GEOL351-10S1 (C) Semester One 2010

Advanced Field Studies

14 points

Details:
Start Date: Monday, 22 February 2010
End Date: Sunday, 27 June 2010
Withdrawal Dates
Last Day to withdraw from this course:
  • Without financial penalty (full fee refund): Sunday, 7 March 2010
  • Without academic penalty (including no fee refund): Sunday, 23 May 2010

Description

Extended field work and related exercises aimed at broadening geological experience in the understanding and interpretation of rocks at outcrop, field map, and regional scales.

The course is designed to integrate different types of geologic data to interpret a geologic history of a region through examination of sedimentary, metamorphic and volcanic rocks. Students will chose between one of two concurrently running field trips outlined below (West Coast or Oamaru). (Note this is a change to the running of this course in previous years). Both field trips have the same teaching goals and both support study in other 300 level courses. Each trip covers, with varying emphasis, metamorphic basement geology, New Zealand tectonic events and sedimentary depositional environments. Field teaching takes place off-campus and a reasonable degree of physical fitness is desirable. The course also includes a minor in-term laboratory component that complements/supports the field work.

Prerequisites

(1) GEOL230 or GEOL240 (2) GEOL231 or GEOL241 (3) 44-45 points from other GEOL 200-level courses.

Co-requisites

14 points from any papers in GEOL331-GEOL338 offered in the same semester.

Course Coordinator / Lecturers

Kari Bassett and Catherine Reid

Lecturers

Ben Kennedy and Uwe Ring

Assessment

Assessment Due Date Percentage  Description
Fieldwork 100% Fieldwork


Assessment of both Oamaru and Westport field work is 100% internal and details of component exercises will be issued in pre-trip briefings.

Textbooks / Resources

Recommended Reading

Boggs, Sam; Principles of sedimentology and stratigraphy ; 4th ed; Pearson Prentice Hall, 2006.

Powell, Derek; Interpretation of geological structures through maps : an introductory practical manual ; Longman Scientific & Technical ;, 1992.

Prothero, Donald R. , Schwab, F. L; Sedimentary geology : an introduction to sedimentary rocks and stratigraphy ; W.H. Freeman, 1996.

Notes

Field class dates and locations are preliminary and may be modified due to changing staff or conditions but are tentatively as follows:

Students choose between the Oamaru and Westport trips - students to choose one trip, first come, first served.

West Coast (Bassett and Ring) - dates to be confirmed.
This trip to Westport focuses on the Cretaceous history of Gondwana breakup and the development of the New Zealand land by examining metamorphic core complex deformation and associated basin deposits leading up into the Tertiary sequence and coal basins. The provisional dates for the Westport field trip in 2010 are Easter Tuesday 6 April 2010 - Tuesday 13 April 2010. Trip dates will be confirmed by the start of semester 1, 2010, however an alternate date being considered is Sunday 18 April to Sunday 25 April.

Oamaru (Reid and Kennedy) 14-21 April 2010
This field trip focuses on Cretaceous to early Miocene geological history and facies patterns in response to tectonics through interpretation of basaltic volcanics, and siliciclastic and carbonate sedimentary environments.

An information session in the laboratory time of week one (3.30-6.00 pm Friday 26 February) will be held to brief students on the content of each field trip. Students will then get to choose their preferred field course option by Friday 5 March - however as the number of placed on each trip is limited students may not get their preferred option, and the course contributors reserve the right to shift students to best manage field trip logistics. A meeting will be held Thursday 1 April to brief students on the equipment and logistics of each field trip.

The course fee payable at enrolment includes $32 towards travel, accommodation and equipment. Meals (breakfast, packed lunch, dinner) will be provided at the field venue and will be charged separately at the rate of $15 per day.

All students must read the Field safety guide and abide by it. You must complete and sign the final page of the field safety guide and return this page only to the office (Room 334).

Essential equipment
Students will be expected to have a geological hammer, hand lens, grain size comparator, a plastic bag to protect map board and note-book. A personal first aid kit is essential for field safety. Safety glasses will be available from Room 108A. Boots and a sleeping bag are necessary as is adequate clothing for a range of weather conditions.

You must bring sharp pencils including a hard (2H) pencil for map work, a strong compact field notebook, pencil sharpener, ruler, protractor, pens, coloured pencils, tape measure or folding meter stick.
The department will provide maps, map boards, compass-clinometer and HCl bottles.

A more detailed list of requirements will be issued prior to the field trip, along with a general briefing on the content of the programme in laboratory time.

For reasons of safety, students will commonly work in pairs or in small groups and will generate common data. While discussion within a pair or group is valuable, it is important that you form your own conclusions and can justify them. Whilst there may be a degree of collaboration in producing the field data, the interpretive maps and sections should be your own. Students are reminded that plagiarism (i.e. direct copying and submission of another's work) is unethical and will be penalised.

Indicative Fees

Domestic fee $606.00

International fee $2,801.00

* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.

For further information see Geological Sciences .

All GEOL351 Occurrences

  • GEOL351-10S1 (C) Semester One 2010