Rock Focus

This outcrop is located north of Trinidad on County Rd 40.2, a few miles west of the site of the Ludlow Massacre. This coal slag most likely dates back to the early 1900s.

We are at the Eastern edge of the Raton Basin. The top of the slag points toward the lowermost coal in the Vermejo Formation, situated close to the top of the Trinidad Sandstone. The Trinidad Sandstone is prominent just to the left/west of the slag. The bright red surface on the coal slag is the result of in-situ burning of the impurities associated with the coal.

This nodule is located near Trinidad, Colorado. The nodule formed around the root ball of a Cretaceous palm tree.  Two feet above the root ball, the tree trunk was truncated by the erosive forces of the newly formed fluvial channel.

The top of the nodule and surrounding the tree trunk is a thin layer of black carbonaceous material.

Huw Williams from across the pond describes it best: Looks like shallow lake shale/paleosols with composite crevasse splay events coming in.

The ultimate nodule!