Despite a large geology class, we managed to get the college bus and get up to the Albert Pike area for a look at rocks tortured by mountain building forces in the late Paleozoic.
The huge class size this fall semester limited the choice of field trip sites. However, there is always the dramatic and interesting outcrops around Dierks lake within easy walking distance of parking.
Two field trips were undertaken this spring. (1) Doug Hanson guided the Historical Geology class through 300 million years of history in the Dierks, Arkansas area, including a hunt for barite dollars and roses and plant fossils. (2) A fossil hunt in the upper Cretaceous of Arkansas netted several finds.
Geologists Doug Hanson and Jennifer Perkins of the Arkansas Geological Commission took the fall 2000 physical geology class back in time to ancient lagoons where dinosaurs roamed and abundant evaporation of water occurred in the arid tropical climate. The evaporation led to the deposition of gypsum, and now the lagoons are the site of the James Hardie gypsum mine and plant.
The students were treated to the view of a 200 million year gap in geological history, a hunt for barite roses and dollars, and dramatic folding and faulting of 300 million year old marine sediments, courtesy of geologists Charles Stone and Dough Hanson of the Arkansas Geological Commission.
It was a cold day in early spring, but the historical geology class braved the wind and cool temperature to get a guided tour of the upper Paleozoic rocks in the vicinity of the Dierks Lake Project. Geologists Charles Stone and Doug Hanson presided.
Geologists Charles Stone and Doug Hanson of the Arkansas Geological Commission guide the fall 1997 physical geology class on a tour of the lower Paleozoic Rocks in the Vicinity of the Albert Pike area. The class observed the results of intense mountain building that occurred in the late Paleozoic and collected graptolite fossils that are abundant in the Ordovician shales.
Other field trips the geology classes have taken will be added in the future.