Field Seminars

Structure, Tectonics and Sedimentary Basin Analysis in the Northern Rocky Mountains, USA - an immersive geoscience field camp

INSTRUCTOR S :

Lee Suttner, James Brophy, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN; Lans Taylor, Consultant, Houston, TX

INSTRUCTOR LOOKUP

DATES:

August 17 - 25, 2013

LOCATION:

Indiana University Geologic Field Station, Cardwell, Montana

TUITION:

$7,000.00 Sign Up Now
Increases to $7,200 after 7/15/2013. Includes lodging and meals (except meals purchased on the Yellowstone trip), field transportation and manuals for the duration of the camp. No refunds for cancellations after 7/15/2013.

LIMIT:

12 people

CONTENT:

12 CEU What is a CEU?

Objectives

Upon completion of this field camp, participants should have:

• In-depth, field based knowledge of actual scale and geometry of a variety of reservoir architectures and products of rock deformation.
• Enhanced ability to make interpretations from a limited data base.
• Increased self-confidence in integrating a variety of stratigraphic, sedimentological, structural, and geophysical information in problem-solving
• Improved skills in working as part of a team

Content

This will be an immersive field experience designed for participants to discover the nature of the structural and stratigraphic rock record of deposition and deformation associated with multiple tectonic processes. Except for evening classroom work on data collected during the day, over 95% of the course will be taught in the field. The learning will be completely a hands-on experience; students will be challenged to learn and apply the local stratigraphy in their mapping on aerial photographs and topographic maps, engage in cross-section construction, and develop 3 and 4-D models of the study areas. A student to staff ratio of <7:1 will permit close and continuous field supervision and evening discussion.

The introductory segment of the course will center on relatively simple large-scale compressional structures developed in a sequence of Paleozoic carbonate-rich sedimentary units deposited in a passive continental margin setting. Next, far more complex, but smaller-scale structures, developed beneath and in front of the massive regional thrusts will be mapped. These structures largely are found in the Mesozoic siliciclastic basin fill deposited in response to tectonic activity along the western plate boundary and are associated with the products of back-arc plutonic and volcanic activity.

The final mapping project will provide the attendees the opportunity to discover through their mapping both the structural and sedimentary responses to the convergence of basement-cored block uplifting, fold/thrusting, and large scale extensional faulting.

Course goals are consistent with dividends from the field training of potential employees of the energy exploration industry. Attendees will derive a sense of scale for structural and stratigraphic systems, and an ability to integrate a variety of geologic knowledge obtained from their mapping experiences. They will leave with an increased self-confidence that they can problem-solve, and, most of all make interpretations from limited data with a better understanding and appreciation of the data limitations.

Additional Information

The course is physically demanding and requires that participants be in very good shape in order to handle day-long hiking in areas with up to 600-700 ft of relief. We encourage participants to bring a hand lens and rock hammer, but provide ones for those who don't. Brunton compasses also are provided. They will need to bring other normal field gear (e.g. hiking boots, day-pack, rain gear etc.)

The seminar will be based at the Judson Mead Indiana University Geologic Field Station, located in the Tobacco Root Mountain Range in southwest Montana within the northern Rocky Mountain province. The Station is considered by many to be among the premier facilities of its kind in North America, and at the forefront of teaching geoscience in the field.

The Field Station is situated in an area of truly remarkable structural, tectonic, and stratigraphic diversity. It is the single site where the three major structural regimes which characterize the interior western North America converge—basement-cored block uplifting and supra crustal fold-thrusting of Laramide age, and Cenozoic extensional (basin and range) faulting. It is also an ideal location to study the sedimentary, plutonic and volcanic records associated with a variety of plate-tectonic settings. These include a Proterozoic aulacogen, a Paleozoic passive continental margin, a Mesozoic back-arc foreland basin and Cenozoic extensional intermontane basins.