 
|
Field Camp Dates Wednesday, May 14, 2008 through Friday, June 13, 2008 INCLUSIVE (We are no longer accepting applications.) Reasons to choose the Buffalo Geology Field Program: ...because it's a traveling camp! The projects cover a large
section of the central Rocky Mountains and include various rock types having
different structural settings; thus, you receive a breadth of exposure not generally
available from geology camps with fixed field stations.
...because it's in the Western US! The outcrop exposure is outstanding,
allowing you to spend your time thinking about the geometry and spatial distribution
of rocks (rather than vegetation). Of course, it's some of the most spectacular
geology as well!
...because it's relatively inexpensive when compared to most
other field camps!
...because it's four weeks long, and right at the beginning
of the summer break (you'll be finished on June 13th)! You will still
have plenty of time to work (or play) for the rest of the summer!
...because you will be taught by four different faculty instructors
(with more than 25 total years of experience teaching field camps). More instructors
means more geological expertise, a wider exposure to subtle differences in geological
mapping styles, and lots of good campfire stories!
A view of the "golf course" and other sedimentary rock formations in the Canyonlands area at the second map site. Cost The 2008 camp fee be $1435. The camp fee covers the cost of food, transportation
while at camp, and all camp operating expenses for your four-week excursion,
including the motels used during travel between map sites. Upon acceptance into
the Program, you will be asked to submit a non refundable deposit of $400. This
non refundable deposit will reserve your position in the Program and is accepted
on a first-come, first-serve basis. We can only take 41 students maximum! The
non refundable balance of your camp fee ($1035) is due March 31, 2007.
In addition to the camp fee, tuition for the course will be billed to you by
the University at Buffalo Office of Student Accounts sometime during the summer
(see below).
Tuition
Transportation Travel costs "to Denver" before the course and "from Denver" after the course are at the student's expense. Students are responsible for their own travel arrangements to and from Denver. All of the transportation within field camp is covered through the camp fee. Camp Format Students and staff camp in tents while at map sites. Each campsite has outdoor portable toilets. On travel days “hotel stays” students are able to shower and cleanup. The camp doesn't provide showers but students can bring their own solar shower if they so choose. Good hygiene is important and most students can get by using wet ones or baby wipes until a shower is available. PHYSICAL AND SAFETY REQUIREMENTS FOR UB GEOLOGY FIELD CAMP (Click Here For More Information) The course is an intensive 4-week program of immersion in the methods of geological field mapping. Students camp during the majority of this time. Participants are in the field all day (9 AM to 4PM) during most days and are engaged in strenuous physical activity over most of this time. Campsites are: Rimrock, Colorado -- a "dude" ranch on the banks of the Colorado River, near Fruita Dugout Ranch, Utah -- a private ranch surrounded by awesome Wingate Formation
mesas
Dinosaur National Park, Utah -- near spectacular Split Mountain
Q-Creek Ranch, Central Wyoming -- a private ranch
in the middle of nowhere
Hanging out at the Dugout Ranch (our second camp site). Program Highlights and Details The University at Buffalo Geology Field Program is open to upper division geology and environmental science students enrolled at any college or university. The purpose of of the course is to develop observational and mapping skills. The curriculum of the camp is focused on mapping surficial deposits (first 9 days) and folded & faulted, sedimentary rocks (remaining 22 days). Geological field trips and mappings exercises are located at four distinctly different physiographic and geological localities in the United States: western Colorado; Canyonlands, Utah; Dinosaur National Monument, Utah; and Medicine Bow, Wyoming. The field program has taught over 1,320 students over the past 30 years. The gender distribution is usually 50 percent women and 50 percent men. Last year there were 40 students total from 12 different academic institutions. Usually about 65% of the students are from schools other than Buffalo. The camp has maintained the concept of a rustic, mobile, outdoor program, and students and staff live in tents while at mapping sites, and food is prepared at the camp site by staff. Enrolled students are encouraged to come prepared for the weather variations and to enjoy the outdoor way of life while learning principles of geologic mapping. Students arrive in Denver on Wednesday, May 14th (the day before the field program officially begins), and stay overnight at a prearranged motel near the airport. The cost of this hotel stay, like the several other nights in hotels, is covered by the camp fee. Students who arrive at the Denver airport on the 14th prior to 10 pm will have the cost of a shuttle to the hotel paid for by the camp fee-- later arrivals must cover this transportation cost on their own. The following morning, students board vans and begin a geological transect though central and western Colorado. We will stop as several spectacular spots (including the igneous terranes in the San Juan Mountains and the basaltic flows in the central Rocky Mountains)to examine the regional geology and discuss some of the features you'll see during field camp. Stops throughout the Colorado Rocky Mountains provide background on both structural style and stratigraphy. That evening we will set up our first base camp just outside of Colorado National Monument in Fruita, Colorado, along the banks of the Colorado River We will stay in this beautiful spot for nine days!! 
Walking With Dinosaurs We conduct two inter-related exercises in the vicinity of Colorado National Monument. Working with aerial photos and topographic maps, students learn to determine stratigraphic relationships in the field, map surficial deposits, and gather data to determine the geological history of the area. During the first project, students will map Gunnison and Colorado River terraces near Grand Junction and infer the Pleistocene history of the Gunnison and Colorado Rivers. For the second exercise, students will map alluvial fans and mass wasting deposits along the famous Book Cliffs, including the Lava Creek B Ash Bed (600 ka stratigraphic marker) north of Grand Junction. While working on these projects, students will begin to fall into the camp routine. With staffing by camp support personnel, breakfast and dinner are provided at our mobile rustic dining facilities. The seven-o'clock breakfast generally includes eggs, French toast, pancakes, or sausage grilled on the out-of-doors stoves. Mornings may be cool (55 F) and a warm cup of coffee or hot chocolate will be welcome, but during the day temperatures at the map sites may reach the upper 90's! Dinners at camp (all covered by your camp fee) include chicken grilled over the campfire, abundant portions of spaghetti, chicken fajitas, hamburgers, southwestern chili, etc. We have a limited ability to accommodate dietary preferences, but we do offer vegetarian alternatives to our main entrees. The stay at the western Colorado site will conclude with an informal half-day field trip to Colorado National Monument and an evening off in Grand Junction. On days like this when the group is not in camp, each student receives a cash allocation, usually around $20, to cover the cost of meals. When weather and logistics are favorable, we'll also take a relaxing half-day float trip down the majestic Colorado River at the base of the Colorado National Monument! 
Checking out some Anasazi Ruins during an afternoon off From Colorado, the camp moves to Canyonlands in Utah. The campsite for our second map exercise is located on a private ranch adjacent to the Canyonlands National Park. The campsite is about 55 km northwest of Monticello, Utah, in the foothills of the Abajo Mountains. Although the elevation is about 2300m (7,500 ft), the weather is typically dry and warm to hot. Evenings are warm and mornings typically show no signs of the cool weather experienced during the previous week in Colorado. The focus of the single exercise at this site is to map faulted sedimentary Permian, Triassic, and Jurassic, rocks of the Colorado Plateau. Mapping is on aerial photographs supported by topographic maps. Detailed stratigraphic measurements and description of the formations are preliminary activities prior to mapping. Half-day field trips to the Canyonlands and Arches National Monument are mixed into the activities at this site. We spend 7 days here, have some time off in Vernal, Utah (where, again, students will receive some money to cover the cost of meals) and then travel to our third locality in Dinosaur National Park. 
Catching a view (and a cookout) at Moki Dugway, Utah The third campsite is on the Green River at a location that was one of the stops of the Powell Expedition. John Wesley Powell and his party were the first to float the Green and Colorado Rivers, including the first successful navigation of the terrible rapids of the Grand Canyon. Behind the campsite the sedimentary rocks (Weber Sandstone) rise nearly vertically to over 1000 meters above the river. The map site can be hot with temperatures in the upper 80's to high 90's F, and evenings are cool but not cold. The Jurassic to Cretaceous rocks of the map site are folded and faulted. The mapping of the fold structure is readily accomplished as the exposure is excellent. Determination of the subtle faults is more challenging. Hot days and brilliant sunshine at the map site led one of the instructors to name this area the 'Inferno' site. A half-day field trip to the Dinosaur museum at the National Park gives us a chance to take a close look at bones as they are excavated from the famous Morrison Formation. After 6 days at the Inferno, we embark on the final leg of the field program. We'll travel through northern Colorado, pass through Steamboat Springs (where we have lunch) and end the day in Laramie, Wyoming. Students enjoy this motel night, as Laramie still retains its western flavor with frontier saloons, good restaurants, and nearby food & laundry facilities. The fourth and final map site is north of Medicine Bow, Wyoming, along the flank of the Shirley Mountains. The camp site is at an elevation of 2400 m (7,800 ft), along a small stream that flows from the mountains and within a beautiful grove of Aspen and pine trees. The site is in the center of one of the largest ranches in the Rocky Mountains, and the night scene is nearly as it was 100 years ago as the nearest human inhabitants are tens of miles away. There are no lights to break the night, and it's a good chance to see the Northern Lights. Hot coffee can be especially welcome at this site as the mornings can be 'brisk' with temperatures in the 30's F. Snow flurries have been known to accompany breakfast. During the day, however, the temperatures at the map sites may reach 75-85 degrees F. The map site is a complex structural problem with folded and faulted Jurassic to Cretaceous rocks. By this point students have graduated from the simple structures analyzed in the previous map sites and are now ready to tackle this more challenging area. Additionally, mapping at this site is done independently, whereas in the previous weeks students mapped the areas in teams and received help from the staff. After the final map is completed and submitted, we are off to Laramie for one final night in a motel and a farewell banquet "in style" at the famous Cavalryman Restaurant prior to returning to Denver the next day (Friday, June 13th). Students must schedule their flight out of Denver with a departure time of 2:00 pm or later on June 13th. Recommended Background We do not expect students to have prior experience in geological mapping. Because we map rocks, especially sedimentary strata, it is very helpful if students have mastered the basic principles of mineralogy, petrology, sedimentology, and stratigraphy before coming to field camp. Several of the field sites include structural features such as faults and folds. Several of the mapping exercises include making geological cross sections from the geological maps. Thus, it is also very helpful to have completed a course in structural geology and to carefully review concepts related to defining geological structures by use of strike and dip. Contact Information & Application (We are no longer accepting applications.) For further information about camp procedures or course requirements, please send an e-mail our Camp Director: Dr. Charles E. Mitchell, fieldcmp@geology.buffalo.edu (please indicate the nature of your question in the subject line) or telephone us at (716) 645-6800, ext. 6100. You may download a list of the necessary items and the packing requirements at: Field Camp Checklist
|
Student Life
Campus Maps
College of Arts and Sciences
Graduate Study @ UB
|
Department of Geology | 876 Natural Sciences Complex | Buffalo, NY 14260-3050 Telephone: 716.645.6800 x 6100 | Fax: 716.645.3999 | email: geology@buffalo.edu College of Arts and Sciences 2005 This website is supported by the College of Arts and Sciences web team. Inquiries or comments about this website should be directed to the College of Arts and Sciences webmaster. |