| Field Trip Description: This field trip will examine the Trinity and Colorado River systems of the Texas Coastal Plains, and their responses to climate and sea-level change over the last 2 glacial-interglacial cycles (last 200,000 yrs). The overall field trip goals are to illustrate typical fluvial responses to climate and sea-level change for a passive margin setting, the complexity of resultant alluvial architecture, and key stratigraphic features, including paleosols. All 3 days will feature boat trips on the rivers to examine exposures along cut banks, and/or collect and examine vibracores. Days 1 and 2 will focus on the Trinity incised valley system, a classic wave-dominated estuarine depositional system with a deeply incised alluvial valley, a bayhead delta, a large central basin estuary, and a barrier island complex that separates the estuary from the Gulf of Mexico. Day 1 will examine modern depositional environments and late Pleistocene to Holocene deposits of the lower Trinity River, including fluvial deposits from the last glacial period falling stage, as well as deposits from the Holocene period of transgression and highstand. Day 2 will travel by boat to the Trinity bayhead delta, then by land to the Bolivar-Galveston barrier system. Day 3 will focus on the lower Colorado River, where we will focus the architecture of incised valley fills of the previous late Pleistocene glacial-interglacial cycle (isotope stages 6 and 5).The trip will begin and end at the Convention Center in Houston, and will include 2 nights lodging in hotels enroute. |