Field Trips
The students in the Department of Earth Sciences' upper division Sedimentology and Stratigraphy class had the opportunity to put what they learned in the classroom to practical use this weekend. With spectacular weather - and about one third of our majors in tow - Dr. Ortiz headed down to wild and wonderful West Virginia with his students to travel back in time and study geologic formations laid down under shallow marine and coastal conditions about 350 to 300 million years ago during the transition from the Mississippian to the Pennsylvanian Periods. Photo by Sean Hunter. See other Field Trips offered in undergraduate classes in Earth Sciences.
Students had the opportunity to integrate what they learned in Earth Materials, Invertebrate Paleontology and Structural Geology as they identified geologic formations, found fossil plants and animals and study erosive formation boundaries between sedimentary strata generated by the tectonic forces of continental collision. Photo by Sean Hunter. See other Field Trips offered in undergraduate classes in Geology.
New River Gorge as seen from Grandview Overlook, West Virginia. Photo by Joseph Ortiz. See other Field Trips offered in undergraduate classes in Geology.
With beautiful April weather, Professors Rod Feldmann and Carrie Schweitzer lead paleontology students to Caesar Creek (Ordovician), Oakes Quarry (Silurian), and East Quarry (Devonian) to collect fossil specimens and map quadrats. See other Field Trips offered in undergraduate classes in Geology.
Earth and Life through Time Field Trip
Each semester, an optional, extra credit field trip is offered for lecture and laboratory students in Earth and Life through Time. The trip typically visits Virginia Kendall Park within the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. In addition to being beautiful, the site offers the opportunity for students to examine and interpret modern stream processes and the nature of deposits developed in a meandering stream as well as to contrast those sedimentary deposits with the sediments deposited by a Pennsylvanian age braided stream complex preserved in the Sharon Sandstone. Students will also have the opportunity to squeeze through huge joints in the formation that have opened up as a resulting from mass movements of blocks of the sandstone downslope. The trip is fun as well as instructional.
Invertebrate Paleontology Field Trip
LOCATION: Caesar Creek State Park, OH; Oakes Quarry Park, Fairborn, OH; Kelleys Island, OH
DATES: Spring
COURSE AND CREDITS: GEOL 34061 - Invertebrate Paleontology - 4 credits
INSTRUCTOR AND CAMPUS: Carrie Schweitzer, Stark
PURPOSE OF FIELD TRIP: Students examine fossiliferous carbonate rocks of three different ages. Ordovician rocks are exposed at Caesar Creek State Park; Silurian rocks are seen at Oakes Quarry Park; and the Devonian series is well exposed on Kelleys Island. Students measure one-half meter quadrats at each locality, identifying the various fossils in the quadrat and plotting the location of each fossil in the quadrat. They then compose a report comparing the diversity of species at each locality as well as the distribution of fossils in time and space. Examination of the occurrence of fossils over the Ordovician through the Devonian gives students the opportunity to see how marine communities changed through the early to middle Paleozoic in the epicontinental sea in Ohio. Students also get the chance to collect fossils for their personal collection at each locality, and the world famous glacial grooves are viewed at Kelleys Island.
ESTIMATED FEES AND COSTS: Personal expenses (food and lodging while traveling)
Structural Geology Field Trip
LOCATION: Northern West Virginia
DATES: Spring
COURSE AND CREDITS: GEOL 31080 - Structural Geology - 4 credits
INSTRUCTOR AND CAMPUS: Daniel Holm, Kent
PURPOSE OF FIELD TRIP: Dr. Daniel Holm takes the undergraduate Structural Geology class on a three-day field trip to northern West Virginia to map in the Valley and Ridge Province. Students are oriented to the large scale first and second order features of the province on the first day and then spend one or two days doing a detailed mapping project.
ESTIMATED FEES AND COSTS: Personal expenses (food and lodging while traveling)
Sedimentology and Stratigraphy Field Trip, Kent and Stark Campuses
LOCATION: Columbus area
DATES: Fall
COURSE AND CREDITS: GEOL 4/54070 - Sedimentology and Stratigraphy - 4 credits
INSTRUCTOR AND CAMPUS: Timothy Gallagher, Kent, Carrie Schweitzer, Stark
PURPOSE OF FIELD TRIP: Students examine rocks from the Devonian through Pennsylvanian, noting the changes from a carbonate environment to world famous cyclothems. Excellent examples of fossils and sedimentary structures characterize the examined rocks. Students visit Black Hand Gorge State Nature Preserve and Flint Ridge State Historical site in additions to parks in the Columbus area.
ESTIMATED FEES AND COSTS: Personal expenses (food and lodging while traveling)