FTS visits ancient lava flows

This fall, Prof. Jim Welsh and his FTS: Hawaii class visited Interstate State Park along the St. Croix River, Minnesota, to see rocks virtually identical to those being created on Hawaii today.  The basalt lava flows in Minnesota occurred 1.1 billion years ago when this continent temporarily began to split apart and lava surged up into the rift.  In this photo, the class is at Curtain Falls looking at an outcrop of Franconia sandstone.