Departmental Fieldtrips
The U.C. Geology Department runs a number of fieldtrips each year. Here
are brief reports from those run during the last year.
Coral Reef Ecology in Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles,
August 2002, led by Prof. Dave Meyer
For the second year in a row, I was very fortunate to collaborate with
Mark Boardman and Hays Cummins of Miami University (OH) in teaching a
course in coral reef ecology, primarily for graduate students, in Curaçao,
located 40 miles off the Venezuelan coast in the Caribbean. The course
ran for a week in August and we had a total of 12 students. UC grad students
Allison Cornett, Susie Taha McLaughlin, and Pat McLaughlin participated.
We had a busy week of diving from a boat, diving from shore, and exploring
the above-water geology of this fascinating island. I made 14 dives and
recorded a couple of hours of underwater video. Students carried out underwater
transect surveys for coral cover and fish at several sites and also completed
small research projects in teams of two. Results were presented during
evening sessions. Each student also presented a topic prepared before
the trip. UC students receive academic credit for the trip through the
Consortium and are also subsidized through the Caster Fund. Curaçao
is fascinating geologically for its location along the Caribbean/South
American plate boundary. Limestone terraces mark Pleistocene reefs that
record tectonic uplift as well as eustatic sea level fluctuations. The
trip gave me an opportunity to keep tabs on living crinoid populations
that I have been studying there since my grad school days, and also to
develop some new research directions on Pleistocene reef preservation
in collaboration with my Miami colleagues, and also UC alum Ben Greenstein.
Mark and Hays have posted some great photos of the trip on their websites:
http://typhoon.wcp.muhoio.edu/boardman/
and
http://typhoon.wcp.muohio.edu/tropicalvideos/coralecologypics02/flightto073102/TOC.html.
Glacial geology in Alaska, August 2002, led by Prof. Tom Lowell
Glacial Field Methods continues, as it has for 15 years now, to allow
students to discover the glacial environment. In August 2001, 16 hardy
souls traveled about southern Alaska. Along with the usual host of undergraduate
students, graduate students and fellow faculty member Warren Huff came
Chris Curran and Colleen Kelley of the University Public Relations Department.
This trip coincided with the Universities Branding campaign - the new
UC images is about “Discovery, Transformation, and Pathways.”
Accordingly, it is easy to see how the trip provided PR materials for
the university. A sampling of the web pages and videos from the trip and
about its members can be found at http://www.uc.edu/news/ak2001.htm.
We also were highlighted in Currents and Horizon Magazine. Good exposure
for the Department both inside and outside the University.
Fieldwork centered in southern Alaska especially around Prince William
Sound for the students to assess rather retreat of glaciers in different
settings is the same. After a leisurely hike along the gentle flanks of
Exit Glacier up to the snowfield we took a relaxing cruse on a charter
boat out of Whittier to visit Tebenkof Glacier. This turned into an overnight
excursion among the alders and a moist side-trip to watch Blackstone Glacier
calve into the sound. Escaping the easy life on the coast, we traveled
inland to drier and colder climates. It was in the middle of this trip
at the Matanuska Glacier that graduate student Katie Glover was captured
in now infamous hero pose. Another new area visited was Wrangell-Saint
Elias National Park and Kennicott Glacier. A few days mapping of the Gulkana
Glacier in the Alaska Range allowed us to camp above tree line with a
fresh breeze. Retreating back to the coast at Valdez was a wet effort
but a ferry passage back to Whittier allowed for some reflection before
the flight back to CVG. The discovery that all these glaciers seem to
been transformed the same over the last 100 years provided a pathway for
learning!
 
In August 2002 returned to the Canadian Rockies to hunt the infamous Ice
Pig. It turns out this was the 6th (?) trip to those stomping grounds,
but the Ice Pig remained as elusive as ever. We did visit many of the
usual places: Athabasca Glacier, Hilda Rock Glacier, and Angle Glacier.
This provided the opportunity to check the original mapping of their landforms
that Bill Hindenburg undertook in 1987. Although we have moved to GPS
units, the plane tabling maps that Bill produced are rock solid and we
were thus able to detect changes in the geometry of meltwater streams,
lakes and ice margins occurring over the last 15 years. This insight fed
well into the trip theme “are there typical landform assemblages
associated with retreating glaciers?” The trip had its usual serious
nature as exemplified by Michelle Hart (http://www.uc.edu/news/michel.htm),
Theresa Davis, Patrick Applegate (http://www.uc.edu/news/patrick.htm),
and Katie Glover (http://www.uc.edu/news/glover.htm),
on Boundary Glacier.
Hawaii Volcanoes Fieldtrip, September 10-18, 2002, led
by Prof. Attila Kilinc
In the winter and spring quarters of 2002, I taught "Basaltic Volcanism"
and "Hawaiian Volcanism" courses, respectively. During that
period a group of students suggested that I organize a fieldtrip to Hawaii
to see volcanic features exhibited by the five volcanoes on the Island
of Hawaii.
I took a group of 15 people to Hawaii including Warren Huff, Sandi Cannell,
two UC photographers (Colleen Kelley and Lisa Ventre), Tammie Gerke of
Northern Kentucky University and her husband Scott, and students (Lisa
Fay, Keri Craven, Tracy Brockman, Kim Stonesifer, Bernd Kawurek, Heather
Day, Mike Sperber, Brian Nicklen, and Patrick Applegate). We stayed at
the Namakani Paio cabins at the Volcanoes National Park and rented three
vans to drive to the volcanoes. I made arrangements with Don Swanson,
Scientist in Charge of the Hawaii Volcano Observatory (HVO), to visit
the HVO facilities in our first day. Don gave us a tour of the HVO and
discussed how HVO scientists use seismic, GPS and tiltmeter data to remotely
monitor the volcanoes. He then took the group outside and gave a very
informative talk about the origin of the Kilauea Caldera and the Halemaumau
crater. After that we visited the Jaggar Museum located next to HVO and
bought field trip guidebooks and postcards. Following lunch we drove on
the Crater Rim Road making several stops at the Kilauea's SW rift zone,
Halemaumau outlook, Keanakakoi Crater outlook, the Thurston Lava Tube,
and we walked inside the Kilauea Iki crater.
Second day we drove on the Chain of Craters road and made several stops
to observe lava flows and geomorphic features. We saw the older lava flowing
over a pali (fault scarp) and pahoehoe flows changing into A’a flows
as a result of stretching of molten lava. We observed both pahoehoe and
A'a flows in the field and discussed their origin. Finally we drove to
the end of the Chain of Craters road where active lava flows had blocked
the road. We walked to the active lava field and observed how pahoehoe
flows forming. This was a very exciting visit for the group because majority
saw an active lava field the first time.
Third day we drove to Hilo and then followed the Saddle Road that leads
to the top of the Mauna Kea Volcano. At 9000 feet above the sea level
we stopped at the Ranger Station. Everyone saw the cinder cones that consist
of highly alkaline lavas of the post-erosional stage. People in one van
decided not to go to the top of the mountain. We drove the other two vans
all the way to the astronomical observatories. Along the way Patrick Applegate
showed the glacial drift from the latest glaciation period and pointed
out how it forms a rough circle around the summit.
Fourth day we drove to the Kona Coast but on the way we stopped at a black
sand beach and at a macadamia nut and coffee shop to buy Kona coffee and
macadamia nuts. We then continued to the Hualalai Volcano where Lisa Fay
and Stephanie Wischer (two undergraduate students) have a research project.
We collected some lava samples for them and drove to the Hapuna Beach
where we ate lunch and swam in the warm Pacific Ocean.
Fifth day we drove on the Mauna Loa road to see a panoramic view of the
Kilauea Caldera and the Halemaumau crater. Unfortunately the Kilauea was
fogged in. We then drove to Kalapana to see how much of the ocean was
filled with lava from the Kilauea volcano since 1983. Products of the
Pu'u O'o added new land about half a mile from the old shoreline. We discussed
bubble nucleation and growth in basaltic magma. In the afternoon we decided
to go back to the active lava field and see the lava flows again.
Sixth last day was the free day. Keri Craven, Lisa Fay, and Brian Nicklen
decided to climb the top of the Hualalai volcano, I decided to drive toward
Waimea and collect few Hawaiite and Ankaramite samples and Tracy Brockman
decided to do some shopping. Warren Huff's and Tammie Gerke's vans went
to the green sand beach.
Seventh day we flew to Honolulu where Keri Craven, Lisa Fay, Tammie Gerke
and Scott departed for Maui where Keri wanted to collect samples for her
Masters thesis work; the rest of the group flew back to Cincinnati. Please
go to: http://www.uc.edu/news/volcano.htm to see more pictures of our
fieldtrip.
Geology of Southern Rockies & Colorado Plateau, Sept. 4-16,
2002, led by Prof. Tom Algeo
The Sed-Strat Group conducted a two-week fieldtrip to the Southern Rockies
and Colorado Plateau in early September to study the sedimentology and
stratigraphy of this area and its relationship to regional geologic history.
Participants included Prof. Tom Algeo, Russell and Sarah Kohrs, Austin
Hendy, Kate Bulinski, Ana Londo_o, and Andrea Dale, who were met en route
by alumnus John Ford (B.S., 1981) and his wife Julie. The group visited
a number of national parks and monuments, as well as other sites of geologic
interest. Highlights of the trip included an excursion through the cliff-lined
Animas River valley on the Durango-Silverton Narrow-Gauge Railroad, hiking
across the 1000-foot-high Royal Gorge Bridge, and tours of the Bachelor-Syracuse
silver mine (Ouray, Colorado) and the Mollie Kathleen gold mine (Cripple
Creek, Colorado). Please go to: http://oz.uc.edu/~algeot/homepage/fieldtrips.htm
for more photos from the fieldtrip. What follows is a brief synopsis of
daily events.
Hiking in Rocky Mountains National Park, Colorado Playing in the world’s
largest sandbox, Great Sand Dunes National Monument, Colorado
After a ca. 21-hour drive from Cincinnati, we spent the afternoon of the
second day of the fieldtrip hiking at Red Rock State Park and along the
Geologic Trail of the nearby Dakota Sandstone Hogback. There, we examined
grain-size trends in alluvial fan sequences of the Pennsylvanian Fountain
Formation, which can be related to tectonics of the Ancestral Rocky Mountains.
We were subsequently treated to a Mexican dinner by John Ford.
The next day, we drove up into the Front Range and entered Rocky Mountain
National Park. We spent some time in Moraine Park, examining Wisconsinan-age
glacial sediments deposited as lateral moraines in a high mountain valley,
and then hiked a scenic trail in the Longs Peak area where we encountered
the Silver Plume Granite. On the fourth day, we drove over the Continental
Divide, making numerous stops within the park to examine topographic features
(the Late Eocene erosion surface), glacial features (U valleys, solifluction,
and patterned ground), and recent flood deposits (from a dam failure above
the Fall River valley). The first night we camped at Bear Lake Park, on
the east side of the divide, and the second night we camped at Timber
Lake, on the west side. One unscheduled event was a trip into Estes Park
to see a Scottish tattoo (sp.?), which included several marching bands,
patriotic songs, equestrian antics, and a mock joust, and finished up
with a cannonade—all performed in kilts.
On the fifth day, we left Rocky Mountain National Park and headed westward.
We passed through Middle Park, where we examined Tertiary volcaniclastic
deposits of the Middle Park Formation, and then passed the Green Reservoir,
a 10-mile-long reservoir that has fallen 30 or 40 feet in elevation and
shrunk to a fraction of its normal surface area. From Dillon we headed
west on I-70, examining facies in the Pennsylvanian Maroon and Minturn
formations. We lunched at Glenwood Canyon, where the Colorado River has
cut a deep gorge across the White River Uplift. After lunch, we examined
lower and middle Paleozoic carbonates and siliciclastics (the Manitou
and Leadville formation) in Glenwood Canyon, then drove westward through
coal-bearing strata of the Upper Cretaceous Mesa Verde and Lower Tertiary
Uinta groups. For the next three nights, we camped at Moab, Utah.
The sixth day was devoted to Arches National Park. We examined many of
the unusual weathering formations along the Scenic Drive, almost all developed
in the Slick Rock Member of the Jurassic Entrada Sandstone, and then hiked
two trails. The first led to Delicate Arch, perhaps the best-known landform
in the park owing to its perfect form and picture-postcard setting. The
second was the Devils Garden Trail, which led to such famous landmarks
as Landscape Arch, Double-O Arch, and Dark Angel. After a long, strenuous
day, we felt that we had earned the steaks that we barbecued that evening.
The seventh day was spent in the Needles District of Canyonlands National
Park, where scenic landforms have developed in the Jurassic Wingate Sandstone
and the underlying Triassic Chinle and Moenkopi formations. We stopped
to examine facies in these units, contrasting sands that accumulated in
continental erg, fluvial, and coastal plain environments. Later in the
day, we hiked through Elephant Butte Canyon in the Grabens area, where
gravitational tectonics associated with incision of the Colorado River
along one flank of the Monument Upwarp has produced numerous grabens that
have influenced local stream drainage patterns. One highlight of this
day was seeing Native American petroglyphs in the field, first at Newspaper
Rock and then later at an unsignposted locale that one of our crew (Russell
Kohrs) managed to locate from a previous visit.
On the eighth day, we drove from Moab, Utah, to Ouray, Colorado. En route,
we passed through the Paradox Valley (so named because the Dolores River
cuts perpendicularly across the axis of the valley, reflecting its superposed
origin). We stopped for lunch in Telluride, Colorado, on the west flank
of the San Juan Mountains, and enjoyed the majestic mountain scenery there.
After reaching Ouray, we visited Box Falls Canyon and the Bachelor-Syracuse
silver mine. That evening, we enjoyed a swim in the municipal swimming
pool, fed by local hotsprings that had long ago been discovered by the
Utes (of whom Ouray was a chief).
On the ninth day, we spent the morning examining the stratigraphy of Late
Precambrian-Paleozoic section (San Juan Supergroup-Ignacio Sandstone-Leadville
Limestone) between Ouray and Silverton, locating some fluorite-sulfide
mineralization in the Leadville. Silverton, which is as close to a genuine
Old West town as any you are likely to find anywhere, was the starting
point for our excursion on the Durango-Silverton Narrow-Gauge Railroad.
The steam-engine-powered train descended through the cliff-lined Animas
River valley, sometimes on ledges hundreds of feet above the Animas River
(originally called the Rio de las Animas Perdidas, or River of Lost Souls,
and named with good reason). The trip was geologically interesting in
crossing the exhumed Precambrian Grenadier Highland and examining onlap
relationships with overlying Cambrian-Pennsylvanian-age strata.
Day 10 entailed a long drive from Durango to Royal Gorge, Colorado, with
several stops en route. The first was at Pagosa Springs, another hotspring
area long associated with the Utes, which had a very thorough geologic
exhibit explaining the origin of the springs. The second stop was at Great
Sand Dunes National Monument, at the foot of Medano Pass in the San Juan
Mountains, where we spent some time hiking the dunes and interdune areas
of the field, examining eolian landforms and sedimentary structures. We
then drove north along the San Luis Valley, a northern extension of the
Rio Grande Rift, and eastward along the Arkansas River to Royal Gorge.
We visited Royal Gorge early on the morning of Day 11, hiking across the
1000-foot-high bridge above the swiftly flowing Arkansas River. The gorge
is so narrow that it thwarted the westward advance of Zebulon Pike in
1805, causing him to detour around it, and precipitated a war between
the Denver-Rio Grande and the Atchison-Topeka-Santa Fe railroads in the
1880s over the rights to lay track through it. The gorge has been cut
into the Pikes Peak Granite where, probably, the Arkansas River eroded
headward to capture the upper part of the Rio Grande drainage. Later in
the day, we visited the Eocene-age lacustrine deposits of Florissant Fossil
Beds National Monument and the Cripple Creek mining district, where we
took a tour of the Mollie Kathleen gold mine. Let me note that this was
simply the best mine tour that I have ever been on: the guide was a true
hardrock miner who moonlighted as a tour guide, and (in contrast to most
mine tours) he demonstrated the operation of all of the compressed-air
drills, front loaders, and mine trams. We were pleased to have John and
Julie Ford join us for this portion of the trip. The following day, we
descended to Colorado Springs and then started the long drive east on
I-70.
Annual Four-Day Departmental Fieldtrip, Cache Creek Basin,
southern Illinois, Sept. 19-22, 2002, led by Profs. Barry Maynard &
Paul Potter
 
Mike Lewan, who participated on the fieldtrip this year, sent a complimentary
letter to fieldtrip leaders Barry Maynard and Paul Potter after the event:
“Barry and Paul,
I wanted to thank you for having me along on the Department's 4-Day field
trip. It was great visiting with you both. The trip had an excellent mix
of geomorphology, paleontology, structural geology, engineering geology,
sedimentology, economic geology and environmental geochemistry. It was
sort of a mini-summer field camp. It was great seeing John and Dave and
meeting Karl. The trip was enriched by the diversity of faculty members.
Where else can you get a geochemist, sedimentologist, stratigrapher, paleontologist
and mineralogist on the same field trip? I think it is wonderful that
the faculty continue to support this trip, which enhances the grad program
more than you realize.
I was very impressed with the grad students. Their actions, discussions,
and questions showed that they are obviously committed to geology, and
that they are good caring people. Diversity and passion are key ingredients
to a successful program and you have it in the students and faculty. If
you or the students have any questions in the future concerning organic
geochemistry, I hope you will feel comfortable in calling me.
Once again, thank you for including me, and all the best in the years
to come.
Take care, Mike”
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