GMS Field Trip February 2024

GMS Field Trip
Geology Hike in Georgia
Saturday, February 3, 2024

The trip began at 10am on a cool, sunny Saturday morning at the Davidson-Arabia Mountain Ranger station with over twenty GMS members and their families gathering to hear about the park geology and the trip route before starting out on a nearby dirt trail to the first quarry outcrop of bare rock and catchpools of rainwater and the thin gravel that supports plant and animal life on the mountain. We looked at quarrying methods of breaking out huge blocks of stone with drills and hand tools. As we progressed southwards to other open stone areas we saw more of the petrographic features of the migmatite [rock composed of two intermingled but distinguishable rocks -- webmaster] that defined the park and bands of garnet and tourmaline in dikes and pegmatites. Some of the shallow pools in the park were already springing to life, with the sound of peeper frogs in the background and tadpoles and algae clouds in the deeper pools. Borders of red Diamorpha [an endangered plant that occurs mostly in Georgia and is found in seasonal, shallow basins and rocky outcrops -- webmaster] and green quillwort and pool sprite were coming out, precursors of the carpets of color in later spring.

We hiked nearly down to the old quarry office and turned towards Arabia Lake, where more minerals and some large scale spalling features cracked and raised the slabs of rock like playing cards about to be shuffled. One area had several fresh surfaces of the migmatite exposed by spalling and were marked for study by university researchers. While resting by the lake, several large tourmaline crystals were found, and the ranger pointed out sparkleberry bushes with edible, mildly sweet berries. The return to the ranger station was through the woods on a gently rising trail. Back at the ranger station, several small garden ponds had clusters of large frog eggs in several masses. Ending the walk in early afternoon, it was warm enough for some families to enjoy picnics on the tables adjacent to the ranger station.

Tom Faller, Trip Lead
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NOTE: Many thanks to Tom Faller, Jason Leatherwood, and Aaron Leatherwood for putting together this trip, teaching us about the geology there, and for answering everyone's questions. Also, thank you to Rachael, the park ranger and naturalist who accompanied us on this trip and taught us about the native flora.