INTERNATIONAL FIELD EXPERIENCE IN THE BAHAMAS: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDY OF THE GEOLOGY AND BIOLOGY OF CARBONATE SYSTEMS

The Bahamian Island of San Salvador presents itself as a natural field environment for student learning. Spring 2015 will mark our 8^th field session on San Salvador Island as an upper level undergraduate elective course for Missouri S&T geology students. This will also be our 4^th session where geology students will be integrated with a parallel course from the Missouri S&T biology department. Both courses hold weekly meetings during the spring semester preceding travel to the Island to discuss relevant topics from the open literature. These discussions help students build up their understanding of geologic and biologic features before their actual visit, thus allowing them to focus on the experiential learning component during their week-long stay on the Island.

San Salvador Island provides world-class exposures of fossilized coral reef and beach facies environments formed during the Sangamon interglacial (~125,000 ybp). Students examine the 3D aspects of these exposures during morning mapping exercises, followed by afternoon dives to modern reef and intertidal zones along the Island’s perimeter. A variety of inland features are also accessible for field investigation include tidal lagoons, modern and fossilized dune structures, karst features including sea and solution caves, unconformities recording transitions between transgressive and regressive seas, paleosols, and hypersaline lakes containing microbialites and organic-rich sediments. Course modules can easily be developed around theme of the carbon cycle, carbonate biogeochemistry, carbonate stratigraphy, formation of petroleum deposits and reservoir rocks, effects of climate and sea level change, biomineralization, shore erosion and deposition processes, fragile water resources, and environmental stewardship of marine ecosystems.

The Gerace Research Centre (The College of The Bahamas) has been operating an educational and research support institution on the Island for more than 30 years. The Centre provides all lodging, meals, vehicle transport, laboratory space, and some research equipment for a modest fee. The full coverage of logistical support provided by the Gerace Centre and affiliated staff allows visiting faculty educators to devote their efforts fully into the educational process for their students.