Online Supplement
Field Area
The James Madison University (JMU) Geology Field Course in Ireland digital
mapping exercise is located on a mountain ridge in the lakes region of western
Ireland (Fig. S1.) Local geology consists of Ordovician basalts unconformably
overlain by a Silurian sedimentary sequence of terrestrial red beds, near shore
sandstones and siltstones, and shelf/slope turbidites (Graham et al., 1989; Chew et
al., 2007; Whitmeyer et al., 2010.) The area is broadly folded and cut by steeply-­­
dipping normal and transverse faults, thought to be of late Caledonian age (Johnson
et al., 2011.) The region is situated at the south-­­eastern margin of the South Mayo
trough, where it lies in fault contact with the exotic Connemara terrane of Dalradian
affinity (Fig. S1; Williams and Rice, 1989; Dewey and Ryan, 1990).
Figure S1. Simplified geologic map of central western Ireland showing the field area
(the mountain of Bencorragh) near the southeastern contact of the South Mayo
trough and the Connemara terrane (modified from Chew et al., 2007).
Figure S2. Composite geologic map (shown as point data) of Bencorragh mountain compiled from 6 years of student field data during
the JMU Field course digital mapping exercise. White box shows approximate area of Figure 1 in the main text.
Assessment Data
The tables below summarize six years of assessment data on the digital mapping
exercise at the JMU Geology Field Course in Ireland – a six credit summer capstone
field experience.
(http://www.jmu.edu/geology/irelandfieldcourse.shtml)
Table S1.
1
2
3
4
Nonexistent
Very little
Moderate
Considerable
Extensive
Mean
2.15
My prior feelings specific to this
exercise were
Great
discomfort
Slightly
apprehensive
Neutral
At--‐ease and
comfortable
Highly
motivated
2.97
My prior skill level with this
exercise was
Completely
unskilled
Basic
Competent
Skilled
Expert
2.34
My knowledge gains from this
exercise were
Nonexistent
Very little
Moderate
Considerable
Extensive
3.77
My feelings after this exercise
were
Great
discomfort
Slightly
apprehensive
Neutral
At--‐ease and
comfortable
Highly
motivated
3.66
I found this exercise to be:
Not valuable
at all
Only slightly
valuable
Moderately
valuable
Useful
Essential
4.18
My skill level after this exercise
was
Completely
unskilled
Basic
Competent
Skilled
Highly
skilled
3.49
My overall learning from this
exercise was
Nonexistent
Trivial
Moderate
Considerable
Extensive
3.77
My prior experience with
ArcGIS was:
5
Table S1. Assessment data for six years of digital mapping exercises; mean of
responses, n=167. Significant gains were recorded in Feelings, Skill Level, and
Knowledge. Assessment template from Pyle (2009).
Table S2.
The exercise shows the ease of digital mapping.
The best part was using ArcGIS instead of paper mapping.
The exercise uses modern technology to map in a way that prepares me for what I’d see in a future job.
The best part was using GIS to map, but more instruction in GIS would have helped.
I really enjoyed this project & like the fact that it's using modern technology --‐ a skill that can be used in one's career.
I really enjoyed the GIS portion, but it seemed rushed.
I thought the digital technology made things much more simple
The iPad was useful. It helped speed the mapping process so that better data could be collected.
Working with the iPad and GIS is overall a great experience, especially in a century of technology advances in every field.
I am not a computer person, but this is a really great exercise.
Table S2. Example comments about the digital mapping exercise from students in
the James Madison University Geology Field Course in Ireland.
Acknowledgements
Many thanks to the students and faculty that participated in the JMU Ireland Field
Course from 2009 -­­ 2014. This manuscript was improved by comments from 3
anonymous reviewers. The work highlighted was funded in part by NSF grant DUE
1022782 and the JMU College of Science and Mathematics.
References
Chew, D.M., Graham, J.R., and Whithouse, M.J., 2007, U-­­Pb zircon geochronology of
plagiogranites from the Lough Nafooey (= Midland Valley) arc in western Ireland:
Constraints on the onset of the Grampian orogeny: Journal of the Geological Society,
v. 164, p. 747–750.
Dewey, J.F., and Ryan, P.D., 1990, The Ordovician evolution of the South Mayo
trough, western Ireland: Tectonics, v. 9, p. 887–903.
Graham, J.R., Leake, B.E., and Ryan, P.D., 1989, The geology of South Mayo, western
Ireland: Edinburgh, Scottish Academic Press, 75 p.
Johnson, E.A., Sutherland, S., Logan, M.A.V., Samson, S.D., and Feely, M., 2011,
Emplacement Conditions of a Porphyritic Felsite Dyke and Timing of Motion Along
the Coolin Fault at Ben Levy, Co. Galway, Irish Journal of Earth Sciences, v. 29, p. 1-­­
13, doi: 10.3318/IJES.2011.29.1
Pyle, E., 2009, A framework for the evaluation of field camp experiences, in
Whitmeyer, S.J., Mogk, D., and Pyle, E.J., eds., Field Geology Education: Historical
Perspectives and Modern Approaches: Geological Society of America Special Paper
461, p. 341-­­356.
Whitmeyer, S.J., Nicoletti, J., and De Paor, D.G., 2010, The Digital Revolution in
Geologic Mapping: GSA Today, v. 20, p. 4-­­10, doi: 10.1130/GSATG70A.1.
Williams, D.M., and Rice, A.H.N., 1989, Low-­­angle extensional faulting and the
emplacement of the Connemara Dalradian, Ireland: Tectonics, v. 8, p. 417–428.