Expanded Syllabus Geology 450 Schedule Spring 1998 This class will meet every Thursday aftemoon for four hours. Weather pennitting, we will meet in the field in all but a few cases. This course consists of a series of field exercises of increasing complexity. Each requires a written report of the results and critique of the methods used. Later projects will use techniques mastered in earlier exercises. A model format for project reports is attached. Required text: Compton: Geology in the Field, John Wiley and Sons Additional reading: Spencer: Geologic Maps, McMillan Merriam: Geologic Modeling and Mapping, Plenum *For graduate credit: If you are taldng this course as Geol 650, you will be graded in a sepamte pool widi odier graduate students. Your project reports will be expected to be more in- depth, more extensive, and more professionally presented. It will be expected that you will spend less time on mastery of methods and more time on data acquisition and analysis. class meets: @IC lab session Jan. 3 1: open Feb. 7: Basic Map And Orienteering Sldlls in lab Synopsis: During this lab we will go over some basic field sldlls, and introduce equipment and techniques. Topics will include measuring azimuth and orientation of a plane with a Brunton, use of stereonets, and basic topographic map use. We will do an field, Fiiday pm Synopsis: A field area has been established in the upper part of Rancho San Rafael, where 6 monuments have been located on a topographic map. Ten targets are placed in obscure positions in the area. The tasks are to: (1) locate all ten targets using only bearing data, (2) plot them on the map, and determine all unknown bearings. Feb. 21: Basic Mapping II, GPS field, Fiiday pm Synopsis: Taidng the maps and data from part 1, students will use hand-held GPS receivers to locate targets and monuments on a 100-meter LJTM grid. They will then try to reconcile the map data, bearing data, and GPS data. Students will draft a final map, and write a critique on the various methods. exercise on basic triangulation. Feb. 14: Basic Mapping 1, @ting Data Feb. 28: Map Maldng 1, Total Station Survey field, Friday pm Synopsis: The goal of this project is to map the flood deposits left by the January '97 flood in Reno. For this project we will make a large-scale topographic map of a small area at the mouth of Alum Creek in west Reno. We will use a Leica Total Station instrument to survey in control points both for topography and for flood features. The first part of the lab will emphasize fundamental Total Station surveying, and description of flood features. March 7: Map Making II, Total Station (cont.) field, Friday pm Synopsis: In part Il of this lab we will take the rudimenl-uy map we made last week and improve it by adding data points. The emphasis will be on the feed-back loop of seeing how data from part I plotted, and improving the data set. An important aspect the second session will also be improved descriptions of the flood deposits, and integration of these descriptions into the map and report. March 14- Cross-Sections 1, ToL-d Station field, Friday pm Synopsis: The goal of this lab is the descfiption of a cross-section cut in a stratigraphic section, documenting recent geologic history of the westem Truckee Meadows. The units will be sketched and described, and plotted in detail using the Total Station ins@ent. Emphasis will be on delineation of u@ts, and identification of important boundahes. March 21: Cross-Sections II, Total Station (cont). field, Friday pm Synopsis: In part II of this lab, students will take the plotted cross-section back to the field and improve it by filling in data pc)ints and completing descfiptions. Once again, the iterative process of improving the data set will show how best to gather data. The goal of this session is to begin to synthesize the history represented in the cut. March 28: open Apfil 4: Spring Break Apfil 11: Measuring Section field, Friday pm Saturday field session Synopsis: In this projec@ the students will leam how to measure stratigraphic sections, using both Jacob's staff and tfiangulation. Friday aftemoon will bc spent in mastering the basic tech@ques. Saturday (1/2 day) will be spent measuring a short section in clastic sediment north of Reno. The emphasis will be on techniques of dorumenfing sedimenl'uy rocks. April 18: Geologic Map at Bacon Rind Flat brief Fri. pm in lab Saturday field session Synopsis: The final exercise of the term is to construct a simple geologic map on a topographic base. The map area is in stratified volcanic rocks north of Reno. There is some small-scale structure, and an angular unconformity. The students will be provided with a topographic base map, and both GPS and digital alfimeters to help them locate themselves and plot map data. The f-irst session will consist of wamng through the section, and beginning to map contacts. I April 25: Geologic Map at Bacon Rind Flat brief Fri. pm in lab Saturday field session Synopsis: Part 11 of the mapping exercise will be focused on improving the field map the stude@ are finalizing. Problem areas will be identified, and students will be encouraged to work together to come up with map solutions. Geology 450, Spring 1998 Fonnat Guide For Field Project Reports The report for cach f-ield project should stand alone and complete. It should not be necesmq to know anything else about that project, other than what is in the reporl It should be typed neatly (on a word processor), plots and diagi-ams should be neat and in ink, or drawn with a computer software package. Elements of the report: 1. Project tide, date of field work, location, names of collaborutors if any. 2. Introduction: What is the purpose of the project, goals, constraints, etc. What is the hypothesis to test, if any? What are skills to be mastered? Location map goes here, if applicable. 3. Procedure: What kind of data are necessary? How was data collected? Were any problems encountered with data collection? 4. Data: A complete and annotated tabulation of all relevant data. This is usuafly not a xerox of your field book. 5. Data r-4pL@linwi5?r. Any data visualization - plots, diagrams etc. Any data conversion goes here. 6. Interpretation: What valid conclusions can be drawn from the data? How do those conclusion bear on the goals of the work? Data manipulation, calculations, and any figure, maps, etc that aid in visualizing the conclusions go here. 7. Error analysis: What are the possible sources of error in this work9 How may that eitor affect the conclusions? 8. Appendices: References cited, other data tables, calculation methods, etc. Item 3. (e) 400-600 cross-listing: Explanation of grading and course-work differences for undergraduates and graduate students This class (GEOL 450/650 - Field Methods) is essentially a "skills and methods" class for any students that have not a course in field-related, geological techniques. As such, all studcnts whether graduate or undergraduate will be statting at the same level. Also, because GEOL 450 is a class for junior and seniors, these will have had most of the undergraduate preparafion that gmduate students have had. Since most programs require a field class for majors, most graduate students taking this class will either be non-geology majors, or will be coniing to geology from non-geology undergraduate major programs. The difference between graduate students and undergrads, then, will be the higher level of performance expected in general of graduate students who have the academic credentials to be in our program. In GEOL 450/650, there will certainly be a number of undergrads who will be capable of performing with the best graduate students. Course-work differencesfor graduate students: This course involves almost no Iccture component. Rather, it complises a selies of field exercises of gradually increasing difficulty and complexity. Instructions are given mostly to small groups, inf6rmzdiy in the field, and interactively. Thus material can be tailored specifically to those beuer will be expected to tum in a more Specifically (refemng to the 1. Graduate students will be expected in general to master the techniques involved in field methods, and move quickly on to data gathering and interpretation phases of each projecl Graduates will be presented with more in-depth explanations of techniques, and will be expected to take advantage of their more extensive background. 2. The assigmnents will not differ because they are open-ended. Graduate students will be expected to can-y the work farther than undergraduates. 3. The inforinal field-oriented nature of this course is uniquely suited to teaching to a broad range of student preparedness. Graduate students will be targeted for more in-depth discussions in the field, and be helped to carry on independently where appropriatc. 4. Graduate students will have opportunifies in every exercise to gather more and better data, and pursue the exercise at a more sophisficated level. The reports tumed in by graduate students will be expected to contain more in-depth analysis of the data dicy collected. 5. Every exercise in the series that makes up the course will give graduate students a chance to work at a higher level, and they will be expected to. 6. Graduate students will be evaluated in a separate pool from undergraduates. The standards for repor-t wtiting and data presentation will be higher, and more strictly enforced. 7. Students will judge this course by whether they feel that they have mastered techniques that they perceive as relevant to their program and career goals. For graduate students, this will entafl their preparation for graduate work that involves field investigations. The course will be made relevant and valuable for them by emphasizing in-depth mastery of skills, understanding of field-data gathering strategies, and preparation of professional-level reports on investigations.