Field trips from Southern California to the Caribbean
Off to class! GEOL-105 Physical and Environmental Geology in the Grand Canyon students take a quick climb via a rope ladder up a dry waterfall and then hike along a slot canyon corridor with embedded nautiloid fossils, to this polished limestone pool -- the setting for their lecture!
Geology provides many opportunities for students to observe and study in the field.
This begins for first-year students with GEOL 105 Physical and Environmental Geology in the Grand Canyon, an environmental geology field course and motorized raft trip.
The department also offers major field trips each year to places of geologic interest. Winter trips usually venture to some place distant, exotic, and warmer than Illinois. Field trips provide a great way to learn geology, enjoy nature and make new friends around the campfire. Check out more photos on the News from Geology page.
Departmental field trips
- Every summer: Physical and Environmental Geology in the Grand Canyon, Ariz.
- Every spring: Geological Society of America Meeting, Mich.
- Every other year: Geology of the Mojave Desert, Calif.
- Every other year: Sedimentology of the Caribbean island of Bonaire
- Every other fall: Structural Geology of Baraboo, Wis.
- Every other fall: Igneous Petrology of the St. Francois Mountains, Mo.
- Every year: Devonian Fossil Gorge, Iowa
- Every year: Tri-State Geological Field Conference, Midwest region.
Geology students interpreted crossbedded sandstones of Red Rock Canyon, Nevada, wind-blown during the Jurassic 185 million years ago. The group is enroute to Southern California for the Mojave Geology January-term field course!
Physical and Environmental Geology of the Rockies summer field course is open to all incoming first-year students! Here, students got an incredible view of the NE Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming after hiking the steep 450 million-year-old dolomite cliffs of Steamboat Point.
How low can you go? In this case, about 270 feet below sea level! The geology department spent spring break studying the rocks of Death Valley, California!
Geology students sitting on the 1.6 billion-year-old bluffs of Devil’s Lake, in the Baraboo Range, Wisconsin. During a field trip to the Baraboo, Wisconsin region, students explored incredible geomorphic, structural and stratigraphic features, gained skills in making field observations, identifying rocks and formations in the field, and in developing interpretations of some of the paleoenvironments and ancient tectonic processes active in the midcontinent.
Students excited to explore the geology of the northern side of the Caribbean island of Bonaire at Boka Chikitu in Washington Slagbaai National Park.
Observing and comparing the underwater modern reefs to the on-land ancient, fossilized reefs is all part of the geology January-term Caribbean course Build Me an Island. Here, students are getting their sea legs and practicing being adept at concentrating on the intricacies of SCUBA while recording field observations.
A field trip to the geologic wonderlands of St. Francois Mountains, Missouri gave students a glimpse into the ancient magmatic and tectonic past and growth of North America. Here, they hold up 1.3 billon-year-old spheroidally weathered granites at Elephant Rock State Park. Later they geared up to travel 1200 feet underground to observe ancient fissures and fractures filled with sparkling, valuable ores, evidence of ancient fluid flow.
Augustana’s Udden Geology Club explored Allied Quarry in Rock Island. This quarry is a window into our local geology, with fantastic exposures of 400 million-year-old Silurian and Devonian strata and opportunities for fossil collecting and learning about the stratigraphy and economic significance of this local resource.