Sedimentary fill may include Quaternary alluvium, lavas, and ashes. Pluvial lake sediments often cap the alluvial fill, and have since eroded in places. We will make our most detailed electromagnetic and seismic surveys directly on faulted lacustrine sediments. The water table is often at the surface but may be below the bedrock interface near outcrops. The terrain is flat to gently sloping, occasionally incised by 10 m deep gullies.
Vegetation is low, and sparse to nonexistent.
Dirt tracks criss-cross the area. All three valleys are almost entirely public land, with few restrictions. Geologic and topographic maps, and some previous publications, are available to the class. Our task is to profile the structure of lake sediments and the bedrock topography using a variety of geophysical methods. We can use source and receiver grid spacings between 1 and 5 meters.