Michigan Tech

EAST AFRICA FIELD CAMP

Antenna 2010 Field Camp v 1.4 2/21/10

Course Philosophy

 

" ... the best geologist is the one who has seen the most rocks."  (attributed to H. H. Read, approx. 1950)

Read's dictum (above) aptly summarizes the general philosophy of many geologists and it applies to this course too. One of the main goals here is to expose the student to new rocks and new settings. It is unfortunate that in many geology departments the field is de-emphasized, at least relative to what it was a few decades ago. This is largely because the need for traditional mapping skills has declined. But the need to expose new geologists to more rocks and outcrops has intensified, if anything, and most geology students are still eager for field experience. Consequently the field course has taken on a new role: expand the student's repertoire of field experiences. What better oppotunity than the field camp, in a setting like the Rift Valley?

 

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In a geology field course, the most important thing you will learn is how to approach an outcrop and “read” it. Think of an outcrop as a book written in a language you don’t yet speak (at least not very well) and written in a strange alphabet and using an indecipherable grammar. There is a story to be told in each outcrop, but you have to learn it. So, how do you begin?

On the outcrop, you begin by asking questions. “What kind of rock is this?”, “How did it get here?”, “How does it relate to that outcrop over there?”, “What do these fossils mean?”, “How did all this happen?”

Then you have to collect data and record your observations. You take measurements and samples and make sketches. Measure strikes and dips. Collect more samples. Locate yourself accurately.

Then you step back and make a preliminary interpretation. Is this a sedimentary rock? What was the flow direction? What was the depositional environment? Is there any structure?

Finally, it’s back to the “lab” to transfer your observations and interpretations to the desk copy and work on your report. As the days go by, the bigger picture begins to emerge.

By way of analogy, think of a beginning medical student taking a first course in human anatomy, dissecting a cadaver. Not appealing perhaps to most of us, but really, would you rather be treated by a doctor who had worked on a real human body or one who just saw pictures and sketches? Geology is the same (except that visiting East Africa beats dissecting a cadaver!) The best geologist is the one who has seen the most rocks, visited the most outcrops and mapped the most terrain. (This particular bit of geologic wisdom was imparted to me by the late Ernst Cloos, one the most eminent geologists of his time, who spent weeks with me in the Blue Ridge Mountains one year, showing me what geologists really “do”.) Who would you think knows more geology, someone who just worked from books, pictures and sketches or someone who had actually been in the field mapping rocks? Field work is geology, pure and simple. And you are not a “real” geologist until you have done field work.

So with this course you are on your way to becoming a real geologist. This course is designed to help you take that first step outside the classroom and into the real realm of the geologist. You need to learn how to step up to an outcrop and “read” it and interpret it. This is the essence of geology. Along the way you will pick up some tools and techniques, but these are just aids, not the ends. Field geology is really the means whereby you learn to read the real texts of your trade, the rocks and strata, and we approach this course in that spirit: to open your eyes to the stories the rocks have to tell and to appreciate the story they tell. We will have failed you if you leave this course without wanting to immediately go back into the field. After this course you should approach your remaining geology courses in a new light and with a new purpose: you are now a geologist, a fledgling one perhaps, but a geologist. Your field course is something you will never forget, even if you end up doing something else for a living. Put it this way: you will never drive through a road cut again without trying to figure out the story it is telling.

This, then, is not a list of field skills you will acquire. It is more a philosophy or “mission statement”. So are we teaching geologic philosophy or field skills? Well, we’re teaching both, but the emphasis is definitely on the philosophy, the “why” and “how” rather than the “how to” The rational is very simple: we need people who understand rocks and the rock record more than we need technicians who can take a strike and dip. I honestly think I could teach a chimpanzee to take a strike and dip, but doubt I could ever teach him/her to appreciate it. That is also part of the reason our courses are limited to fewer students than you would find in most field camps. We need time to spend with each student and work with them individually. We do not assume or require any prior level of preparedness, but intend to work with each student to help them reach their own potential and level of expertise. We do not have a set of prepared exercises that we hand out year-to-year with predicable results. It you want that, there are plenty of other places to go. We want to develop thinkers, not rote doers. We want field camp to be a place where students learn to think critically about the planet they live on.