NOVA Annandale | Geology | Bentley GOL 295: Regional Field Geology of the Northern Rocky Mountains

This is a 2-week field course examining the geology of the Northern Rocky Mountains, USA. Dates will be June 25 to July 10, 2011. The trip will begin and end in Bozeman, Montana and will be co-taught with Pete Berquist (of Thomas Nelson Community College in Hampton, Virginia). Travel will be in two or three large vans, and accommodations will be a mix of dormitory residence (at Montana State University, Bozeman for four days) and camping (for ten days). Pre-trip meetings have been rescheduled for Sunday June 12 and Wednesday June 15, 6:30pm, in CS 217 (the geology lab on the Annandale campus).

Western Montana and Wyoming showcase tectonic, sedimentary, geomorphic, and volcanic features which provide world-class examples of geologic processes. Students in this course will complete field studies of locations in Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks, as well as several other field sites. The course will involve VERY STRENUOUS outdoor physical activity: Students are expected to hike several miles at high elevations in rough, cold mountainous terrain in order to accomplish course objectives. Airfare, lodging, transportation, & some group supplies are covered in the $1400 course fee (does NOT include tuition or food). Food will be bought and prepared in small (3-5 person) food groups which will be organized according to dietary preference. | Packing list | Resources

If you are interested in more details about this class, I want to hear from you. Shoot me an e-mail at:
We still have three spaces available If you want to join us, download the application here [PDF] or here [Word doc], fill it out, and then e-mail it to Callan at: .

Date	Day: topics, locations	Night spent at:	Specific lodging:	Car time:	Logistical notes:
25 June	Welcome; Gallatin Valley; Bridgers I - stratigraphy & structure	Bozeman - dorms	Hedges Hall, MSU	1 hour	Dinner at MacKenzie River Pizza
26 June	AM: Museum of the Rockies PM: Gallatin Range hike; glacial geomorph; Absaroka volcanics	Bozeman - dorms	Hedges Hall, MSU	1 hour
27 June	AM: Ringing Rocks and LaHood Conglomerate (Belt Supergroup) PM : Lewis & Clark Caverns	Bozeman - dorms	Hedges Hall, MSU	3 hours
28 June	Bridgers II: mapping in Sacagawea Cirque; Miss. fossils; glacial geomorphology	Bozeman - dorms	Hedges Hall, MSU	3 hours	laundry; shopping
29 June	AM: Paradise Valley - Pebble Creek PM: Beartooth Plateau	Yellowstone	Pebble Creek	2 hours
30 June	Tower Junction, tuffs, Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River, Mammoth Hot Springs	Yellowstone	Pebble Creek	3 hours
1 July	Hot springs, , other Yellowstone sites; Jackson Hole	Gros Ventre slide	GV Campground	5 hours	shopping, showers
2 July	Gros Ventre slide; Tetons hike; extensional faulting (B&R)	Tetons	GV Campground	2 hours
3 July	Old Faithful, Madison River slide; Madison Valley stream terraces; HR tuff, water gaps	Toll Mountain	Toll Mtn campground	4 hours
4 July	Butte: AM; Glacial Lake Missoula: PM (Mt. Jumbo hike)	Missoula	Babak's house	2.5 hours	laundry; shopping
5 July	Belt rocks near Bonner, klippe, glacial till; imbricate thrust sheets; stratigraphy, petroglyphs, great gray owls(?)	Sun River Canyon	FS campground	3.5 hours
6 July	Dinosaur paleontology tour; Cretaceous + Belt Strat, Purcell Sill, Going-to-the-Sun Road	Glacier NP	Johnson's	5 hours
7 July	Hike: Grinnell Glacier: glacial geomorphology, structure Belt Supergroup stratigraphy, oxidation interpretations; stromatolites	Glacier NP	Johnson's	1 hour	Dinner at Johnson's rest.
8 July	Driving back to Bozeman; Dorado thrust features; Ship rocks home	Bozeman - dorms	Hedges Hall, MSU	6 hours
9 July	Hike to the summit of Sacagawea Peak; clean & store equipment	Bozeman - dorms	Hedges Hall, MSU	1 hour
10 July	Flight back home from Bozeman airport (early morning departure)	(flight home)

Some more details on study locations (in no particular order):
1. Yellowstone National Park, WY. Yellowstone is the world’s best example of a hotspot located beneath continental crust – essentially a “supervolcano” – and the largest concentration of geothermal features anywhere on this continent. Students will experience “traditional” sights like Old Faithful but also learn the local volcanic layers in depth, and map out volcanic features. Hyperthermophile microbes will be considered, and time will be made for wildlife watching in the Lamar Valley ("Serengeti of North America," featuring wolves and grizzly bears).
2. Quake Lake site, Madison River, MT. A classic landslide locality, when seismic waves of the 1959 Hebgen Lake earthquake triggered a landslide in schist bedrock, damming the Madison River. Nearby fault scarp exposures will also be examined and interpreted. We will be there about a month before the 50th anniversary of this tragic event. (More info here)
3. Teton National Park, WY. One of the classic scenic vistas of the western US is of the Teton Range rising above Jackson Hole. The geologic story of this region includes ancient mountain-building, recent faulting, glaciation and tar sand deposits in Pinedale. (More info here)
4. Gros Ventre landslide, near Kelly, WY. Saturated bedrock collapsed into the Gros Ventre Valley in 1925. This classic landslide was triggered by an earthquake and dammed the Gros Ventre River, resulting in a catastrophic failure of the dam in 1927.
5. Museum of the Rockies, Bozeman, MT. A modern interpretation of dinosaur fossils, and includes several displays that are much better than the Smithsonian. (More info here)
6. Bridger Range, MT. This mountain range has excellent examples of Mississippian-aged fossils, geologic structures (like folds and faults), and glacially-carved landforms. We will train for high-altitude hiking in the Bridgers during the early part of the trip.
7. Ringing Rocks, MT. An igneous intrusion with strange resonance.
8. Lewis and Clark Caverns, MT. Cool vertical cave with a wealth of speleothems.
9 . Berkeley Pit, Butte, MT. The most costly part of the country’s largest Superfund site is the Berkeley Pit, a massive open-pit copper mine (1.5 miles wide!). Students will learn about how copper ore gets emplaced, how it gets mined, what went wrong in Butte (rendering it such a huge environmental disaster), and how the EPA is responding.
10. Egg Mountain paleontological site, MT. Fossils of dinosaurs and their eggs. Egg Mountain is the first location in the world where nest-tending behavior among dinosaurs was documented.
11. Glacial Lake Missoula, MT. During the height of the last Ice Age, much of western Montana was drowned beneath an enormous ice-dammed lake. Ancient shorelines of this lake can easily be seen on the hillsides above the University of Montana. When the ice dam broke, the glacial lake flooded across eastern Washington State.
12. Idaho Batholith, western MT/eastern ID. Felsic igneous rocks emplaced during the Mesozoic, contemporaneous with California's Sierra Nevada.
13. Glacier National Park, MT. Stratigraphy of the 1.5-billion year old sedimentary layers of the Belt Supergroup (including some of the oldest fossils in North America), Cretaceous-aged thrust faulting, and spectacular glacial erosional features (the best I have seen outside of Alaska). Students can observe first hand the increased rates of glacial retreat on a hike to Grinnell Glacier.
14. Sun River Canyon, MT. Some of the most amazing imbricated thrust sheets you'll ever see, all shingled up on top of one another, twelve deep.

Packing list: (No more & no less!)

Personal gear

Sleeping bag - Comfortable for temperatures that can/will get down to the 20s (F). Down mummy bags are best.
Foam pad or Therma-rest - Foam pads are more bulky, but they don't pop, which Therma-rests can do.
'Crazy Creek' style chair that integrates with your Therma-rest (for wolf watching sessions, plus general comfort around camp) (optional)
Tent - should be shared with 1-2 other people
Dufflebag - For packing your gear in. No need for a backpacking backpack: we won't be backpacking..
Daypack - For daily field excursions. May be integrated with a "Camelbak" style hydration system.
Rain jacket - Waterproof, preferably Gore-tex, preferably with "pit-zips" for aeration.
Sun hat - Wide brim.
Sun glasses - The western sky yields intense sun. No joke here: have a good pair of sunglasses.
Sunblock - A good tube of sunblock. (Can be shared; can easily be replaced if used up.)
Lip balm - something with an SPF >15
Bandana - to tie around your neck to protect it from sun
Good field boots, with ankle support (NOT sneakers); Break these in before the trip.
Six pairs of clean/dry socks (I strongly recommend Smartwool)
Six pairs of underwear
Lightweight field pants (2)
Shorts (1 pair)
Breathable long-sleeve shirts (2)
T-shirts (2)
Fleece pullover or wool sweater for layering
Down vest for layering (down packs down to a very small volume, and is unmatched in insulative value)
Longsleeved thermal undershirt for evenings in camp, sleeping
Warm hat for evenings and cold weather that may hit during field work.
Bathing suit
Towel
Flip-flops or sandals (for public showers and general camp use)
Compact, lightweight backpacking stove (should be shared with other students)
Fuel for stove (fuel will be purchased in Bozeman, NOT taken on the airplane from NOVA)
Cookware (pots & pans; should be shared)
Personal eating gear: bowl + spoon; thermal mug
Personal toiletries kit: Soap, toothbrush, etc.
Money for food

Field gear

Wristwatch
Capacity for four liters of water (I use two 1-liter Nalgenes and one 2-liter Camelbak "bladder")
Rock hammer (we have a few to loan out if you don't want to buy your own)
10x Hand lens (like a Bausch & Lomb Hastings Triplet)
A field notebook - Rite in the Rain makes a notebook specifically for geologists, though I prefer their 'grid' notebook.
Two mechanical pencils (0.5 mm), one with hard lead that won’t smear in your field notebook and one for mapping contacts on your topographic sheet - bring extra lead
Erasers (tube erasers are best, the kind that look like mechanical pencils)
Colored pencils (can be shared with 1 other student)
Protractor
Pocket knife
Camera (preferably small, digital, with a large memory chip)
Shockproof camera case (Mine is made by AccuCase.)
One waterproof marker (Sharpie twin-tip in black or red)
Small first aid kit - required for each student; see below.
Small flashlight or head lamp (not left in your tent) and extra batteries
Neck lanyard for hand lens, safety pins, pencils, tube eraser, etc.
Clipboard with extra binder clips on three edges and a large Zip-loc freezer bag for rainy days
Field belt or Field pouch for your field book, extra pens/pencils, etc. (Plateau Design makes a good one), although...
...Some geologists prefer a field vest (Filson’s field vest is a favorite)
A whistle is also a good idea for emergency signaling.
Duct tape makes a great emergency adhesive
Toilet paper - a small roll for outdoor bathroom stops
Bear spray (optional; active ingredient = capsaicin. We will rent this in Bozeman - it is not allowed on airplanes.)
Binoculars (optional; makes wildlife viewing better. If you're going to carry 'bins' in the field, they may as well be good ones. I'm a huge fan of the Eagle Optics "Rangers" - 10x35)

First aid supplies for trauma care:

Several assorted sizes of adhesive strips (Band-aids), including some large ones
One rolled Ace bandage (elastic wrap)
Waterproof medical tape (1- and 2-inch rolls)
Several assorted sizes of non-stick sterile dressings (gauze pads)
Alcohol (or other antiseptic) wipes
Several small safety pins (attached to your hand-lens lanyard)
Triple antibiotic ointment (over-the-counter, like Bacitracin or Neosporin)
Pain / anti-inflammatory medication (your choice; Some people have allergies, so follow whatever your doctor recommends.)
Moleskin or molefoam or other pads and bandages for blisters on your feet
Other prescription or non-prescription medications (decongestant for hay fever, antacid, throat lozenges, etc.)

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