A RAPIDLY EVOLVED FIELD NOTES SYSTEM

A system of taking field notes evolved rapidly from my field training as a student with the Tennessee Division of Geology, and mentor Robert H. Barnes. It emphasized careful observation and recording of accurately located data in a field notebook, and continued to evolve into the detailed geologic mapping and measuring mesoscopic structures (mostly bedding) as the major component of my Ph.D. dissertation, to detailed geologic mapping of previously unmapped areas in the interior of the southern Appalachians (and elsewhere) as a professional. All of this evolution in technique took place from the early to late 1960s. My technique for recording field data changes from making extensive observations and notes in a field book when I first begin working in an area, and am uncertain of the rock units, to reducing the amount of description to a shorthand of abbreviations for different rock types and mesoscopic structures once I gain a better feel for rock units. Also, at the beginning of each day, the date, name of the map where I am working, and a name of a feature where I am working to clue me in later when I have to go back and look for data. The rock unit abbreviation system partly includes both rock types and recognized units (e.g., ss for sillimanite schist, qzt for quartzite, MDc for Chattanooga Shale, bp for Brevard phyllonite, hgc for retrograde mylonitic Henderson Gneiss), numbers on Berol Verithin™ colored pencils (e.g., 745 for metagraywacke, 742 1/2 for muscovite-biotite schist), and even the names of colored pencils (e.g., Rose for biotite gneiss). Abbreviations for mesoscopic structures measured include FFF (flexural-flow fold axis), AS (fold axial surface), Junf (unfilled joint), Lmin (mineral lineation), V for vergence, and map symbols for planar structures. In reading numerous 1950s papers by John Ramsay, Nick Rast, and others on the Scottish Highlands, I recognized the importance of sketching structures, principally folds, in the field, and in doing so realized that, in the process of constructing an accurate drawing of a structure with it there in front of you, many elements of the structure that you might not otherwise see, or by just taking a photo (still useful), become clear. All drawings have a scale, and an indication of facing direction (e.g., looking NE) of the drawing.