An Introduction to Us

This is a blog for people who love the Colorado outdoors and appreciate the spectacular glory of nature! We are four friends who happened to land in the same class and are really into living life to the fullest! This is a little bit about ourselves.

I am Melissa Peabody, a Business Marketing major born and raised In Littleton Colorado! I love to dance and  have for 9 years ! I'm currently in training  to become  a broncos cheerleader in fall 2014 (: I love to shop and spend time with my family and friends I have a very upbeat personality and love people!

I am Alex Tziolis, a freshman undergraduate Geography (Urban Studies) major at the University of Colorado at Denver. I was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1993, lived there for roughly seven years until 2000 where my family moved to Athens, Greece. After twelve years in Athens and finishing my high school studies in 2012, I decided to come to Denver for a year to pursue my interests in urban studies. Despite being an urban rat most of my life, I do enjoy viewing physical and natural geography as well.

I am Trevor Burkholder. I am a Business Marketing major, I come from the land of potatoes. I moved out here to enjoy the beautiful mountains of Colorado and go to the college of my dreams. I am an avid snowboarder and love the outdoors, if I'm not snowboarding then I am out biking or fishing. All around I am a pretty relaxed guy with an interest in the unknown. 

Hello, I am Corey Cooper Stevens and have lived in Colorado my entire life. The intriguing part about living in Colorado is the spectacular opportunity the region provides its inhabitants with a vast array of topography. I have spent my time in Colorado becoming an accomplished musician, student, fly fisherman, mountain biker, skier, hiker, water skier, and all around healthy human being. Attending CU Denver is the first part of a long list of educational goals that I would like to accomplish throughout my life with the dream of someday attending CU Boulder to study law. Creating this blog will help me to further explore the region that I call home and become more inspired to pursue a lifestyle rich with understanding and appreciation. 

Weather Patterns of the Climate of Denver

Cumulonimbus Clouds over The University of Colorado Denver Campus

Denver is a well known place for having bipolar weather at certain times of the year. It may come as a surprise to most people that March is actually the number one month in Colorado for snow followed by April as the number two month. The recent storms that have hit Denver this April are common for this area’s climate.This is due to two different bodies of air called air masses, which are filled with different pressures, temperatures and humidity; that collide over Colorado.  Continental and Maritime Tropical air masses travel northward up into the North American continent where the air meets cooler Polar Continental air masses that come from the North. When the two masses of warm and cool air meet over the Central American plains often extremes in weather can occur. The warmer more humid Maritime Tropical air that comes from the gulf meets with cooler less humid continental polar air forcing the tropical air  to ascend above the northern cooler air which forms large cumulonibus clouds that cause most thunderstorms over the Denver region. Cumulonimbus storm clouds can be massive and carry hundreds of millions of gallons of water, these cumulonimbus clouds are formed by the process of the ascent of the sub-tropic air currents rising above the moving in cold air mass. Vital to both Colorado’s arid climate and the drainage basin of the Colorado river. Categorized as a dry steppe climate, Colorado has semi-arid weather patterns that are often times unpredictable and bring the region in an out of times where water is plentiful for years, and other years where severe droughts occur. This specific climate is classified as BSk on the Koppen climate classification commonly referrerd to as the aforementioned dry steppe climate. The Koppen climate classification is one of the most used climate classifications in the world, it combines annual/monthly temperatures and precipitation.

Cumulus and Cirrus Clouds over The University of Colorado Denver Campus

Souces:

http://clasfaculty.ucdenver.edu/callen/1202/

http://www.wikepedia.com

The Geology of Table Mountain: Golden Colorado

The formation of Table Mountain and it's geologic history

Photo (c) 2007 Andrew Alden, licensed to About.com 

North and South Table Mountains are made up of igneous extrusive basaltic rock, basalt is a form of igneous rock, rocks that are formed by the process of the cooling of Earth’s magma or lava. Extrusive means that these rocks were formed on the surface as opposed to intrusive igneous rocks that are formed below the Earth’s crust. Flows of lava occurred throughout Colorado during the time of the Laramide Orogeny, a regional continental contraction of the North American Plate due  in part to the increase in elevation of the plate as a result of the  subduction of the Farallon plate under the region, this activity  can be dated back to the Tertiary period around 63 million years ago. A combination of weathering and erosion can be attributed to the process of forming the mountains, more robust basalt lava did not erode as quickly as surrounding areas,  therefore the elevation of the top of the rock now rises to more than 450 feet above the surrounding Golden Valley. Table Mountain was separated into North and South respectively by Clear Creek. The river eroded softer rock that is located beneath the harder igneous rock, causing the igneous rock to collapse, forming a small canyon between the mountains. The composition of the layers of rock (also called strata) that make up North and South Table Mountains varies depending on the geologic time frame around which that strata was formed. For example, the uppermost layer of North and South Table Mountains is comprised mostly of densely concentrated mineral crystalline structures that form an overlying layer of mafic basalt rock.  Uniquely, the North Table mountain contains an additional layer, that contains zeolites, which are made up of aluminum, silica and water, thus making it felsic, which represents the softer rock that is beneath the harder mafic rock that is more easily eroded by climatic processes.



Bibliography:

Alden, Andrew. "Geology of Golden, Colorado." About.com Geology. About Guides, 2013. Web.    
    
12 Mar. 2013. <http://geology.about.com/od/geology_co/ig/goldencologeo/>.

Allen, Dr. Casey D. "Volcanic Landforms." Lecture. Introduction to Physical Geography. Mar.
    
2013. Professor Allen's Geog 1202 Syllabus. Clasfaculty. Web. 12 Mar. 2013.
    
<http://clasfaculty.ucdenver.edu/callen/1202/Battle/Build/VolcanicEx/Extrusive.html>.

"Igneous Rock." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 28 Feb. 2013. Web. 12 Mar. 2013.
    
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igneous_rock>.