NYSGA 2012 Field Trips & Workshops
Click on specific Trip/Workshop for full information
Saturday, September 29th
A1. Geology of the Black River Valley and Western Adirondack HighlandsWe will visit some important exposures in the Black River Valley and western Adirondack Highlands, including: the middle Ordovician / Proterozoic non-conformity at Canaan Road, the Lyon Mtn. granite and hydrothermal sillimanite-quartz veins at Lyonsdale, the Port Leyden nelsonite, a calc-silicate exposure south of Port Leyden, and the Moose River prismatine locality. Depart 8 AM, North Lot, Return 5 PM.
R. Darling, SUNY Cortland
A2. Quaternary Geology of Oneida Lake BasinThis trip will visit numerous landforms and discuss the development of landscape and lake bathymetery in relation to recession of the Ontario Lobe of the Laurentide Ice Sheet and fluctuations in the levels of Glacial Lake Iroquois and Oneida Lake. Landform ensembles will be highlighted by use of newly acquired Lidar data for Oneida County. Chronological constraints will be presented based upon integration of radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence dating on landform sediment sequences; where ages extend well into the Younger Dryas and MIS Stage 2 interval. Depart 8 AM, North Lot, Return 5 PM.
E. Domack, Hamilton College; M. Krishna and L. Owen, University of Cincinnati; D. Hess, Brock University;
T. Rayne and D. Tewksbury, Hamilton College
A3. Pegmatites of New York: The Batchellerville PegmatiteDespite their interesting petrographic features, geological occurrence, and mineralogy, there are only a few modern studies and references about the pegmatites of New York State. Approximately 25 pegmatite bodies are found in two geological units: the Grenville-age (1300 - 1000 Ma) metamorphic rocks of the Adirondack Mountains, and the Taconic-age (~ 450 Ma) metamorphic rocks of southern New York. During this trip we will examine the mineralogy and discuss the origin of the Batchellerville and possible Day (Overlook) pegmatites in the southern Adirondacks. Depart 7:30 AM, North Lot, Return 5 PM.
A. Seadler, American Geosciences Institute; M. Lupulescu, New York State Museum; D. Bailey, Hamilton College
A4. Technology in the Field: GPS, iPads, and GigapansThis workshop is aimed at college/university-level faculty and researchers who are interested in gaining hands-on experience with best practices in field GPS, including recent developments in GPS technology that make it possible to accurately determine positions in challenging environments, using iPads effectively in the field for research and teaching, and taking Gigapan panoramas for research, teaching, and visualization in Google Earth. Limit: 25 preference given to college/university faculty, post-docs, and graduate students.
8 AM - 5 PM, Kirner Johnson Room 202, computer lab.
J. Cobb, Waypoint Technologies Group; D. Tewksbury, Hamilton College; B. Tewksbury, Hamilton College
A5. A Census of Devonian Life in Central New York State: Fossil Collecting for Teachers and StudentsParticipants will work in small teams as trilobite, brachiopod, clam, snail, etc. specialists, collecting specimens from local shale for a census of Devonian life near Hamilton, NY. Specialists will log data about how the fossils are preserved, their diversity and abundance, and anatomy. Group data will be discussed so that teachers and students can make inferences about the ecology and environmental setting of life in central New York more than 300 million years ago. Depart Noon, North Lot, Return 5 PM.
C. Soja, Colgate University; C. Domack, Hamilton College
A6. Environmental and Geotechnical Drilling and SamplingDrilling and sampling geological materials provides information about the subsurface that can't be obtained in any other way. During this trip, experienced drillers from Parratt-Wolff Inc., a Syracuse-based environmental and geotechnical drilling company, will demonstrate and discuss different ways of drilling and sampling the subsurface and demonstrate the installation of a monitoring well. Depart Noon, North Lot, Return 5 PM.
S. Pepling, Parratt-Wolfe Inc.
A7. Appalachian Magmatism During the Ordovician and Devonian: Numerous airfall volcanic ash beds, sometimes termed “K-bentonite”, occur in Ordovician and Devonian rocks of eastern New York. They constitute a significant record of explosive felsic magmatism in the Appalachians during the Taconic and Acadian orogenies. This cross-disciplinary field trip will examine some of these ancient volcanic ashes and their implications for Appalachian magmatism. Outcrop discussions will include: sedimentologic biases in the preservation of ash that settled on the sea floor (Ver Straeten, Baird and Brett); what their geochemistry indicates about source magmas (Samson); the coeval record of Appalachian magmatism/volcanism in the mountain belt (Karabinos, Samson); and cross-comparison of the foreland basin and mountain belt records. Depart 8am, North Lot, Return 5 pm.
Perspectives from the Foreland Basin, and the Hinterland
C. Ver Straeten, NY State Museum/Geological Survey; G. Baird, SUNY Fredonia;
P. Karabinos, Williams College; S. Samson, Syracuse University; C. Brett, University of Cincinnati
Sunday, September 30th
B1. Kimberlitic Rocks of New York: The Dewitt "Kimberlite"Approximately 80 small kimberlitic intrusions have been identified in New York State over the past 150 years. Most are found in the Finger Lakes region of central NY, although small dikes have been found as far north as Ogdensburg and as far east as Canajoharie. On this trip we will visit the kimberlite locality in Dewitt and discuss the petrographic and chemical diversity of New York State kimberlites. Depart 8 AM, North Lot, Return 12:30 PM.
D. Bailey, Hamilton College; M. Lupulescu, New York State Museum
B2. Rome Sand Plains HydrogeologyThe Rome Sand Plains is an example of an inland pine barrens and includes areas of sand dunes and adjacent peat bogs. The hydrology of the area is interesting because of the relationship between water in the peat bogs and groundwater in the sand aquifer. In this trip, we will explore some examples of dunes and bogs and examine some of the field hydrogeological and geochemical evidence that shows how the two types of water interact. Depart 8 AM, North Lot, Return 12:30 PM.
T. Rayne, Hamilton College
B3a. Teaching Geologic Map Interpretation Using Google EarthThis workshop is aimed at college/university-level faculty who are interested in learning how to use the extraordinary potential of Google Earth to help students visualize geologic structures in three dimensions so that they are better prepared to interpret traditional geologic maps. (Limit: 25; this workshop is for college/university faculty; if the workshop is over-enrolled, preference will be given to faculty, post-docs, and grad students) 8:30 -11:30 Kirner Johnson Room 202 computer lab. (hands-on computer workshop at Hamilton College)
B. Tewksbury, Hamilton College
B3b. Working with LiDAR (.las) Data in ArcGISWorkshop participants will learn to process LiDAR (.las) data using ArcGIS 10 to produce digital surface models (DSM), digital terrain models (DTM) and intensity images from data covering the local area. LiDAR sources will be discussed as well as the new LiDAR specific features of ArcGIS 10.1. (Limit: 25) 12:00 PM - 3:00 PM (no lunch break - eat lunch first) Kirner Johnson Room 202 computer lab. (hands-on computer workshop at Hamilton College)
D. Tewksbury, Hamilton College
B4. Geomicrobiology of a Meromictic Lake, Green Lake, Fayetteville, NYParticipants in this field trip will be introduced to low-cost techniques to aseptically collect water samples for microbial and geochemical analysis. We will view the remarkable calcareous bioherms that form at various locations along Green Lake's shore and discuss the dynamics and variation in microbial community composition and geochemistry observed at various depths in this permanently stratified lake. Depart 8 AM, North Lot, Return 2 PM.
M. McCormick, Hamilton College
B5. Sequence Stratigraphy and ironstones in the Type Clintonadditional details to come, 8 am - 3 pm.
C. Brett, University of Cincinnati
