Sample+Student+Page

Sample Student Page by Justin B., Taylor S. and Kenye W.

The Grand Mesa is just east of Grand Junction between the Colorado River and the Gunnison river. The Grand Mesa is huge; it stands 10,000 feet above sea level, and is 53 square miles. People that visit the Grand Mesa mostly come to ski, snowboard, and snowmobile in the winter. In the summer they fish, camp, and hike. The Grand Mesa has over 200 stream-fed lakes. The Ute Indians calls the Grand Mesa the Thigunawar.

The San Juan Mountains have been formed through many constructive forces. The main constructive force is volcanoes. Volcanoes are constructive because they erupt repeatedly. Lava hardens each time they erupt, making new rock and so the volcanoes get bigger each time. Over millions of years of volcano eruptions, fifteen calderas were formed. The San Juan has the three main types of rocks, igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rock. There is a lot of sedimentary rock there, many of these types of rock are compressed together to make sedimentary rock. A majority of the rock is volcanic rock.

Independence Monument is shaped and still being shaped in the Colorado National Monument. This land mark is being destroyed (weathered) by water, wind, and ice over millions of years. Rain and wind carves away the soft sandstone and in the winter, water freezes and expands in cracks in the rock, widening the cracks and eventually breaking off sections of the Monument. In about a couple million years the Monument will be just a small hill going from two hours of climbing to maybe one hour.