my field trip

bmah · May 19, 2010 6:54 AM

Last week, I came back from a 12-day field school course as part of geology program (from April 30-May 11). The course provides experience with working like a field geologist would do out in the open. It was really tough, both mentally and physically, but also memorable for those very reasons.

Location-wise, I headed up to the Rockies about a 3.5-4 hour drive west from my city. Headed to Jasper, which is more known for ski resorts, but the general vicinity around that area is where we worked (i.e. 60 students). We stayed in cabins each night.

The course was divided into two parts: mapping and sedimentology:

The mapping aspect I found tough. You're given a ~3km by 3km square area to explore, and you create a geological map from data you gather at rock outcrops in the area. The geological map basically shows the rock unit's presence and orientation at the site of interest and also to that extent reveals the geological history of the site. With a compass, map, notebook, and pencil, you make measurements of rock orientations at an outcrop ("strike and dip measurements"). After trekking in the woods for several days gathering as much measurements as you can, the orientations of the rock outcrop provide clue as to what the geological map looks like. It's like a puzzle. Sometimes you have to infer data in places where you don't have any data.
The actual data gathering is strenuous work - you go trekking out for sometimes 25km for the whole morning and afternoon just to find rock outcrops at a few remote locations that might take hours just to walk to. Constantly bushwhacking really thick forest and climbing 30-45 degree slopes is never fun for hours on end. I somehow still managed to take some pictures.
Below is the kind of forest you have to shove your face into for miles:

Terrain for the area we mapped ranged from high mountains to thick forests to marshes and swamps. Basically, you go off the trails into places a person normally shouldn't ever go to. At this part of the course, the weather was also really crappy and changed constantly. Sometimes it rained, snowed, hailed, shined, was foggy, and was really windy all in the same day. That's just how weather in the mountains go.
Foggy day:

Picturesque I thought. Took this shot on the creek - no bridge obviously:

You also eat lunch out in the field, so keep in mind that you're trekking with 10-20 lbs on your back as well.
While eating lunch, some elk wants to join us for company (look closely):

Me in the middle of nowhere. Behind me is a (kettle) lake that took my group at least two hours to walk to from point A to B:

At the end of several days of trekking and gathering data, we do a final project which is actually a huge headache to do.
Working with my team mates in my cabin. Seriously, this part was no fun:

The second half of the course focused on sedimentology a lot more. Instead of visiting and scouting out a single area for days, this part involves going on the bus and visiting various places with sedimentological areas of interest. The workload basically comprised of describing rock units and gathering such data with various other methods (technical crap I won't describe here). I had a lot more fun with this though, and the weather was more cooperative at the time.
I happened to visit this glacier on my b-day. A bit weird seeing that my b-day is in spring and not winter as the photo suggests:

A strange area in this region involves rather vast sand dunes. Oh, how you learn to love working with blowing sand in the face:

We measured data on cliffs on the shore of this lovely lake:

And of course, more wildlife. These guys carried ticks, so you'd avoid them at all costs (and not just because of the ticks). They also pooed everywhere:

There were also all kinds of random shenanigans and stories that I won't go into detail unless you guys want to know (missing groceries, people doing stupid crap when getting drunk, etc.). I'm pretty sure I'm also missing out on a ton of more important details, so feel free to ask any questions!

The class was divided into two groups in which one group did mapping, and the other did sedimentology stuff; the groups switched subjects later. This is basically our entire class:

Anyways, hope you guys found this interesting!

edit: looks like I've just surpassed my 1337th post oops

Black dragon · May 19, 2010 11:28 AM

That sounds like an interesting trip.

Phoenix_Flyer · May 19, 2010 2:17 PM

Your geology trip makes my trip to Tenerife look absolutely crap! XD

This is the best kind of views we got:

Looking at Mount Teide

On our way up to the mountains as soon as we got above the cloud-layer, this is what we saw. The island is, believe it or not, Gran Canaria.

And here's our class, much smaller than yours was, I was the only girl besides the teacher! XD

Aceedwin · May 19, 2010 5:38 PM

I'm getting a physics trip to Thorpe Park next Tuesday. I'm going to bleed candy floss and adrenalin by the end of it.

bmah · May 20, 2010 8:14 PM

I didn't know there would be mountains high enough for snow in the tropical Canary Islands. What were you studying in particular Phoenix_Flyer?

Phoenix_Flyer · May 20, 2010 9:15 PM

It was just so that we could see the terminology of a volcanic island first-hand, studying the rocks and the topography of the area. We also collected data for our coursework whilst we were there, we had the choice of different topics: studying ignimbrites or scoria cones. I did scoria cones and studied whether or not the size of the clasts got bigger from the top to the bottom or smaller.

The best part was studying the caldera if you ask me, the idea that there was once a HUGE volcano there that just collapsed in on itself when it erupted is awesome. The pyroclastic flows from something like that must have been phenomenal...

Spyrorocks · May 20, 2010 9:39 PM

I love the scenery in those parts.

Swaffy · May 21, 2010 3:26 AM

Wow, that's amazing. Being able to travel so far and see so much of nature.
Sure, it's tiring and stressful, but I would love to just simply be out in the
wilderness and take in the moment. I like being in nature. It's a great feeling.

SkylerTheDraogn · May 26, 2010 9:27 AM

i rarly get out, only time i get close to any land scape i'm ither shreding it up going off road or drawing it lol

mind you only place i have'nt been off road is ireland
trip to wales close to went worng
i was in my vitara
and dan was in the landy with josh and paul led the way in another vitara
i managed to roll mine :S
misjuged an incline the earth just went and so did i by the time it was on it's side i was still wandering what was going on
luckly nothing got broken
just a mahoosive dent in the dor and wing :C

SpyroDarkdude01 · Jun 10, 2010 5:42 AM

I went on a school trip when I was still in school and we went to some remote land in North America, *bleep* it costed a *bleep* load of money, too. I was walking through some bush and snapped my leg, ended up been airlifted out.
Anyway, what was this thing about people getting drunk?

#1 May 19, 2010 6:54 AM

my field trip

#2 May 19, 2010 11:28 AM

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