RMFMS: A GEOLOGICAL MENAGERIE

The Rocky Mountain Federation of Mineralogical Societies (RMFMS) is perhaps the largest, in terms of land area, of any American Federation regional organization.  Member clubs are located in Arizona (16), Arkansas (1), Colorado (17), Kansas (6), Nebraska (1), New Mexico (8), North Dakota (2), Oklahoma (10), South Dakota (2), Texas (1), Utah (10), and Wyoming (4) and these states have a combined area of ~1.85 million sq. miles, about one-half of the total area of the lower 48 states.  


I have always been interested in the diverse geology and physiography displayed in RMFMS states.  There are folded and thrust faulted Ouachita Mountains in the east (Arkansas) that are related to continental plate collision (Africa and North America), a large piece of non-mountainous terrain that was once covered by Pleistocene glaciers (Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota), and large basement-cored mountains in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona.  Each state has unique geological features and each offers a plethora of collecting localities.  

To read more about the physiography and geology of RMFMF states check out the November newsletter at:  www.rmfms.org 


mike

Google Earth© image of eastern Oklahoma and western Arkansas.  The east-west trending Ouachita fold and thrust belt is clearly visible with the overlap of the sediments of the Gulf Coastal Plain at the bottom (south) of the image.  The Ozark Plateau is north of the Arkansas River Valley while the Osage Plains (Tulsa) are to the west.