The course is team-taught by Trexler, Dr. Nick Lancaster, and Dr. Richard Schweickert and other faculty in the department. Introduction to the methods of acquiring and recording geologic data in the field and recording that data on maps. The course covers basic location methods including GPS, basic surveying techniques including Total Station, measuring section, and simple mapping problems. This course is taken in the spring before Geology 451 - Field Camp. This is a graduate-level survey of the petrology of sedimentary rocks, and the interpretation that is possible based on detailed composition and textural studies.
Students complete a special project on a topic of their choice, and present results to the class.
This class usually alternates with Basin Analysis in the fall. In a seminar setting, students present summaries of the important literature on the interpretation of sedimentary structures at all scales. The class is offered approximately every other spring, and includes an extended field trip over spring break. The wide variety of techniques now used to analyze sedimentary basins are studied in a seminar format, with emphasis on recent literature. Topics include both traditional approaches and newer, quantitative modeling methods.