GMS Field Trip June 2024

GMS Juniors Field Trip
Geology Hike
Sunday, June 23, 2024

On June 23, 2024, the Juniors met at Arabia Mountain for a hike led by Tom Faller. The group consisted of 11 Juniors and their parents—several of the families were new to GMS. We talked about the differences between Granite and Gneiss. We saw evidence of past quarry methods of driving wedges into the rock and forcing it apart, and a site where rocks from other quarries were brought to be sawed, because of this we saw several different rock types. We saw sheets of rock forming tent like structures and the Georgia Tech seismic equipment that is monitoring exfoliation of the outer layer of rock.

We discussed plants to watch for, like the Eastern Prickly-pear cactus (which caught a few people), the elf-orpine, which holds its seeds above the ground to keep them cooler, and the species of ground moss, Grimmia laevigata, which dehydrates completely, but started becoming green again as we poured water on it.

We hiked to a pond that still had water and life despite the heat, hiked down to the Arabia Lake, which had a small waterfall and fish in a stream and headed to the ranger station through the woods on the west side of the park.

Jessica Terrien Dunn and Tom Faller
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