Read all the news about Colorado College's Geology Department and alumni in the newest edition of the Precambrian Basement 2010.
Geology Talks
Block 6 - Friday, March 2, 2012, 2:00 p.m. in Tutt Science Lecture Hall
"Geoarchaeological Excursion to the Sanctuary of Zeus,
Mt. Lykaion, the Peloponnese, Greece"
Presented by Professor George Davis, Structural Geology at University of Arizona
Department Philosophy
The Geology Department at Colorado College offers introductory and advanced courses in earth sciences that may lead to a B.A. in geology.
The courses in the major are designed to
provide a foundation for a professional career in the earth sciences,
provide the background for graduate school, which has increasingly become a necessary prerequisite to a professional career,
provide an opportunity for students majoring in other fields to combine their expertise with geology,
and educate students about the physical environment and our place in it, as part of a liberal arts education.
An excerpt from the nomination statement of Marcia K. McNutt (’74 graduate, Physics), presented to U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, 10/8/09, during the process of her selection as Director of the U.S. Geological Survey.
“My favorite college course was Introduction to Geology, taught by Professor John Lewis. Colorado College uses the Block Plan, in which students take only one course at a time for a month. Introduction to Geology is two blocks long. So my first two months at college were spent with Doc Lewis and about 19 other students scrambling around the Front Range with our backpacks and sleeping bags trying to piece together the geologic history of the Southern Rockies from first principles. We never cracked a book the entire time. I was drawn to the grandeur of the Earth sciences and awed by the time and space scales upon which Earth processes played out. No lab coat. No test tube. Science outside!”
The Block Plan
The Colorado College Block Plan allows us to offer a unique program in geology. Because students take just one course at a time, with class size limited to 25 students, the program is intensive and individualized.
The flexibility of the Block Plan also allows faculty and students to pursue independent study and research projects, during the academic year as well as during summer and winter breaks. Much of this work takes place away from the campus. Many of our students do field-oriented research as part of a required senior seminar project or as part of a distinction thesis.
Students with strong interests in both geology and environmental issues may major in Geology and take elective courses in other environmental sciences and environmental issues. Alternatively, such students may major in Environmental Science complimented with coursework in Geology.
Geology Courses
Courses are field-oriented and include day-long field trips in the local Colorado Front Range and weeklong (or longer) trips through Colorado and into New Mexico, Utah, Arizona, and Wyoming. We thus take advantage of the spectacular and varied geology of the Rocky Mountain, Basin and Range, and Colorado Plateau Provinces.
Introductory geology courses spend a substantial amount of the class time outdoors, with students gaining an introduction to the diverse rock types in our region, and their stratigraphic and structural relationships. Students prepare one or more geological maps and cross sections of the local geology.
Paleontology and sedimentation classes visit fossil sites, work out paleoecological patterns, and interpret sedimentary structures.
Mineralogy classes visit local quarries and mines, while Petrology classes look at a variety of metamorphic terrains, study a large granite batholith, and map volcanic and Precambrian crystalline regions.
The Structural Geology and field courses do extensive mapping and structural interpretation in both sedimentary and metamorphic terrains.
Geomorphology classes examine surficial processes in environments ranging from the desert Southwest to the Colorado alpine.
Tooth chemistry reveals sauropod sojourns -- Professor Henry Fricke, Justin Henceroth ('09), and Marie Hoerner ('09) completed research that was published in Nature Magazine October 26, 2011.
Tia Wood ('10) competed with graduate and undergraduate students at the AGU Conference in San Francisco, December 2009. Tia was awarded one of the "Outstanding Student Paper Awards" for her presentation under the category of Study of the Earth's Deep Interior titled "Anisotropy and mantle flow in the eastern Sierras Pampeanas from shear wave splitting".
The Geology Department has a full year visiting professor during the 2011-2012 academic year. William "Chris" Krugh is returning for his second year and will be teaching Regional Studies; Geology in the Media; Dating of Rocks, Tectonics, & Erosion; and Physical Geology this year.
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Department News
Joy of being a Geology student
Robert Jacobsen, 2010, presented the following video to Geology students representing the joy he's found in geology.
Keck Consortium for Undergraduate Research in Geology has allowed many of our students to take part in consortium-sponsored and -funded research projects. Other students have worked closely with department faculty members on research projects, and still others have developed research projects on their own. This work is often partially supported by college and departmental funds set aside for student research.
The department also sponsors an internship program, under which students may receive a block of independent study credit for research done off campus under the supervision of established academic, government, or industry geologists.
