GEOL 373 - Regional Geology

Credits: 4

Prerequisites: Open to geology majors. Instructor consent and two geology courses numbered 200 or above. The emphasis and location of the study area differs from year to year. Most course activity involves outside fieldwork with a series of multi-day to multi-week field trips. Information about the course is available prior to the end of the fall term. May be repeated for degree credit if the topics are different but only four credits may be used toward major requirements

Spring 2022: GEOL 373-01: Regional Geology (4). A study of the regional geology of the Colorado Plateau and the Grand Canyon. The American Southwest is home to some of the most spectacular and diverse geology on the planet and the Grand Canyon lays open one of our greatest geological stories. In this course, students study a record of deep time preserved in the canyon walls and the plateau above the rim of one of our greatest geological wonders. We travel from modern sediments in the Great Salt Lake and current erosional processes in Arches National Monument, to the approximately 2 billion year old Vishnu metamorphics deep in the Grand Canyon. Along the way, we investigate aspects of sedimentology, stratigraphy, structural geology, geomorphology, tectonics, and hydrology. Two weeks out West. (SL) Greer, Bush.