On the Triassic rift valley trip, you can visit deep quarries that reveal the structure of the Earth.

GOL 135, section 066: 1 credit
Triassic-Jurassic rift valley of northern VA
One full day trip Sat., July 19 to the Manassas/ Leesburg/ Haymarket area to study the geology of the Mesozoic rift basin. Stops will consider quarry and roadside outcroppings of rocks, dinosaur tracks, stratigraphy and structures.

GOL 135, section 071N: 1 credit
Geology of Sideling Hill & Paw Paw, MD/WV
One-day field trip Sat., May 31. The course will examine the geology of the dramatic Sideling Hill roadcut on Interstate 68 in western Maryland. Exposed there are Mississippian sedimentary rocks that have been folded by the Appalachian mountain-building event. We will also visit the entrenched meanders of the Potomac River known as the Paw Paw Bends, and observe folding mechanisms in the Brallier Formation at the C&O Canal’s Paw Paw Tunnel. More details

On the Calvert Cliffs trip, you can visit find fossils from the Miocene epoch of geologic time, when enormous sharks swam lived the mid-Atlantic region.

GOL 135, section 062N: 1 credit
Miocene fossils of Calvert Cliffs, MD
One full day trip Thursday, 5/29 to the Calvert Cliffs of southern Maryland. This field trip will consider the Miocene fossils, sedimentation, stratigraphy, and paleoenvironments exposed along the western shores of the Chesapeake Bay.

GOL 135, section 073N: 1 credit
Bedrock geology of Washington, DC
One-day field trip Sat., June 7. This trip will focus on the land upon which the capital city is built, including exposures in Rock Creek Park, Georgetown, and Adams-Morgan. Includes discussion of oceanic sediments, the Rock Creek shear zone, igneous rocks emplaced during Appalachian mountain-building, Cretaceous river gravels, dinosaur bones and recent faulting. More details

The National Mall in Washington, DC, showcases buildings made out of a variety of interesting rock types, like the Seneca Sandstone that was used to construct the Smithsonian castle.

GOL 135, section 065N: 1 credit
Building stones of the National Mall, DC
One full day walking tour Sat., June 7 of the National Mall in Washington, DC. This urban walking tour will consider the geologic and architectural history of the DC Mall region, and the rocks used in federal buildings and monuments located there.

On the Shenandoah trip, instructor Callan Bentley explains how a weird green rock indicates an ancient volcanic eruption followed by Appalachian mountain-building.

GOL 135, section 060N: 1 credit
Geology of Shenandoah National Park, VA
FULL TO CAPACITY One-day field trip Sat., May 24. This field trip will examine the geology of the Shenandoah National Park in VA from the granites underlying Old Rag to the lava floods of the Catoctin Formation and include an overview of the tectonic setting of the Park including the Formation of the Appalachians, an event that completed the assembly of the supercontinent Pangea. More details

GOL 105, section 040N: 4 credits
Physical Geology
(Mon & Wed, 11-1:50; 3-5:50). This introductory course introduces students to the planet Earth. You live here, so you might as well know something about your home planet. Physical Geology emphasizes the “nuts and bolts” of the way the world works. Topics of discussion include rocks and minerals, earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, deserts, glaciers, plate tectonics, and geologic resources. Meets the lab science requirement.

Hiking along the Billy Goat Trail is both a geological and physical adventure!

GOL 135, section 061N: 1 credit
Geology of the Billy Goat Trail, C&O Canal NHP, MD
One-day field trip Sat., August 2. This field trip will examine the geology of Maryland's Bear Island, considering the metamorphic and igneous rocks exposed by the river, sedimentary deposits, and the cutting of Mather Gorge and Great Falls by the Potomac River. Note: This trip involves strenuous hiking over very rough terrain. 1 credit. More details

GOL 295, section 060N: 4 credits
Mid-Atlantic field geology
(for educators & others)
Second summer session: Thursdays 2 - 8:20 PM. A 4-credit lecture-lab-field "hybrid" course ideal for local geoscience educators and others interested in mid-Atlantic geologic history. Considers local outcroppings of WV-VA-DC-MD strata as a natural “field laboratory” for understanding how geologists reconstruct earth history. Meets the lab science requirement.

On the day of the field trip, the 2007 Snowball Earth class poses in Goose Creek.

GOL 299, section 071N: 2 credits
Snowball Earth
The Pleistocene Ice Age was the proving ground for our species. But an earlier episode of glaciation, dubbed Snowball Earth, stretches our conception of what the limits of climate change are: the ice reached from the Earth's poles to its equator! Scientists infer that the freezing event was ended due to volcano-induced global warming. The course examines the geologic, chemical, and biologic evidence for Snowball Earth. This course meets 8/4 to 8/10: three evenings (MWF, 6-9pm) and one Saturday field trip to local Snowball glacial deposits. More details

A marble quarry near Baltimore, Maryland, reveals an important source of building stones: visit it (and more!) on the Baltimore trip.

GOL 135, section 068N: 1 credit
Building stones, quarries, & outcrops of Baltimore, MD
One full day trip Sun., August 3 to Baltimore, MD’s metro area & historic marble quarries. This urban-quarry-outcrop tour will consider the geologic and architectural history of the region, and the rocks used to construct the buildings and monuments located there and in DC.

GOL 299, section 061N: 2 credits
Natural history and environmental processes of the Chesapeake Bay
A 2-day (Mon., July 7 and Mon., July 21) oceanographic field course that considers the natural history and modern environmental processes of the Chesapeake Bay includes outside readings, on-campus lecture/lab, coastal studies, and a boat trip on the Bay.