EOS 400 2020

Advanced Field Geology (EOS 400) will be taking place in the Death Valley region of California in 2020. The approximately two-week program, based out of the towns of Shoshone and Bishop, will commence on April 25^th and be limited to 28 participants. Application to participate will be via webform (now closed). Priority will be given to students declared in SEOS' Earth Science program who would normally be taking EOS 400 in 2020.

The Death Valley region is world renown as a remarkable natural laboratory for geological field studies owing to its rich geologic and tectonic history and excellent exposure. Sandwiched between the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the west, Mohave Desert to the south and Northern Basin and Range Province to the northeast, the region's structural style and resulting topography are unique and offer a window into the the processes involved in extensional tectonism, related magmatism, and subsequent basin-fill tectono-stratigraphy.

Field exercises will investigate Proterozoic and Paleozoic stratigraphy, Basin and Range extensional faulting and synextensional volcanism, and neotectonic development of the Walker Lane belt, which together with the Eastern California Shear Zone accommodate ~25% of present-day plate motion between the Pacific and North American plates.

Students will be expected to keep a field notebook detailing observations and produce both plan and cross-sectional maps of exercise areas. A pre-trip paper on an assigned topic as well as an evening seminar presentation will count toward their final grade.

Participation costs (covering room, partial board^* and transportation) have been set at $1,000, exclusive of tuition and transportation to and from Las Vegas, where the class will start and end. A $100 non-refundable^~ deposit is to be submitted with the webform application by September 30^th.

Note: registration for this course is now closed and participants have been notified. The next offering of EOS 400 will be August, 2021. Inquiries should be directed here.

^*board costs only included for the Bishop portion of the program
^~ unless registration is not granted