Field Note: You notice concentric fractures in the granite dome — classic onion-skin weathering from thermal expansion...
Field Geology
What process breaks granite into sandy grus soil?
Sierra Nevada Field Season
8 sequoia groves · Real geology · No download
Actual gameplay · Runs in your browser · No download needed
Sierra Nevada Field Season
🪨An interactive geology education game set in the ancient sequoia groves of California's Sierra Nevada. Explore 8 real field sites, collect specimens, solve geological mysteries, and discover how water, rock, and life interact in the critical zone.
A field season in four steps
Step 1
Customise your field researcher avatar with skin tone, outfit, hair style and colour.
Step 2
Pick from 8 real Sierra Nevada sequoia grove field sites, each with unique geology.
Step 3
Walk the grove, tap rocks, soils, and streams, and collect geological specimens.
Step 4
Answer 10 field quiz questions per grove to earn points and climb the rank ladder.
Eight real sequoia grove field sites across California
Yosemite National Park
Granite domes & biological weathering
Home to the ancient Grizzly Giant, Mariposa Grove sits atop Sierra Nevada granite. Here, tree roots pry open rock joints and lichens slowly dissolve minerals — the first step of the critical zone cycle.
Sequoia National Park
Sierra batholith & weathering cascade
The General Sherman Tree — the largest living thing on Earth by volume — grows from decomposed granite. Explore how the Sierra Nevada batholith breaks down into the sandy grus soils that feed these giants.
Kings Canyon National Park
Glacial polish, erratics & moraines
Smooth, glassy rock surfaces here were polished by glaciers that retreated 15,000 years ago. Erratic boulders and moraines record the last ice age in stunning detail.
Kings Canyon National Park
Deep weathering & saprolite
Beneath your feet lies 30 metres of crumbled granite called saprolite. The sequoias tap this ancient weathered sponge for water and nutrients — a living example of the critical zone at work.
Real science behind the game
The critical zone is the thin layer of Earth from the treetops to the bottom of groundwater. It is where rock weathers into soil, where water is filtered, and where nearly all terrestrial life finds its nutrients.
Water is the engine of weathering. As rainwater seeps through soil and fractured rock, it dissolves minerals like feldspar and mica, releasing calcium, potassium, and silica that plants need to grow.
It takes roughly 500 years to form just one inch of topsoil. In the Sierra Nevada, sequoia groves sit on soils that began forming when glaciers retreated after the last ice age.
The Sierra Nevada is one enormous block of granite — the Sierra Nevada Batholith — formed when magma cooled underground 80–100 million years ago and was later uplifted and exposed by erosion.
Granite weathers through physical and chemical processes. Frost wedging, tree root pressure, and acid from decomposing organic matter all break solid rock into smaller fragments over thousands of years.
Giant sequoias can live over 3,000 years and grow up to 85 metres tall. Their thick bark protects them from fire, and their shallow but wide root systems spread up to 60 metres from the trunk.
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