MAPPING THE GLOBE: GEOLOGICALLY AND CULTURALLY

The Black Hills Natural Sciences Field Station has provided field camp training for geology students for more than 60 years. Expansion to include cross-cultural experiences began ten years ago with the first field camp held in Taskesti, Türkiye, a small rural town about 200 km east of Istanbul. There, in addition to gaining field skills in the challenging geology of the Tethys tectonic realm, students interact with the friendly people, culture and religion during mapping exercises at numerous villages. At the end of the five-week camp, it is common to hear students expressing the sentiment:, “This has been a life-changing experience”.

In the summer of 2013, 33 instructors and 228 students from 73 institutions across the USA, Canada, China, Turkey, South Korea, and Suriname mapped the geology ranging from volcanoes to fault zones in Hawaii, Turkey, Iceland, Nepal, India, Ecuador, the Galapagos Islands, and the Black Hills of South Dakota.

The students in Iceland Volcanology Field Camp develop a sense of the distinctiveness of the Icelandic culture and history, and the significance of geology in shaping that culture. They learn about the history of the country, including how tephrachronology has been critical in archaeology while studying volcanoes.

While mapping volcanic rocks high in the Andes as well as in the Galapagos Islands, the students encounter a variety of people and cultures while spending time in small mountain villages and in the city of Quito. It is particularly striking for the students to learn how the active volcanoes, which are such an important part of the life and culture in Ecuador and Galapagos Islands.

In Hawaii, students realize how Hawaiian culture and myths are interlaced with historical volcanic activity. Furthermore they appreciate the rich complexity of what initially appeared to be monotonous basaltic lava flows.

The camp in India takes students across colorful cultural boundaries while mapping variety of environments ranging from charnockites near Tiruvannamalai to shoreline contamination in mangroves on the coast of Andaman Islands.

In Nepal students live in tents and trek with Nepali porters and cooks sharing food and learning Nepali language as they map. The students climbed over 10,000 ft up the Annapurnas and encountered everything from low altitude jungles with monkeys to high alpine tundra.