GEOLOGY FIELD CAMP IN ITALY: A NEW INTERNATIONAL FIELD EXPERIENCE IN GEOLOGIC MAPPING AND GEOLOGIC HAZARDS

The newly established field camp, run as an international collaboration between George Mason University (GMU) and the University of Camerino (Unicam), offers students a unique study abroad educational experience paired with a traditional summer geology field course. This program is set in the central Apennine Mountains, based in the town of Camporotondo di Fiastrone. Field projects are coordinated and co-led by GMU faculty with Unicam professors and research staff to build a multidisciplinary and international approach to field geology education. The first portion of this course focuses on traditional bedrock mapping in the structurally complex carbonates of the Mesozoic Marche/Umbria succession. After this initial introduction to the regional geology, the program progresses into applied topics, requiring students to use their knowledge of the lithological and tectonic setting to identify, map, and evaluate seismic, landslide, and volcanic hazards. During this portion of the course, students map active and capable faults of the Central Apennine Fault system and assess damage from the Amatrice-Visso-Norcia earthquakes of 2016 and map modern and ancient landslides and slope deformations. After a project on deep marine and shallow water clastic sedimentary systems, the students then move to western Italy to consider case study areas of the Campanian and Roman volcanic provinces, including the recent Vesuvius activity as observed from the top of the stratovolcano, pyroclastic deposits in Pompeii, Phlegrean fields deposits, Maar volcanism in the Albani Hills, and their flow and fall deposits. Based on a successful inaugural offering of this field course with 16 students participating, the plan is to offer this Italian geology field camp annually in June.