The Old Trails Museum will continue its History Highlight series when geologist Wayne Ranney presents Ancient Landscapes of the American Southwest at 2 p.m. on Sunday, April 19, at La Posada Hotel, 303 E. Second St. in downtown Winslow. Ranney will use photographs, illustrations, and paleogeographic maps to take attendees on a fascinating tour through time of the Colorado Plateau. There is no admission charge.
Ranney will explore the incredible story of the Colorado Plateau, which is world renowned for spectacular landscapes such as the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest. But how did these landscapes come to exist, and what can the stratified rocks tell us about that evolution? Surprisingly, our region was once the site of warm tropical beaches, shifting dunes in Sahara-like deserts, coastlines stalked by large dinosaurs and rivers that once flowed toward the present day Rocky Mountains.
Ranney has a Master’s of Geology from Northern Arizona University, and is the co-author of Ancient Landscapes of the Colorado Plateau, author of Carving Grand Canyon and a contributing writer to Sedona Magazine. He works as a geology interpreter and trail guide for the Smithsonian, Grand Canyon Field Institute and the Museum of Northern Arizona. He sometimes works as a shipboard geology interpreter for groups visiting the Arctic, the Amazon, Africa and Antarctica.
The 2015 Spring History Highlight, a partnership program between the Old Trails Museum and the Winslow Arts Trust, was made possible in part by Arizona Humanities. For information on all of the Old Trails Museum’s exhibits and programs, go online to www.oldtrailsmuseum.org or “Like” the museum on Facebook.
The Painted Desert’s Blue Mesa in Petrified Forest National Park
