06/29/2024
Second to last stop!! Environmental geo-science field studies LOVED our stay at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon! Grateful to be out of the desert heat, our students enjoyed walks around the campsite and several overlook stops to bask in the glory of the canyon. Besides the beautiful views, we got to speak with park rangers about the geological, biological, and career aspects of the Grand Canyon NP, and our students discovered the sweet smells of the Ponderosa Pine. Each student also completed at least a mile hike down into the canyon, with our fastest rabbits completing 5 miles down and back up again! Totally !!! 🤟🏼🥾🏕️🐦⬛Next and final stop- Mesa Verde!
06/24/2024
Double post‼️ Moab Part 1: Enviro-geoscience Field Studies spent 2 days camping at Goose Island campground in Moab where we got to explore Arches National Park! Our students started their day at 6am to hike to Delicate Arch, and later throughout Devil’s Garden, where they hiked to Landscape Arch, and a brave few went all the way up to Double O Arch! Both nights at Goose Island, we celebrated the birthdays of two of our students. We also got to enjoy a night out on the town in Moab, a much needed break from all the field work. Part 2 coming soon!!
06/21/2024
Greetings from Grand Junction! Enviro-geoscience Field Studies enjoyed a short stay just outside of Grand Junction, where we visited the Colorado National Monument! Along the way to and from, our students have been honing their water quality testing skills with several pit stops along the CO River! We’re half way done with our field studies course; thanks for -ing with us this far! 🌄🏞️🦎
06/18/2024
Rocky Mountain Roundup!! Enviro-geoscience Field Studies spent 3 nights on the east side of the rockies at Glacier Basin campgrounds and absolutely LOVED the views🤩 We got to meet some park rangers who introduced us to some of the environmental challenges RMNP faces. Such challenges include overgrazing from Elk and Moose populations which drove out the Beavers; shorter, warmer winters resulting in less snowpack for the glaciers; and a boom in the pine beetle population due to warmer winters- which has resulted in a ~70% loss of the Longleaf Pine tree population throughout the park. After our stint on the east side, we headed over the Continental Divide to Timber Creek for a night and got to test the water quality in the headwaters of the CO River! Keep -ing with us as we follow the river south! 🏔️🪨🦌🫎🦫
06/17/2024
Come work with us! College of Charleston is now hiring an Office Manager for the Geology & Environmental Geosciences Department. Apply online at jobs.cofc.edu! (Posting number: 2024091)
06/16/2024
That’s a wrap on our 2024 Paleontology Field Studies in Wyoming! Our paleontology field studies students moved serious amounts of dirt this year! Field work involves a lot of mental and manual labor, and we’re grateful these students stuck it out through everything from cactus spines to brand new finds! ⛏️ 🦴
06/13/2024
That’s a wrap for the Cherry Creek campsite! Our enviro-geoscience field studies group had a blast the past few days learning from amazing professionals and practicing our own water quality sampling skills! We visited Aurora Water and got to tour their facilities and learn about how they recycle water. We also got to tour NCAR’s Mesa Laboratory and Research Aviation Facility and learned so much about ongoing climate studies (and touched a cloud!) Follow along as we up to the Rocky Mountain National Park!! 🤠🌦️🛩️🌍
06/13/2024
What they don’t tell you about paleontology is how much of a workout it is!
Field studies students Hayes and Justice were pulling their weight (almost literally) this week by hauling these field jackets out of our Pierre Shale field studies site. The Pierre Shale is the geologic remains of what was once a continental ocean in the middle of North America. Our dig site dates back approximately 80-78 million years ago, and preserves an abundant aquarium of plesiosaurs, mosasaurs, and fish—which is what Hayes and Justice collected! We’re excited to get these back to the prep lab and see what we caught 🎣
06/12/2024
Gather ‘round, Geology alumni! 🌎✨ It’s time to raise a glass and reminisce on rock-solid memories at our alumni happy hour! Join us at Commonhouse Aleworks tomorrow, June 13 from 6-8! The Geology faculty and staff are excited to reconnect with you!
Commonhouse Aleworks
4831 O’Hear Ave
North Charleston, SC 29405
Comment your class year below! 🪨🎆
06/11/2024
Our paleontology field studies crew has been excavating a beautiful mosasaur that was found two years ago by previous College of Charleston field studies students. Last year, our crew was lucky enough to retrieve the upper jaw, but this year we’re aiming to collect much more! Zoom in to see how jumbled the bones became in decay and preservation. 🔍
06/11/2024
Greetings from the mile high city!! Environmental-geoscience Field Studies class is officially underway in CO! We’ve already met a few multi-legged friends and can’t wait to through the next 3 weeks! Stay tuned for more updates to come 😎☀️🏕️🗻
06/04/2024
New Mexico field studies ‘tuff’ing it out this season 🔨👏
A group trip to the Valles Caldera revealed a geological tale going back 1.2 MYA 🌋 Close up of the Bandelier Tuff (pic 2), this distal flow traveled long ways from its home.
In this geological concoction🧑🔬 lies a hydrothermal area in a resurgent dome of the Valles Caldera, Sulphur Springs.
The aroma of boiled eggs 🥚 welcomed our team for water sampling of pH, temperature, and conductivity at these hot springs.
Sweet Charleston air, we’re coming for you! 🏖🌄
06/04/2024
Osteoderms! Ribs! And pancakes…?
Field season is well underway for the Paleontology Field Studies Team with numerous exciting finds from the nodosaur quarry. Several impressive osteoderms and ribs from the armored dinosaur have been recovered over the last few days. Our camp chefs felt inspired by the wealth of osteoderms recovered thus far and made ankylosaurid pancakes for the group-- complete with blueberry osteoderms. Much tastier than the actual thing! 🥞😋
06/03/2024
Today our Paleontology Field Studies students practiced the art of quarry mapping! Using a prospecting stake, measuring tape, and level, the students carefully marked the position of each fossil found so far in the ceratopsian bonebed. Quarry maps can reveal patterns of how fossils are dispersed. For example, this bonebed seems to have its fossils trending in one direction, which shows us which way water was flowing when the bones were originally deposited here over 66 million years ago. It can also show us where the next fossil might be, and where we should dig next— fingers crossed it’s a skull! 🤞
05/23/2024
Our Paleontology Field Studies crew took a rainy day trip up to The Mammoth Site in South Dakota! The Mammoth Site is an active dig site, that a museum was constructed around. The site preserves a prehistoric sinkhole that became a graveyard for Columbian mammoths, wooly mammoths, and numerous other Pleistocene animals, such as short-faced bears. It was fascinating to see the work their paleontologists have completed while we wait for our own field sites to dry out!
05/22/2024
First week wrap-up for GEOL 360 Field studies in New Mexico!
✅ Camped in Albuquerque
✅ Toured a perlite mine and got a bag full of obsidian
✅ Completed a stratigraphic column of the Rio Grande Gorge
✅ Collected strikes and dips at Rattlesnake Gulch to uncover a geological puzzle 🕵️♀️🕵️♂️
✅ Stumbled across a mineralized copper ore with malachite
✅ Befriended a mule deer
❌ Domesticated a mule deer
Today’s itinerary includes visiting a Pegmatite mine followed by a very serious meeting place at an ice cream shop🍦
-Puppy
05/21/2024
Paleontology Field Studies has touched down in the badlands of Wyoming! For the next several weeks, Dr. Persons’s class will be hunting dinosaurs and applying their geologic knowledge in the field. Check out the pronghorn we’re sharing the quarries with!
05/21/2024
Hey guys, it’s Puppy here (the mule deer), ready to fill you in on all the latest field studies happenings.
Yesterday, my friends hiked along the Rio Grande Gorge to measure the Servilleta Basalts and Santa Fe Formations. Followed by a lunch break along the river, the team began their stratigraphic columns.
Tomorrow my friends are going to Rattlesnake Gulch to practice measuring strikes & dips. To be determined if I make it out too, (depends on how many carrots and bananas they have). Talk soon! 🍌
05/18/2024
Hello geo lovers! Meet your Geology Field Studies summer class of 2024! Led by Dr. Chadwick and Prof Bierce, we are just a few days into our trip in New Mexico and can’t wait to take you on a virtual excursion. ☀️🪨🌅
05/05/2024
Study break! Abby and Luke took the T Rex on a walk the other day. Congrats to Luke and all our 2024 grads!!
05/03/2024
Alumni weekend! Hope to see you at later today!
05/02/2024
Great time at St Andrew’s Elementary for Science Night! Thanks for inviting us! .ssm
04/29/2024
Celebrating our 2024 graduates in our ‘shirting’ ceremony aka Senior Roast! Also thank you to our outstanding classroom aides. 🙌 for the excellent venue
04/16/2024
I think the word you’re searching for is Space Ranger. -🐝💡🗓️
College of Charleston Geology Department NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration Design Missions class on a secret mission in uncharted space at the
Space Station Payload Integration Mission Control - 0 years of academy training wasted.
03/13/2024
Please consider supporting our students during the “Give Back to Our Future” engagement: 1,770 minutes of philanthropy (starting today at 4:30 pm through tomorrow 10:00 pm). Please also share with alumni, friends and colleagues. Here is a direct link to our website: https://cofcday.cofc.edu/campaigns/department-of-geology-and-environmental-geosciences
GO COUGARS! 🐾
03/08/2024
Where the water goes, so go Dr. Beckingham and her water resources students! They are learning streamflow methods and exploring urban wetlands at Gadsden Creek. Bonus activity? A litter sweep!
02/27/2024
There's still time to register for the Forested Wetlands of the Upper Estuary Conference hosted at the College of Charleston during Spring Break! Register here by February 28: https://www.scseagrant.org/forested-wetlands-conference/
This conference highlights tidal freshwater forested wetlands as distinct and critical transition ecosystems, particularly in the southeastern U.S. Conference participants will discuss environmental change and monitoring, societal values, ecological properties, carbon storage, and management options.
Freshwater and low-salinity forested wetlands occur in tidal reaches of rivers around the world. Though often overlooked, these systems provide important ecological services and human benefits with opportunities for management interventions in a dynamic and changing environment.
02/19/2024
Students and faculty visited Stono Preserve on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024 to investigate watershed hydrology, water quality conditions, wetland conditions, and to conduct soil surveys at different locations at the College of Charleston campus in Hollywood, SC. This College of Charleston Foundation property has a unique easement as brokered with the Lowcountry Land Trust, with many habitats and both historical and active watershed management at one of the few remaining protected lands in coastal South Carolina.