Vail Valley Events

Vail Symposium's Program - Colorado Mountain Glacial History Exploration

Colorado Mountain Glacial History Exploration | Dr. Vince Matthews | Geology Tour
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Departure from Vail Mountain School* | Vail

Time: 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Tickets: $60 | $55 VS Donors

Join Dr. Vince Matthews, State Geologist of Colorado, on a tour of our area’s beautiful glacial valleys. We will explore the Central Colorado Mountains, examining a variety of spectacular glacial features on a loop through Minturn, Leadville, Copper Mountain, and Frisco. This route provides views of glacial erosion and depositional features such as U-shaped valleys, lateral and terminal moraines, moraine-dammed lake beds, and a general distribution of the ancient glaciers. We will see periglacial examples of patterned ground, felsenmeer and sackungen. A half-mile walk up the Mosquito Pass Road will provide a view into a cirque containing an active rock glacier.

Vince Matthews was appointed State Geologist and Director of the Colorado Geological Survey (CGS) in March 2004. He previously held tenured positions at two universities and has taught geology at the University of California, University of Northern Colorado, Arizona State University, the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture, and the University of Texas of the Permian Basin. As an executive in the natural resources industry for Amoco, Lear, Union Pacific, and Penn Virginia, Matthews explored virtually every basin in the U.S., including Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico.

After spending twenty years in the natural resources industry, he returned to academia in 1997 and then joined CGS in 2000. He is the author of more than 50 technical articles and abstracts and was senior editor of the multiple award-winning publication, “Messages in Stone: Colorado’s Colorful Geology.” Vince is a native of Tennessee and received Bachelors and Masters degrees in Geology from the University of Georgia and a Ph. D. from the University of California, Santa Cruz. He also completed the Stanford Executive Program.

*Advance reservations required.

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