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The Spectacular Geology of Iron County and the Northern Highlands
July 20 @ 9:00 am - 2:00 pm
$40.00
Join us for a FREE presentation open to the public on Friday, July 19, followed by a field trip on July 20. (Registration is required for the field trip ONLY.)
We live and spend our vacations on an ancient subcontinent. It has been the subject of violent geological forces for billions of years. Significantly, the record of those events is right there to see on our exposed earth surface and in the records of those who mined the resulting metallic formations.
Friday, July 19, 2:00-3:00 p.m.: FREE, one-hour presentation at the Mercer Community Center, open to the public, sponsored by the Mercer Public Library. We will journey through 4.5 billion years of our history with emphasis on the unlikely chain of events of the last 1.9 billion years which created vast mineral wealth and shaped our county and the whole subcontinent. In the lecture we will look at rock samples which show evidence of the beginnings of multicellular life 1.9 billion years ago, the tremendous and violent volcanic activity which created precious metal deposits in our neighborhoods, and the repeated transitions from ocean to soaring mountain ranges.
We will discuss millions of years of “rock cycles” which are still occurring here. We pose the question, “If there were great mountain ranges here, where did they go?” (The answer is VERY surprising.). Registration is NOT required.
Saturday, July 20, 9:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m.: In this field trip led by Richard Thiede and famed geologist Tom Fitz, we will tour the “in situ” rock evidence. We will observe vast lava flows, 3-billion-year-old rock outcrops, a continuous rock exposure which shows evidence of the beginnings of life, the geological wonders of Copper Falls State Park. At Mellen, Wis., we will study the results of an incredible tectonic explosion. The tour ends with an in-depth discussion of iron mining, past and future, at the newly restored Plumer Mine site near Pence, Wis.
The field trip is sponsored by Fe University. It includes a box lunch, bus transportation, and will last about 5
hours. The tour fee is $40 per person. It leaves at 9 a.m. from the Mercer Public Library.
The field trip is limited to 10 students. Scholarships are available.
Please register by July 15 to receive lunch. Lunch will not be included with registrations after July 15.
Please register for the field trip below. Friday’s free presentation is recommended for field trip participants. (You do not need to register for Friday’s presentation, only for Saturday’s field trip.)
Instructors: Richard Thiede and Tom Fitz
Offline Registration: Download PDF Registration Form, complete and mail in with payment.
Registration Questions? Contact us or call (715) 862-2032 or (715) 476-2881.