We offer the following field-based courses:
- GES 1103 - Environmental Change, Hazards, and Resources (aka "Iceland Trip"):
- GES 2857 - Paleontology Field and Museum Methods (aka "Triassic Trip")
- GES 3810 - The reef environment and geology of modern carbonate systems (aka "Bermuda Trip")
- GES 4835 - Summer Field Geology (aka "Field Camp")
GES 1103 - Environmental Change, Hazards, and Resources (aka "Iceland Trip"): The Department has an international, field-based version of the introductory course GES 1103 (Environmental Change, Hazards, and Resources) in Iceland each summer (GES 1103 - Land of Fire and Ice). Students earn credit for GES 1103 (in General Education or towards the GLY major or minor) with optional HPC-2545 credits (Effective Leadership and Group Development in International Expeditions). Advanced students can earn credit as GES 2500. Contact: Brian Zimmer
GES 2857 - Paleontology Field and Museum Methods (aka "Triassic Trip"): The "Triassic Trip" typically takes place in early summer. It combines paleontological field and museum work in the desert southwest region of the US. This class requires multiple nights in the field collecting geological and paleontological data followed by time at a natural history museum preparing fossils and archiving data. This class is physically demanding and may include exposure to extreme weather events. Contact: Andy Heckert
GES 3751/4751- Summer Field Geology (aka "Field Camp"):
6 week geology field camps run every summer, alternating between international (Italy) on even years and domestic (New Mexico/Colorado) on odd years. We offer a 3-credit (GES 3751) winter course (Death Valley) in January of odd years. It can be combined with the first three weeks of domestic camp (New Mexico) to satisfy the full 6 credits of field camp for students who cannot commit a full 6 weeks over the summer. Contact Dr Brandon Lutz for more information - and link my email please. Updated information about upcoming field courses can be found here.
Italy Field Camp: Over the course of the 6 weeks spent in Italy, student participants will learn the stratigraphy of the Northern Apennines, construct geologic maps and associated cross-sections within fold and thrust belts, and in regions that have experienced extension. Students will write up reports summarizing the major findings from mapping and a geologic/structural history of each mapping area. The program will begin with several field trips to key outcrops where the Northern Apennine stratigraphy is beautifully displayed and students will see several world famous outcrops, including the K/T boundary near Gubbio. Participants will do 5 different field mapping projects; each will be progressively more difficult than the last and the final mapping project will be the combination of all previous mapping activities into a coherent picture of the tectonic evolution of the Northern Apennines. In addition to field mapping, students will map alongside Italian students for 2 projects in the middle of the field course, which will provide an opportunity to learn some Italian and to meet some Italian peers. There will be several days off from geology where participants will have time to explore Italian art and culture and see some of the visually stunning cities and towns of the Northern Apennines. For more information on our field camp in Italy, click here.
A fund has been created to offset student costs of participation in Italy Field Camp. To support future field camp students, please donate today!
New Mexico/Colorado Field Camp: This program takes place in the Rio Grande rift and Rocky Mountains of north-central New Mexico and southern Colorado. During the 6 week course, students construct stratigraphic columns, geologic maps, and cross sections. Students also learn about the geologic and cultural history of the region and visit pristine wilderness areas for hiking and outdoors activities. Geologic maps are made of simple mesas with layer-cake stratigraphy, complex ranges with mildly folded and faulted sedimentary rocks, intensely deformed polyphase metamorphic terrains, and volcanic plateaux with Quaternary fault scarps and multiple-aged terrace deposits. Students write reports summarizing the geologic history of each area from their mapping.
The program begins in the picturesque Ghost Ranch area of Abiquiu, NM. Then, the group steadily works farther north and higher in elevation into the Sangre de Cristo and San Juan Mountains as the summer progresses. Various high summit hikes are led, including some that expose dinosaur footprints and porphyry copper mineralization. The trip ends with a star-lit hike to the top of Great Sand Dunes National Park. For more information about the domestic field camp, click here For more information on our field camp in New Mexico/Colorado, click here.
Winter Field Geology in Death Valley: This course involves ~10 days of geologic mapping in remote desert terrain. Projects center on mapping geologic contacts, inferring thickness patterns from mapping, describing geologic history from various rock types, making structural measurements, and building models to explain the mechanics of faulting.
Students collect field data at some of the most premier outcrops in the world and analyze those data back at App State. Students create digital geologic maps and construct 3D models of their map areas. Final reports, maps, and presentations during the first month of Spring Semester. For more information about the Death Valley camp, click here.