By Howard M. Wedgle
I attended a lecture from Ron Blakey, professor emeritus at Northern Arizona University. He is one of the world’s foremost authorities on the geologic history of the Colorado Plateau. He retired in 2007. For more than fifteen years, he has meticulously created maps that show how numerous past landscapes gave rise to the region’s stunning geologic formations.
The lecture was in the Ricketson Auditorium within the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. The focus of the lecture was the evolution of Colorado and the western region of the U.S. from the Jurassic to the Cretaceous periods.
Imagine seeing the varied landscapes of the earth as they used to look throughout hundreds of millions of years of earth history. Tropical seas lap on the shores of an Arizona beach. Immense sand dunes shift and swirl in Sahara-like deserts in Utah and New Mexico. Ancient rivers spill from a mountain range in Colorado that was a precursor to the modern Rockies.
What was Colorado like 315 million years ago? From his self-taught use of PhotoShop, Mr. Blakey displays how dynamic Earth was and how it progresses through time, with both scientific accuracy and striking images. From the slides he showed to this audience of more than 100 people, one can view the time sequence of gradual geologic changes. In an almost surreal way, you can view how sea channels rose and fell and approximately when the Rocky Mountains started to form.
His paleogeographic maps have multiple uses. They portray immense amounts of data in a single view. They show trends and patterns through geologic time.
The lecture was very educational. The Museum of Nature & Science provides these kinds of lectures periodically. Check ColoradoGrandparent.com’s calendar of events for event dates and topics.
More info about Ron Blakey: www.deeptimemaps.com