A YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK MAGMATIC SYSTEM VIRTUAL FIELD TRIP FOR INTRODUCTORY GEOLOGY COLLEGE COURSES

Virtual field trips are quickly becoming a new, integral part of geoscience education in the modern age. As an alternative to traditional field trips, virtual field trips provide a cheap, effective, and engaging experience that is accessible for students, teachers, and informal audiences of all backgrounds, no matter the reason why they cannot visit the field. We have developed a free virtual field trip website for Yosemite National Park that is geared toward educating introductory geology college students about the nature of magmatic systems. Yosemite is an exceptional location for a virtual field trip due to the excellent exposure of the 95-85 Ma Tuolumne Intrusive Complex (TIC) magma system. The TIC is a nested, normal zoned intrusive complex composed of three plutonic rock units that formed through incremental growth of multiple magmatic pulses, utilizing the same/similar magma pathway over 10 myrs. Today, these rock units are represented by equigranular diorite and granodiorite to porphyritic granodiorite and granite compositions, the latter containing megacrystic K-feldspar. The TIC exposes a significant amount of magmatic structures at the outcrop scale including dikes, enclaves, schlieren layers, and stoped blocks of the metamorphic host rock that inform about how magma systems operate at depth. After traveling to Yosemite in 2019 to obtain media on the TIC, the website began development on the free website builder, “Wix”. The website begins by introducing the viewer to basic geologic concepts, including geologic time, incremental magmatic growth, the rock cycle, mineralogy, and other major concepts pertinent to introductory geology courses. As the virtual field trip progresses and a firm background of understanding of basic geology is established, the website educates the viewer on the minerals in the TIC rocks as well as the various magmatic structures these rocks display. Various interactive strategies are implemented throughout the website including quizzes, maps, animations, lab demonstrations with analogue models, and descriptive videos to explain these structures. The goal of this project is to not only educate the public on the geology of Yosemite, but to excite and appeal to non-scientific audiences in a way that is accessible and requires critical thought, application, and understanding.