GC2BN03 Dinosaur Ridge - Ripple Marks
Type: Earth | Size: Other | Difficulty: | Terrain:
By: k-lord @ | Hide Date: 07/12/2010 | Status: Available
Country: United States | State: Colorado
Coordinates: N39° 40.699 W105° 11.520 | Last updated: 08/30/2019 | Fav points: 0
       

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Since July 7th 2014 I am changing rules for sending answers to me. Since now, you will have to send answers within 24 hours after you logged found it. Also each cacher will have to send answers only for him/herself (one nick = one email with answers), sending answers for group of cachers will be ignored and answers will be accepted only for sender. If answers are nor received within 24 hours, your log will be deleted without warning (warning is here in cache description). Thanks for understanding.

RIPPLE MARKS are sedimentary structures (i.e. bedforms of the lower flow regime, mostly in sandy bottoms) and indicate agitation by water (currents or waves) or wind.

Ripple marks formed by water consists of two basic types - SYMMETRICAL and ASYMMETRICAL

1) Symmetrical ripple marks (also called wave-formed or bidirectional) are produced by waves or oscillating water. They have almost sinusoidal profile. These ripple marks indicate an environment with weak currents where water motion is dominated by wave oscillations (sand grains are moving in both directions, forward and backward).

2) Asymmetrical ripple marks (also called current or unidirectional) are asymmetrical in profile, with a gentle up-current slope and a steeper down-current slope. Because of this unique geometry, asymmetrical ripples in the rock record may be used to determine ancient current directions or paleocurrent directions. These ripple marks are formed in fluvial and aeolian depositional environments (sand grains are moving only in one direction).

In most present-day streams, ripples will not form in sediment larger than coarse sand. Therefore, the stream beds of sand-bed streams are dominated by current ripples, while gravel-bed streams do not contain bedforms. The internal structure of ripples is a base of fine sand with coarse grains deposited on top since the size distribution of sand grains correlates to the size of the ripples. This occurs because the fine grains continue to move while the coarse grains accumulate and provide a protective barrier.

Examples of ripple marks:
Ripple marks, you can see at this location, were formed in intertidal zone along Western Interior Seaway during Late Cretaceous - Cenomanian (93–100 millions years ago)

Questions to answer (email me your answers, do NOT post them in your log):

             1. What type of ripple marks can you see on Dinosaur Ridge at this location?
             2. Estimate the distance between the crests of these ripple marks
                 FROM THE ROAD WITHOUT APPROACHING the actual marks!!!! (Precise accuracy is not required)
             3. By what organism may the ripple marks have been preserved?
             4. In what type of sandstone you can find the ripple marks here?

And please post a picture from earthcache location. (DO NOT INCLUDE THE SIGN IN YOU PICTURE).
PREVIOUS VISIT DOES NOT COUNT!!

"FOUND IT" logs will be DELETED WITHOUT FURTHER NOTICE if the answers are not received and the picture is not uploaded within seven days of the post date.

sources: Harold L. Levin, The Earth Through Time, 7th ed., Willey Interscience, 2003.
             http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Current_ripples

Additional Waypoints

PA2BN03 - Visitor center parking area
N 39° 41.315 W 105° 11.430
You will have to park here and hike to the cache location or use shuttle bus from visitor center.

06/25/2019 By The Speis
Spending the day in Denver waiting for our flight home. Been here before but didn't get these Earthcaches at the time. Would love to know what other cool stuff is hiding in these rocks. TFTC

06/14/2019 By SpanDino
0520p , fs 3.0 ; it is amazing how horizontal rocks can be tilted to vertical.

05/25/2019 By Kerewin0430
Finally got out to explore Dinosaur Ridge today! What a gorgeous day, too! Thanks for placing this cache! Fascinating!

04/04/2019 By Kilauea-Hualalai
After the long trip to Mingo GC30 yesterday, we drove just a few miles less today. Two points of interest we wanted to see. First Dinosaur Ridge and later Pikes Peak. The weather was wonderful and so we had a great day. Amazing view over 14000 feet. Our body felt the high. Footsteps and Bones of the old time were very cool. On our visits we search and found some caches. On our way back to the hotel we stop for a Challange cache and now we have a 5 / 5 Found in Colorado.
Of course thanks to all the owners of the caches for the caches and the work behind. And sorry that we have not the time for individual logs.
Greetings from Duesseldorf – Gerresheim / Germany

01/18/2019 By akerdoc
While visiting from Alaska, we took the bus tour to see Dinosaur Ridge. This was an really fun trip, and the bus tour was great. Thanks for the Earth Cache. This was very interesting.

09/13/2018 By Trea
These ripples are very distinctive. I am enjoying my dino walk, especially since I am going downhill. This Dinosaur Ridge is really cool.

09/10/2018 By LostinDenver
This was a fun, not too complicated or difficult Earthcache. I forgot to take the selfie until my day was over, which was well after dusk. Horrid flash picture attached to answers.

08/08/2018 By henne165
Out to grab some ECs today and this looked like a good place to go to accomplish that goal as there are several to choose from in a close proximity! This was my first stop but my last to log as I needed to do some additional research in order to have some confidence in my answers. Either way, they are sent and I feel like I have definitely learned some things. Very cool! Photo attached as well. TFTC!!

08/04/2018 By amandagregs

07/29/2018 By jcsayshi
Out for a hike on a beautiful day. Learned lots. answers sent to CO. TFTC

07/29/2018 By Hanovich Family
Found it..answers submitted.

07/08/2018 By shell1fish
After several days in downtown Denver, mdawaffe and I had rented a car to expand our reach for the second half of a trip to Colorado for a wedding. I was more excited about the evidence of dinosaurs than the evidence of waves, but it was almost hard to believe that the ripples were hardened rock since they were so perfectly preserved. Our emails have been sent, and thanks for highlighting this interesting window into the past.

09/09/2017 By dustyriver
(Answers sent) - Spent a good day teaching new cachers about the hobby with BriGuy at Dinosaur Ridge in Morrison Colorado. - Great day of caching, great day of introducing the public to geocaching. Best Wishes, DustyRiver