Tearing down GlobeVille

       Globeville Landing park is up on a hill and slopes down into the South Platte River. The River comes from the west and flows north east at the GlobeVille Park. As you can see from the picture below, there are buildings on either side of the river and it is rather low compared to the rest of the land. This is evidence of a low water table that is fed from the river. The buildings are build on relatively safe land when it comes to soil.

Above: View of the Platte River from downstream at the city of Denver. GlobeVille is a very industrial neighborhood. Those buildings are steel warehouses, with oil, steel, and dogfood nearby.  You can also see in this picture the way that the river has shaped the land over years and depending on its fullness the landscape looks different.

       To the west are The Rocky Mountains. On my drive snowboarding last week I noticed lots of evidence for mass wasting and weathering. From connecting fallen rocks to their source, to streams, to avalanches, it was an interesting drive.

Above: A very small avalanche slide on I-70. This steep grade caused by the cutting of the road made an un stable slope
for the snow to sit on and one day it slid out. Gravity can cause events like this, mudslides, rockfalls, and floods. 

        Globeville has a dry climate but with the river next door there is evidence on the sidewalk of salt weathering where it has changed colors. Oxidization on the bridges shows itself in rust and some of the round rocks near buy have a hard weather rind. 

Above: Rocks like this can be found near GlobeVille Landing Park. Notice the small holes  on the rock caused by salt weathering. Also the discoloration is evidence of the rock's weather rind also known as the weather ring. 

Forming the land of Globeville's close by neighbors.

       Globeville itself isn't a very interesting zone when it comes to plates and volcanos, but not too far way we can see evidence of action.

To the northwest of Globeville, a short ten hour drive according to google maps, is the Yellowstone national Park. Click on THIS LINK to see an outline of the sunk in ground caused by an ancient super volcano. When it erupted hundreds of thousands of years ago the ground underneath was weakened by lava chambers and molten rock. The top of the volcano collapsed on itself creating a gigantic Caldera, a dip in the ground sometimes confused for a crater. Craters are cause by the explosion of a volcano, not collapse. In the Caldera there are basalt rhyolite deposits at the surface. We call these deposits Plutons. Exposed by erosion, we can now see these former chambers of molten rock. One might also find a Rhyolite dome in the Yellowstone Caldera where viscous magma is again building up inside.

Above: The rim of the Yellowstone Caldera. Rocky mountains in the background.

      To the direct west of Globeville are the Rocky Mountains. Near them are some beautiful normal faults. We can see triangular facets where the earth "snapped" and rose up creating fault scarps.

Above: Triangular Facets near Highway 8 in Nevada.

Photo references:
Triangular Facets Pic.
Caldera Rim Pic
Caldera Map

Introduction

      My name is Alex Anderson and I chose to center my geography blog around the GlobeVille landing park in north Denver, Co. The park is set on a hill which slopes down to the south platte river. The rolling hills in the park make it a great place for disc golf. The river has many sandbars with debris that has built up over time. I Chose this park because I ride my bike through it each day on my way to school and work via the Platte River Trail. I am excited to learn why the park is shaped the way it is and to be able to explain to people why the river looks so barren in this segment. GlobeVille is a very industrial neighborhood and I find this park interesting as it is a little out of place.