GEOLOGY AND THE INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE: SOUTH DAKOTA SCHOOL OF MINES AND TECHNOLOGY (SDSMT) FIELD CAMP AT TASKESTI, TURKIYE: A FACULTY PERSPECTIVE

For 11 field seasons, SDSMT has offered a five week field experience within the Tethyan orogenic realm of northwestern Turkey. Lodging along the North Anatolian fault at Taskesti Research station, in Bolu Province, is provided by AFAD, the Turkish government Disaster & Emergency Management Presidency, equivalent to the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency. Lodging within this small traditional town, approximately 200 km east of Istanbul, provides students an opportunity to interact with local culture and people while practicing and learning geological aspects in the region.

In the first year seven students attended, an insufficient number to pay salaries and costs of all faculty. Currently, enrollment is capped at 22, the maximum capacity of the field station. Although all students have been eager for a foreign field camp experience, the recent requirement of completion of undergraduate Mineralogy, Petrology, Stratigraphy and Structural Geology with a B average has resulted in a noticeable change in the average student preparedness and resulted in a decrease in faculty grading time.

The course has evolved in regard to staff understanding of geology, interaction with Turkish governmental agencies, the development of the student cadre and the cultural experiences which give extra dimensions to the camp. Staffing requires at least one Turkish-speaker to develop the logistical aspects regarding food, transportation and daily maintenance of the unexpected and at least one person (others develop these skills with repeated participation) who knows the general geology of the region.

In the semi-arid landscape of central Turkey, weekly mapping adventures lead to increasingly complex features, the last week of which brings the student to the North Anatolian fault in the green Pontid Mountains. Multiple seasons in the same area have allowed the faculty to learn details of the project so as to prepare appropriate supporting lectures and to know the tough spots which will require additional guidance for the neophyte mapper.

All food, transportation, medical and social needs and activities require daily interaction with the community by both faculty and students. Student interactions with the Muslim community seem to be associated with more focus on the geological aspects of the camp experience as well.