I went on a cool field trip this weekend. Saturday, we went up near Sunset crater and looked at lava flows. Specifically, we were looking for caliche development, and we found it on even the youngest (900 year old) lava flows. Our class is trying to figure out if caliche could possibly form on Mars. If it did, then we may be able to measure the carbon isotope fractionation in it. An abundance of light isotopes may imply the presence of life sometime in Martian history. Sunday, we went to the Grand Canyon to look at the spectacular geology and cherts, AKA the amber of the precambrian. I saw some things for the first time, and I learned some new things about the Grand Canyon. I was really excited when our prof pointed out the Unkar Delta, something I had written a paper about for another class. We didn't really talk about why chert was important for astrobiology, but all the stories about the Grand Canyon were very cool. Now I want to go hiking there. I want to go to Unkar Delta and Hance's asbestos mine (4'' long fibers!), but chances are both of those are off limits.