GEOLOGY IN CONTEXT: AN INTRODUCTORY GEOLOGY COURSE WITH A MULTI-DISCIPLINARY FOCUS ON A FIELD TRIP TO YOSEMITE AND OWENS VALLEY

The Freshman Honors section of my Physical Geology course is focused on a 3-day field trip we take early in the semester through the Sierra foothills to Yosemite and Owens Valley (all within 3-4 hours drive from campus). Most of the lab units and all of the homework assignments are related to the trip. This trip allows us to study volcanic activity, intrusive igneous rocks, earthquakes, glaciation, hydrology, and mass wasting in a local and regional context. For example, topographic and geologic maps are studied utilizing maps of Yosemite and the Long Valley Caldera (LVC); igneous rocks and volcanic processes labs include material from Yosemite, LVC, and Devil’s Postpile. Post field-trip labs include a study of glacial landforms of Yosemite, analysis of recent stream flow data for areas visited and an analysis of current water composition (from collected samples) and the recent evolution of Mono Lake.

Homework assignments prior to the trip involve analysis of current and recent earthquake data as well as data related to recent and potential volcanic activity in Long Valley. Students study geologic maps of the areas to be visited and student pairs are assigned field trip stops for which they will be the “experts”. They prepare handouts and give presentations on the outcrop at their assigned stops.

The approach is also multi-disciplinary. Students read the selections from John Muir’s “My First Summer in the Sierra” describing his first view of Yosemite Valley and they write reflections relating it to their own experiences on the trip. In addition the students meet with the curator of a recent exhibit of paintings of Yosemite and the eastern Sierra to view the images and learn how artists visualize the landscapes we have visited.

As a final project, the students prepare a group presentation for the other section of the Physical Geology course on the geology of the areas visited, delivered during class at the end of the semester. The presentation requires them to synthesize, both individually and as a group, all the various aspects of the course and to develop (and explain) an understanding of the geologic history of this region. Thus, all of the students gain a better understanding of geology within this local/regional context.