Cultural Geology: Connecting the Geological Sciences with Human Activities and Enlarging the Audience for Our Discipline

Cultural geology is a concept that explores the intersection of geology and human activity. This concept has been explored and developed in a series of symposia held at meetings of the North-Central Section of the Geological Society of America. Topics embraced within this broad conceptual framework include stone used for buildings, monuments, and gravestones; ecclesiastical geology; gemstones; historic cement, mortar, and concrete; pottery and other archaeological materials; human shaping of terrain; geology and warfare; the terroir of fermented and distilled drinks; and the relationship of the geological and geographical landscape to the development of cities, towns, and college campuses. It can include investigations of the surface, subsurface, and built environment, exploring the relationship of bedrock and sediment to siting of core-city structures and the unfolding of historical events.

Meeting-related fieldtrip texts that explicitly explore such topics have been published for Akron, Ohio (whose core is located on a geological high) and Evansville, Indiana (built on the bluffs above an oxbow). A walking-tour brochure on the building stones and cultural geology of downtown Akron (based on the more extensive guidebook) has been developed with the aid of the Department of Geology and Environmental Science of the University of Akron under the sponsorship of the University, the City of Akron, and the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. This brochure has been utilized in city-sponsored trolley trips led by University of Akron faculty. Michael Velbel of Michigan State University has developed a successful program on the cultural geology of the Michigan State University campus as an honors research seminar, demonstrating the concept's use as a way of engaging students, the broader campus community, and alumni. Thus, as a concept that links familiar materials and sites with geological concepts, cultural geology has the potential of enlarging the audience for our discipline.