave to die. If you would like more information about the structures in the cave, post questions and I will try to answer them.
The first stop on the trip was at McKittrick Canyon National Park. The trail that we hiked is in the Guadalupe Mountains. The trail name is the Permian Reef Geology trail and it starts out at an elevation of 5,013 ft. The thing that I found most interesting during the hike was in between trail markers 15 and 16. While walking up to marker 16 I found a fossil of an ancient sea creature called a Nautoloid. The best way to describe a Nautoloid is to call it an ancient squid with a shell. This particular Nautoloid was found in rocks dating back to . The Nautoloid was living in ocean waters around this time and when it died the creature’s hard shell preserved, and can now be found imbedded inside a rock along the trail. If anyone has, questions about Nautoloids ask and I will try to answer them.
May 10, 2005
Our next stop was at Carlsbad Caverns National Park. During the hike, we saw many different cave features. We saw a large number of stalagmites and stalactites during our cave hike. The cavern hike was exciting because many of the structures in Carlsbad Caverns are “dead” structures, or a structure that is no longer transporting water. The majority of the structures in Carlsbad are in fact dead structures. There are so many dead structures in Carlsbad because New Mexico is a dry area and the lack of water causes the structures in the cave to die. If you would like more information about the structures in the cave, post questions and I will try to answer them.