GES 105: Introduction to Field Methods
Taught Sept. 4-17, 2012* (before classes begin)
*Email Marty Grove (mjgrove@stanford.edu) during Spring
Quarter to sign up!! Enrollment is during Fall Quarter 2012!!
GES 105: Introduction to Field Methods: Two-week, field-based course in the
White Mountains of eastern California. Introduction to the techniques of geologic
mapping and geologic investigation in the field and the construction of geologic
maps. Systematic observations and data collection for construction of
stratigraphic columns and structural cross-sections. Interpretation of field
relationships and data to understand the stratigraphic and deformational history
of the region. Prerequisite: GES1. Recommended: 102. 3 credits, letter grade.
Instructors may vary: Marty Grove, Elizabeth Miller, Jessica Warren, Kate
Maher, Sara Cina
Conducted from a tent camp near Westgard Pass, the region offers classic
exposures of latest Precambrian-Cambrian strata intruded by early Jurassic and
Late Cretaceous plutons and cut by active Cenozoic faults.
THE GOALS OF THIS TWO-WEEK CLASS ARE:
1. To teach you the basic steps involved in collecting and recording a wide
variety of data in the field and the various steps involved in producing a
geologic map and constructing geological cross-sections from this data.
More specialized techniques will be introduced during the course of the
project. 2. To give you the beginning knowledge and confidence needed to conduct
basic investigations and sampling in the field.
3. To use field-based data to critically evaluate ideas and interpretations
proposed by previous workers regarding the geomorphologic,
stratigraphic, structural, metamorphic, and intrusive relationships in the
regions under consideration.
Upon arriving in the field, you will be introduced to the stratigraphy of the region
and the key rock units that will be studied and mapped at 1:6,000 scale. A wide
variety of imagery (Digital orthophoto and ASTER imagery) together with
topographic maps will be used as a base for these studies. Data collected
during the day will be compiled each evening to produce individual geologic
maps, cross-sections, map legends and concise geologic histories or summaries
of the data. The field-based research may also serve as a platform and starting
point for more detailed laboratory-based studies in our many analytical facilities.
We welcome continued student participation in these later projects.