Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences

News from the IU Geologic Field Station

Wow, what a summer it has been! We had a great group of students for the summer field classes and had a great time exploring the geology of SW Montana. Twelve different schools were represented beyond the eight students from IUB this year.

All this despite historic flooding in the Yellowstone area that forced us to cancel our Big Horn Basin trip. Once the majority of Yellowstone was opened, we were able to visit the park for the day. Then there was a small forest fire above campus that was started by a lightning strike. Fortunately, the US Forest Service was quickly able to get the fire under control.

Facilities improvements included an interior remodel of the Resident Manager’s house, ongoing upgrades to the internet infrastructure and installation of a new water bottle hydration station in the Lodge. We are looking froward to next year and getting back to postpandemic class numbers.

Erika Elswick, Interim Executive Director

X429 Drone Footage of Digital Mapping concentration - Brian Yanites

The 2022 X429 “Digital Mapping” concentration measured the Beaver Creek delta which has been forming in response to the creation of Earthquake Lake, a water body formed by a landslide dam generated during the 1959 magnitude 7.3 Hebgen Lake Earthquake. Students employed RTK GPS, drone surveys, and ‘Structure from Motion’ to develop a detailed 3D map of the surface of the delta. The students were able to measure an average aggradation rate of 2.2 cm/yr since 1959 and have set up future 429 students to measure year-to-year changes in this dynamic system.

ASPIRE Semester: Italy

EAS-E 116 Our Planet and Its Future

Professor Michael Hamburger
This spring semester, nineteen IU students joined EAS Professor Michael Hamburger and three other IU faculty members for a semester-long interdisciplinary introduction to geology, history, and culture of southern Italy. The course, a field-based version of our E116 “Our Planet and its Future”, was part of a recently developed College of Arts and Sciences “ASPIRE” (Arts & Sciences Programs for International Research and Education) program, which offers IU students an opportunity to study abroad in semester-long programs taught by IU faculty. The IU semester in Italy focused on the remarkable array of landscapes, ancient history, cultural resources, and amazing food that brings thousands of tourists to the region each year.

EAS-X 420 Appalachian Geological Journey

Professor Juergen Schieber

May 8-13, 2022 This course was a JOURNEY THROUGH EARTH HISTORY. We explored the geologic history of the eastern US from the Precambrian gneisses (as much as 1.8 billion years old) of the Blue Ridge Mts. to the Pennsylvanian coal fields of Kentucky (~300 million years old). It was a 1000 mile road trip, starting in Bloomington and with multiple stops along the way to examine outcrops of mostly sedimentary rocks that range in age from Cambrian (~570 million years old) to Pennsylvanian (~300 million years old) in age.