Field Camp on EARTH Magazine

Geologic Column: Beyond geology, field camps teach teamwork and inspire leadership

Tue, 24 Jun 2014 16:44:31 -0400

A tent camp in the Chisos Mountains in Texas offers a temporary home for students during a regional geology field course run by the College of William and Mary. Credit: Jessica Ball.

For undergraduate geology students, field camp is a rite of passage. And the importance of the experience, in terms of properly training and preparing geoscience students to become geoscience professionals, should not be underestimated. Over the years, the number of geoscience field camps has declined substantially. This is unfortunate, but we have reason to hope that more schools will again start offering field camps soon.

Blogging on EARTH: A letter from field camp

Wed, 24 Jul 2013 18:30:37 -0400

Bryce Mitsunaga at field camp in Montana. Bryce Mitsunaga

The 2013 University of Houston-YBRA field camp participants exploring glacial features atop the Beartooth Range. Bryce Mitsunaga

University of Houston-YBRA field camp, summer 2013. Bryce Mitsunaga

Learning the basics of mapping includes how to take a strike and dip. Bryce Mitsunaga

Bryce Mitsunaga, a recent graduate of Williams College in Williamstown, Mass., is currently attending field camp at the Yellowstone-Bighorn Research Association camp located in the Beartooth Mountain Range outside of Red Lodge, Mont. In honor of EARTH's August feature on field camps, Bryce wrote in with some reflections on his experiences so far.

Location, Location, Location

Fri, 19 Jul 2013 09:33:39 -0400

Although field camps based east of the Mississippi River do exist, and a handful of American schools run camps abroad in places like Ireland, Italy and parts of Africa, the vast majority of camps in the U.S. are still conducted out West. From the Black Hills and the Great Plains, across the Rockies and other mountain ranges, to the Desert Southwest, the western U.S. offers much in the way of beautifully exposed outcrops, distinctive landscapes and transects through long stretches of geologic time.
Naturally, every field camp director is partial to the plots of land to which he or she returns each year. Here’s what a few of them had to say about their particular field sites.

Home sweet home for field campers

Fri, 19 Jul 2013 09:27:16 -0400

A tent camp in the Chisos Mountains in Texas offers a temporary home for students during a regional geology field course run by the College of William and Mary. Jessica Ball

With a few exceptions — including available meal choices and entertainment options for when students have limited free time — accommodations at today’s field camps haven’t changed all that much, at least in the last few decades. Depending on the camp, however, lodging ranges from log cabins to college dorms to motels to the occasional traveling camps that still live and work out of “tent cities.”

Mapping field camp's past and present: Exploring a mainstay of geoscience education

Fri, 19 Jul 2013 09:02:41 -0400

A student at the University of Kentucky's field camp presents a geologic map that his group completed. Courtesy of Frank Ettensohn

Every spring, troops of geoscience students set out to observe firsthand the minerals, rocks, folds, faults, unconformities, ore bodies and other features that populate the geological landscape. And by this time each summer, they (and the instructors brave enough to have accompanied them) have mostly returned home, sporting unkempt hair and sun-tanned limbs. These students — after putting knowledge and skills learned over several years to the test — are the latest group to have survived the rigors of geology’s enduring rite of passage: field camp.

Bare Earth Elements: The field camp experience in photos

Tue, 16 Jul 2013 17:08:15 -0400

For the August issue of EARTH, I wrote about some of the ways in which geology's longstanding rite of passage — field camp — has changed over the years, as well as how it has remained the same. In the process of researching and reporting the story, I had the great pleasure to speak with past and present field camp directors (a couple of whom I knew already from my own time as a graduate student) about the camps they oversee and about their experiences both attending and leading field camps. I also collected many more photographs than we could run with the story, so I thought I'd put together a slideshow to showcase a few more. Enjoy!

Geology 101: Reading the story in the rocks

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500

David Harwood’s field geology course gives future teachers an introduction to several of geology’s most fundamental principles, including the stratigraphic basics described by Nicholas Steno in 1669. Go to the head of the class with this quick primer.

Surviving field school: Better than reality TV

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500

Emily points to the embedded dinosaur fossil she discovered in an outcrop of the Morrison Formation. Clay Farris Naff

A closer look at Emily's fossil. Clay Farris Naff

In David Harwood's field course for future teachers, students learn the basics of geology. Kyle Thompson

At a road cut, David (foreground) and Ben ponder the 'layer cakes' above them. Kyle Thompson

David (middle) leads the discussion that solves the Mystery Rock puzzle. Aaron (right) and Chelsea also help. Kyle Thompson

David Harwood’s geology field course for future teachers is not a network reality show — but it should be. The three-week course has all the humor, drama, exacting challenges and bleepable moments of “Survivor.” But in contrast to the staged setups of TV “reality” shows, Geology 160 offers billions of years’ worth of authentic geological history that students see, taste and scrape from under their fingernails.