NAVIGATION: BACK TO STOP 5


GPH 111 - Intro to Physical Geography
Exercise 14 - Tempe Butte

Tempe Butte Stop 5 - Tilt (far)


Tempe Butte Stop 5 - Tilt (far)

These two views are to help you visualize the tilted nature of the Tempe Beds and the andesite cap. In the top view, you are looking south.  In the bottom view, you are looking west.  The diagram below is meant to illustrate what a clean view of the second image above would like in an idealized form.  This might be a good time for you to sketch your profile of Tempe Butte. 

 

In both cases, the top of Tempe Butte is capped by andesite.  The tilted sedimentary rocks underneath the andesite are called the "Tempe Beds", and they consist of layers of sandstone and shale. 

In the top view,  do you see any "black" surfaces — rock faces that are darkened by the same sorts of rock varnish you see on bedrock on the south side of Tempe Butte?  It is okay if you are having trouble seeing rock varnish.  There is very little in the way of varnish on these north-side bedrock exposures.  Remember, it takes tens of thousands of years of stability of a rock face to form the black varnish and the calcrete. 

What might destabilize the north side of Tempe Butte?  What's the difference that would make surfaces so unstable as to not form calcrete or rock varnish?

NAVIGATION: BACK TO STOP 5