MAPPING THE GLOBE: GEOLOGICALLY AND CULTURALLY

The Black Hills Natural Sciences Field Station (BHNSFS) has provided field camp training for geology students for more than 60 years in the Black Hills of South Dakota and, since 1980, has been located at the Ranch A field station, near Beulah, WY.

In 2003 it was decided to expand the goal of the summer experience to include cross-cultural experiences: this began with the camp held in Taskesti, a small rural town about 200 km east of Istanbul, Turkey. Weekly projects there examine aspects of the Tethyan terrain, e.g., Jurassic and Cretaceous strata of the Sakarya microcontinent, Paleocene granite in Sivrihisar magmatic belt, Post-Tethyan Tertiary strata and structure of the Haymana basin, as well as the tectonics of contrasting terrains (metamorphic vs. sedimentary) across the North Anatolian fault.

Subsequently, field camps specializing in the environment, petroleum geology, volcanology, volcanic hazards, and geomorphology have been added, selected from excellent locations worldwide. In 2015, 38 instructors and 268 students from 103 institutions across the USA mapped geology, including folds, volcanoes, active faults, and metamorphic terrains in Hawaii, Turkey, Iceland, Nepal, India, Ecuador, the Galapagos Islands, Death Valley and the Black Hills of South Dakota and Wyoming.

We believe that the combined exposure to both geology and the cultures and religions of friendly peoples, dominantly in the more rural settings, results in a deeper level of learning. At the end of the international camps it is common to hear students expressing the sentiment: “This has been a life-changing experience”.