INTEGRATING SEDIMENTOLOGY/STRATIGRAPHY AND STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY/TECTONICS UNDERGRADUATE COURSES INTO A TWO-SEMESTER BASIN & DEFORMATION ANALYSIS SEQUENCE

Over the past five years at Lafayette College we have combined the two intermediate- and upper-level core geology courses of sedimentology/stratigraphy & structural geology/tectonics into a full-year, team-taught integrated sequence. We do this by emphasizing the coupled nature of depositional and deformational processes and history with heavy emphasis on field study.

Like many sed/strat undergraduate courses, our spring offering explores processes of sediment generation, transport, and deposition across terrestrial and marine environments. We also investigate stratigraphic principles and paleoenvironmental interpretation through intensive field study close to campus. Within this framework we now emphasize tectonic settings early on in the course plan, particularly focusing on how they create dynamic depositional basins. In this way, our sed/strat course incorporates traditional structural geology and tectonics topics toward a deeper exploration of basin analysis concepts.

The fall semester structure/tectonics course is also similar to many in its coverage of stress/strain concepts, brittle and ductile deformation, and regional tectonics, for example. We do this again with heavy emphasis on exposures near campus, some being the same localities studied in the spring sed/strat course. Within this structure/tectonics course plan we now integrate concepts in sequence stratigraphy, syndepositional deformation, and petroleum geology throughout the semester. In this way, our structure/tectonics course combines the study of sedimentary and structural relationships among rock bodies toward more fully understanding coupled geologic processes and history.

We culminate the year-long sequence with a 5-day field project in Wyoming where students apply their field, conceptual, and literature research skills toward developing a complete report on the depositional and deformational history of the Sheep Mountain area of the Bighorn Basin.

We see the major pedagogical advantages of this course merger as helping our students (1) recognize that the traditional sub-disciplines of geology do not exist in isolation and (2) develop into geologists with experience in synthesizing disparate data from field and literature research.