summer field camps continue providing valuable experiential learning experiencesthis summer the department of geology and geophysics travel and stationary field camp courses provided impactful real-world experiences for undergraduates oct 29 2019students overlooking montana field area photo by dr brent millerevery summer the texas a&m university department of geology and geophysics faculty and graduate student teaching assistants (tas) guide undergraduate students through a multi-week field experience the department has both stationary and traveling field courses each led by different faculty members the following are faculty accounts of this summers unique field camp experiences video of texas a&m summer 2019 field campstationary field camp the 2019 stationary summer field geology course met for three weeks of mapping in the northern rocky mountains of southwestern montana based out of dillon montana the group of 30 students four tas and one instructor examined rocks ranging in lithology from basalt flows to shale-sandstone-carbonate sequences to plutons and gneisses and ranging in age from eocene to archean projects included individual mapping exercises of outstanding examples of structures and stratigraphy a group mapping exercise in igneous and metamorphic rocks that are among the oldest known in the world and a six-day mapping project of the renowned sandy hollow fold-thrust system the course was a lot of hard work sometimes in adverse weather conditions including snow on two occasions but always in the beautiful outdoor geology laboratory of big sky countrystudents getting the lay of the land photo by michelle cherpastudents compiling field data in the classroom overseen by ta ryan elmore and dr brent miller photo by michelle cherpabreaking up the work were two days off that gave students a chance to rest and recuperate or to pick from an abundance of outdoor activities adventures on days off included touring yellowstone national park fishing world-famous trout streams like the big hole river visiting excellent geology museums in butte and bozeman and enjoying nearby hiking journeys in the end students came away from summer field camp with a clear picture of the character and complexities of real rocks in the natural environment and with an appreciation for the scale and scope of geology that cannot be replicated in paper exercises or with rocks in a box we hope that every student also came away with many fond memories a sense of deserved earned achievement and even a few new friends by dr brent millerarches map area looking across a salt collapse structure the green morrison formation with plentiful dinosaur bones is visible and if you look closely you can see delicate arch in the distance photo by matt dorseytraveling field camp it was a cold blustery field camp this year and the traveling camp endured the early summer conditions camping in tents in wind rain and sleet from south central utah to southwestern montana photo of traveling field camp group in front of delicate arch in arches national park utah photo by matt dorseya spectacular example of a drag fold with the beds on the left (footwall) being deflected downward into a normal fault at arches map area photo by matt dorseythe students improved their field skills and constructed excellent maps stratigraphic columns cross sections and stereographic projections of field projects that included complex geology overlying salt tectonics east of arches national park igneous intrusions of the henry mountains heavily folded terranes of the laramide and ancient metamorphic terranes of early collisional tectonics as during every year students found new localities of dinosaur bones in the morrison and recovered the annual "first dinosaur bone" prize by dr andreas kronenbergtilted bedding and the principle of horizontality photo by dr andreas kronenbergnewspaper rock in canyonlands national park utah photo by dr andreas kronenbergby ali snell