GO 547/ES 747 Announcements

• July 1: Field geology is complete! Grades are submitted; students may pick up their final reports and collections this coming week. Have a nice summer!

Note: Your instructor will be in Slovakia and Poland, July 11th til Sept. 3rd. Email service may be delayed at times. Fall semester courses will begin Sept. 4th.
• June 25: Several items were found in the vans and condos, including two Jacob's staffs, a textbook, a Cuchara coffee mug, and more. Please see your instructor to claim lost items. The GSA lab is available for student work this week; two Colorado map posters are in the lab for reference.

  Your instructor will be "in" Monday and Tuesday afternoons for students to review their Blue/Bear Lakes reports. He will probably be out of town on Wednesday, however.

• June 24: We have returned to Kansas after completing our travel and work in Colorado. The last week of the course is devoted to finishing independent projects. Final reports, maps, and collections are due Friday, June 29.

Field geology photos from Colorado.

• June 8: We have completed our field work in the Flint Hills of Kansas and now are ready to move into the Rocky Mountains of southern Colorado. Meet in north parking lot at 7 o'clock Sunday morning for the trip westward and upward. Your Matfield Green map/report is due at that time.

  Next week's weather at Cuchara, Colorado is forecast for lows in the 40s, highs in the 70s, and chances for scattered thunderstorms early in the week.

Final photos from the Flint Hills (page down).

• June 6: Even gale-force wind could not deter our field observations today! Tomorrow we will complete the Matfield Green mapping area--meet in north parking lot at 7:30 am. We will review your Kahola map/report results tomorrow afternoon in the field. Then Friday will be a "lab day" to study airphotos and work on your Matfield Green map/report, which is due upon departure for Colorado (Sunday morning).

  Looking forward to Colorado--see temporary map cases on the first floor of Science Hall. Cases 2, 3 & 8 have various maps of Colorado, courtesy of Geo2. Also begin looking through your textbook on plate tectonics of the U.S. southwest. See in particular chapters: 1, 3, 5, 7, 8. Focus especially on those portions dealing with the southern Colorado region. Students should print out the Rocky Mts. field-trip guidebook (course web page) to take with you to Colorado.

• June 5: As noted in class today, we move up the starting schedule tomorrow--meet in north parking lot at 7:30 am. High temp in the upper 80s with a strong south wind. We will begin field work at the northern end of the study area. Your Lake Kahola map and report are due tomorrow.

Photos from the Matfield Green vicinity (page down).

• June 3: The coming week is forecast for good weather--high temps in the 80s and sunny skies through most of the week. Be prepared to put in a full day of field work at Lake Kahola on Monday. Meet in north parking lot at 8 am.

  We may need Tuesday morning to finish up Kahola, depending on progress Monday, then we will proceed to the Matfield Green mapping area at the Cattle Pens exit on the Turnpike. Two and a half days of field work should be sufficient to complete the second mapping area. Your first map and report on Lake Kahola will be due on Wednesday; the second map and report will be due upon departure to Colorado.

  Note: students who were waiting for financial aid, need to pay their special fee this week.

• June 1: Rain today with a flash flood watch in effect--field trip is canceled. Students should work in the GSA lab on airphotos, joint measurements, and preliminary reports.

More field geology photographs for 2007.

• May 29: Tomorrow is forecast to be another rain day (60% probability), while Thursday should be nicer (only 20% rain). Meet Wednesday in the GSA lab for demonstrations of airphotos and computer software. Mercury and platinum teams come at 10 o'clock; bronze, cobalt & silver teams come at 11 o'clock. We should be finished by noon. Meanwhile continue to acquire field equipment and read guidebook information, etc.

Initial field geology photographs for 2007.

• May 28: First class meeting tomorrow at 8:30 am in the Geospatial Analysis Lab (SH 16). Full payment of special course fee is due along with physical exam and health insurance information.

  Conditions at Cuchara, Colorado: lots of snow above 10,000 feet, some county and forest service roads still closed, and many mountain trails impassable. Most of our study sites should be open by mid-June, but parts of the high alpine zone may yet be inaccessible.

  	Late May snow at Cuchara Mountain Resort with heavy snow in the forest beyond. Elevation ~9000 feet.
  	Ice lingers on Bear Lake as snow falls, elevation ~10,420 feet. Bear/Blue Lakes is one of our primary mapping sites.
  	Snow removal equipment stands by to clear the road to Cordova Pass. Cordova Pass (11,248 feet) is a key point for observing regional geology.
  	Heavy snow in the alpine zone of the Culebra Range. Mariquita Peak (13,405 feet) above and old mine prospects below.
  	Snow blocks forest service road to old mine prospects on the side of Mt. Maxwell.

• May 15: Our initial class meeting will be Tuesday morning, May 29th. Come to the Geospatial Analysis Lab (SH 16) @ 8:30 am. We will review course procedures during the morning, then head out to Lake Kahola in afternoon for an introduction to the Flint Hills.

  All students should be prepared to pay the special fee, provide a physical exam, and give health insurance information. Note: your instructor will be out of town and away from email until the start of the course.

• April 2: This week is the deadline for the initial fee deposit. All students should arrange for a medical exam and health insurance prior to the start of the course--see syllabus for complete details. Also note upcoming deadline for scholarship applications.

• Field geology will be offered again during the summer session 2007. See the course homepage for general information and schedule details. A preliminary deposit of $100 is due by April 6th in order to reserve a place in the course.

Return to field geology syllabus.
GO 547/ES 767 © J.S. Aber (2007).