G429: Field Geology in the Rocky Mountains
This six-credit course from Indiana University is offered in two sessions each summer at the I.U. Geologic Field Station near Cardwell, Montana. Built in 1949 in the northern Tobacco Root Mountains, this well-known and well-respected Station has been the site of field geologic instruction for some 5500 students. G429 is designed to be an integrative capstone experience for upper-level undergraduate geology majors. Students come from all over the United States; in a recent year, 37 schools were represented among the 60+ students.
Faculty are from diverse schools as well. Recent faculty have included Dr. James H. Meyers (Winona State, Minnesota), Dr. Robert Cassie (SUNY Brockport), Dr. Susan Swapp (U. of Wyoming), Dr. Garry Anderson (St Cloud State, Minnesota), and Dr. Sue McDonald (Morningside College, Iowa). In addition, faculty from Indiana University who have been "regulars" at the Field Station include Director Dr. James Brophy, Dr. David Towell, Dr. Bruce Douglas, and Dr. Ed Ripley. Professor Thomas Howald, Chairman of the Philosophy Department at Franklin College, Indiana, has been teaching at the Field Station for nearly two decades, and past Director Lee J. Suttner (IU) may be found at the station as well.
This Week at the IU Field Station • I.U. Geologic Field Station Web Site
Kooters Geological Supplies
Dick Gibson, who was a student in G429 in 1969 and associate instructor in 1970 and 1971, has served as a volunteer instructor for the program every summer since 1989. In addition to serving as a full-time (i.e., about 75 hours per week) teacher, he shares tidbits of gravity and magnetics with course participants as well as insights into opportunities in the oil and environmental industries. He commonly (but not exclusively) teaches the entire first session and the start of the second session, and at least one day off per summer, he'll lead a group to Sailor Lake, just below treeline up the South Boulder drainage. Many of the specific approaches to problem solving that are taught in this course were used by Dick to decipher the complex subsurface geology of the Pantex Nuclear Weapons Plant, as part of a large-scale environmental site characterization conducted by Argonne National Laboratory.
Beginning in 1995, a modified version of G429 was offered in the second session, with an environmental emphasis. The focus is on problem-solving and the way one attacks geologic problems, just as it has been in the flagship mapping course for decades.
If you are a student evaluating field courses, you might contact some former students in G429 for their opinions (or Dick Gibson, but he's prejudiced). Try Lans Taylor (Stanford), Aaron Kullman (U.Texas - San Antonio), Dave Wilson (Indiana U./Amoco/New Mexico Tech), or Jennifer Bergin (Western Mich./U.Tenn-Knoxville). For articles on the financial support to the Field Station that has been provided by Gibson Consulting, visit our Gibson Gram Newsletters. And HERE is a way to double your contribution to the Field Station.
For enrollment information about this course, contact Cindy Hale at Indiana University. Much more information about the Field Station and its programs (including an on-line application) can be found at the Web Site of the I.U. Geologic Field Station (now with lots of pictures!). A field course, G329, part of IU's B.S. in Environmental Sciences, is also conducted at the Field Station every summer, and graduate seminars occur occasionally. You may also be interested in the Alumni College offered to any interested parties for a week in late August (not every year).
And just for fun, here is a SONG that may bring back some memories for alumni of G429.
IUGFS-WEB (Links to pages of Field Station alumni)
Tobacco Root Geological Society
