Monday Geology Picture: Helicopter for Scale Beside Painted Wall, Black Canyon, Colorado

A helicopter flying through the canyon... giving an awe-inspiring sense of scale! Picture courtesy of Ray Hall. — A helicopter flying through the canyon… giving an awe-inspiring sense of scale! Picture courtesy of Ray Hall.

In last week’s “Monday Geology Picture” post I featured the incredible Painted Wall of Black Canyon in Gunnison National Park in Colorado. Last week’s picture was taken by my friend Ray Hall. After my post, fellow geoblogger Ron Schott sent me a link to an impressive GigaPan that he took of Painted Wall. Well, last week I don’t think I quite appreciated the enormous scale of Painted Wall. I stated that the wall is over 2,000 feet tall, but I didn’t appreciate just how tall that really is.

Well, I think that this week’s picture helps to put the 2,000 foot wall into perspective. Ray sent me this follow-up shot that he took of a helicopter flying through Black Canyon near Painted Wall. Look how small the helicopter is compared with the wall! That’s one very tall cliff!

Geologists love putting things in pictures for scale. Normally, geologists use rock hammers or pencils or rulers or– at the largest– people for scale. It’s rare that they get to use a helicopter for scale, but a helicopter is a perfect scale marker for the impressively large Painted Wall.

Thanks again for sharing another picture of the canyon, Ray!

Monday Geology Picture: Painted Wall, Black Canyon, Gunnison National Park, Colorado

The stunning-- and very ancient-- rocks of Painted Wall in Black Canyon, Gunnison National Park, Colorado. — The stunning– and very ancient– rocks of Painted Wall in Black Canyon, Gunnison National Park, Colorado. Picture courtesy of Ray Hall.

This week’s Monday Geology Picture shows the absolutely amazing “Painted Wall” of Black Canyon, which is located in Gunnison National Park in Colorado. The picture is courtesy of my friend Ray Hall. I’ve never been to Gunnison National Park, but the park is now high on my list of places I want to visit! The impressive wall consists of very old Precambrian gneiss and schist rock that is cut by lighter colored pegmatite veins, which are also Precambrian in age. The wall is over 2,000 feet tall and is made of some very impressive, very old, and very beautiful rock.

Tuesday Geology Picture: A Gneiss Double Arch Bridge in Valle Verzasca

An old stone bridge spanning the Verzasca River, Lavertezzo, Italy, June 2010.

Since I’m too busy for regular blogging, this week is geology picture-a-day week here at Georneys. Several other geobloggers have also decided to join me in this blogging meme. Feel free to start today, even if you didn’t post a picture yesterday.

Today’s geology picture is of a beautiful, old double arch bridge spanning the Verzasca River at Ponte dei Salti in Lavertezzo, Switzerland. The middle part of the bridge rests on a small section of uplifted gneiss. The Verzasca is a fast-moving mountain stream that has carved a narrow, V-shaped valley in the crystalline bedrock, which is gneiss of both sedimentary and igneous origin. The river is renowned for its bright color (turquoise in places), beautiful rocks (the gneiss ranges from light brown to gray, with the colors intermingling), and deep pools. The pools are so deep that they are often frequented by divers.

I visited the Verzasca River back in 2010 as part of a class field trip for the Geodynamics Course at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.