A VIRTUAL FIELD EXPERIENCE TO GLACIER NATIONAL PARK, MONTANA (Invited Presentation)

Rick Diecchio's legacy extends far beyond the Appalachians, to the Northern Rocky Mountains. I teach a summer field course in Glacier National Park, Montana, for a graduate student cohort of science teachers, taking over 6 years ago from Rick. This course, offered through Montana State University's Master of Science in Science Education, was forced into a all-online format in July 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I constructed a virtual version of the course, a "virtual field experience" (VFE) at: https://opengeology.org/historicalgeology/virtual-field-experiences-vfes/vfe-glacier-national-park-montana/

The VFE has 3 parts: stratigraphy, structural geology, and glaciology. Each of these areas of focus is explored in depth with narrative text, photographs, maps, and diagrams, but also embedded interactive media including videos, virtual globes, photospheres, animated GIFs, Google Maps, gigapixel panoramas (GigaPans), virtual samples (GIGAmacros), and 3D models. Topics covered include:

(A) the depositional setting, stratigraphy, lithology, and primary sedimentary structures of the Mesoproterozoic Belt Supergroup get lots of attention, as well as Mississippian Madison Limestone (exposed at Sun River Canyon and Swift Dam, south of the Park), and syn-orogenic siliciclastic strata of the Western Interior Seaway (Cretaceous),

(B) the Sevier and Laramide Orogenies, which are contrasted in terms of timing, location, and deformational style. Numerous examples of overturned anticline/syncline pairs and thrust faults are illustrated, and

(C) evidence for Pleistocene glaciation left in the region, including landforms both erosional in nature (horns, arêtes, cirques, striations) and depositional (moraines, kettles, deranged drainage patterns, pater noster lakes). Finally, Pleistocene glaciogenic sediments are briefly considered, including till, alluvial outwash, and lacustrine silt. There is even an intriguing outcrop of glacially-deformed outwash sediments.

Many multiple choice self-assessment mini-quizzes are included as well as an open-ended summative quiz. The field course is again taught in person, but the VFE serves as preparatory reading material & reference material for the course's final synthesis paper. It also serves as an introduction to the Park's exemplary geology for anyone who accesses it online. I update the VFE each summer.