Geoph
436 Field Camp – 2014
Tentative: Sunday August 24 to
Monday September 1,
Final Reporting TBD Fall Semester, 2014
Instructor: Prof. Douglas Schmitt
dschmitt@ualberta.ca
PDF file of this
information available here.
Geophysics 436 is an intensive week long field camp for the 4th year
undergraduate and often 1st year graduate students in
Geophysics. Geophysics 436 is a mandatory
component of the undergraduate Geophysics degree and after 2014 will be a
requirement for those seeking Professional registration under APEGA.
The field camp is carried
out near Writing-On-Stone Provincial Park in Southern Alberta with the basecamp
at Allerston Community Hall about 20 kilometers east
of Milk River, Alberta.
There will be a number of
different geological targets for the various surveys. In the field camp, the student teams will be
reminded of the basic theory behind the measurements be taught how to operate
various geophysical equipment, carry out surveys with this equipment, and
perform basic analyses and interpretation.
Successful completion of the course requires reporting of the results
both in a written report and a poster presentation. We will likely have poster session sometime
in the middle of the Fall Semester.
A number of different Geophysical measurements
will be carried out including:
Potential Fields – Gravity and Magnetics
EM Methods – Ground Penetrating Radar, EM sounding,
Electrical Resistivity Tomography
Surveying – Differential GPS plus simple GIS
mapping, Total Station, Levelling
Seismology:
Reflection Seismic Profiling, Refraction Seismic Profiling (P and S
wave), Vertical Seismic Profiling
Geophysical Well Logging
Logistics:
1.
FEES: The field school is the course GEOPH 436 and you will need to register for it. In addition,
the departmental course fees are to be determined soon (last year they were
$500 per student) to pay for food, accommodation, and transport. Invoices will be sent out to those students
formally registered. If you have not
registered for Geoph 436 please do so as soon as the
registration opens on BearTracks. Please make out a check payable to the
Department of Physics, this must reach us prior to leaving for field school.
2.
REQUIRED FORMS:
a.
IMMEDIATE – Please fill out the ONLINE FORM
and submit it to me so we can have an idea of who is coming and what we need to
plan for.
b.
Contact
and Emergency Information (this provides us with
emergency contact and other information required for planning purposes, if you
did not already do this for us please get it into us as soon as possible.
c.
Field
School Waiver for U of Alberta Students and Volunteers Print this out, complete and bring to departure – DO NOT SIGN AS WE MUST
WITNESS IT YOUR SIGNATURE!
d.
Field School Waiver for Non U of A Participants
3.
RULES and POLICIES for
Geophysics Field School – please read these documents before we head to field
school.
a.
Department Field School Rules
b.
University Student Code of Behaviour
c.
All of you are responsible
to see to the cleanliness of the Hall at all times.
4.
DRIVING: See detailed information at http://www.facilities.ualberta.ca/Operations_Maintenance/Driving.aspx
I hope that a few of the students will be able to drive the University vehicles
for field school purposes. This is involved and consists of two
aspects:
a.
University Approval consists of
1.
Complete ‘Application for Driving Privileges and Consent to Obtain Abstract Form’ and return to Dr. Schmitt, if University allows your driving record
proceed to …
2.
Take approved Defensive
Driving Course on campus (about 6 hours lecture). This is worth 3
demerits off! and will also help with your personal
auto insurance. See the driving link to find information about signing up
for this.
3.
Take Driver Evaluation on
campus (a U of A driving test). This is done individually by appointment (see
website above).
b.
Provincial Law requires that you have a Class 4 ‘for hire’ license – essentially a
license to transport small groups for hire. Details of this are here
but it consists of:
1.
Medical Examination (your
Doctor may have the forms on hand but print out the Government form to play it safe)
2.
Written Examination and
Eye Test (at a Registry)
3.
Class 4 Drivers
Examination (need own vehicle), usually also at a registry, need to book ahead
for this in busy
4.
License Reclassification
Fee
5.
Note that you will have to
pay for this upfront but will then be reimbursed for the fees paid by the
University Fleet Safety Office. You can find the reimbursement forms for
this here,
please follow the instructions there!
5.
SCHEDULE:
a.
Departure: Tentatively Sunday August 24 (this may be
changed to Saturday the 23rd depending on student numbers): 8:00 am
– Meet in front of the new Geophysics Head House Field Facility – immediately to the east of CCIS and south
of ESB. You can reach this by car from
b.
Typical Day: Will consist of meeting at 8:00 AM for a quick daily
safety/organizational meeting. A TA will
assist you to learn how to operate the equipment and provide an overview of the
method. You will be responsible for making sure the data is properly recorded
and will further make sure that it is archived in the evening. Time permitting we will take a ‘Geological
Boondoggle’ later in the week.
c.
Return: At the latest by Monday, September 1, 2012.
6.
HOUSING: You will camp at the Allerston
Community Hall. The Basement has a full kitchen and room for us to eat and to
set up our computers and equipment. The
upper level is a hardwood floor where many of the students can set up a
mattress and sleeping bag. Some students
bring their own tent to set up onsite if they wish. There is potable water at hall as well as
male and female flush toilets.
Additional porta-potties will be rented.
There
are no shower facilities at the camp. We will arrange for the group to
be at Writing on
7.
MEALS: Teams will be assigned as primarily responsible for meal preparation
and clean up. HOWEVER, everyone is
expected to pitch in when they can particularly with clean up after meals. This makes it easier for everyone.
a.
Dinner Schedule
1.
Sunday – Frozen lasagnas,
salad,
2.
Monday – Barbecue
Hamburgers, Sausages
3.
Tuesday – Spaghetti Night
4.
Wednesday – Burritos
5.
Thursday – Chili &
Rice
6.
Friday – Steaks
7.
Saturday – Clean the
fridge hash
b.
Breakfast – assortment of cereals, bagels, toast, fruit,
juice, etc.
c.
Lunches – Make your own sandwiches, chips, cookies, fruit, etc.
d.
Snacks – Some cookies onhand but you may want to bring
your own special snacks and softdrinks.
e.
Provisioning: We will stop in
f.
Let us know if
there are any dietary restrictions in advance so we can plan.
8.
Checklist of things to bring
a.
Sleeping bag and mattress
(plus your own tent if you want)
b.
Sufficient clothes for one
week, you will not have time or access to laundry. Also, this is
c. Good
walking/hiking boots or, better, work boots
d.
Light pair of working
gloves
e.
Set of inside shoes or
sandals
f.
Hat, Sunscreen, Sunglasses
g.
Portable water bottle.
h.
Bug spray
i.
Some pens/pencils/notebook
j.
Your laptop if you wish
for making calculations (no internet!)
k.
Your cellphone – there are
two towers visible from the Hall but we may be out of coverage area in some
parts of the field school. We will want
your cellphone number to provide to the group for safety reasons.
l.
A bright and shiny face J
and disposition.
m. Musical instruments, cards, cameras, etc.
9.
DO NOT BRING
a.
Drugs or Alcohol
b.
Weapons
c.
Fireworks or similar
d.
Dishes or Cutlery (lots at
the Hall)
e.
Crabbiness L
10. Other Considerations and
Safety
a.
All of the equipment but particularly the gravimeter and
the differential GPS are very expensive. You must handle all of this equipment
as if your life depended on it not being damaged. The instructors will help you
initially so that you know how to use the equipment properly.
b.
The students must keep in mind at all times how to
carry out their experiments as safely as possible. This will include:
1.
Wearing your assigned safety jacket
2.
Taking care along the roads in particular.
3.
Not allowed to use earbuds
during the day, you must be able to hear.
4.
We are operating in farming country during harvest.
Please respect everyone you see, these are my neighbors and friends. Further,
all of our materials for flagging, etc. must be cleaned up prior to departure.
5.
Littering is not allowed and could result in
expulsion. As well, the community hall must be cleaner when we leave than when
we came. I expect you to use your own common sense, we don't want to be
unwelcome in the future as this is a great site to carry out a field school
because of the mixture of sedimentary, igneous, and environmental geologic
targets.
6.
SMOKING will be allowed only at the base camp, there is a very real and dangerous fire hazard at this time
of year.
7.
Drinking and driving is not allowed and will result in
immediate expulsion. We will discuss restrictions on alcohol.
8.
Bringing your own vehicle is discouraged. You will not be allowed to use your own
vehicle during the field school if you bring it.
9.
We do not leave the field school until all data have
been appropriately archived - this means that we start recording it safely on
day 1 and this will be part of your responsibility at the field school.
10.We meet at 8:00 am
sharp after breakfast every morning for a quick discussion and assignment of
responsibilities. We should meet again after the evening meal as some work will
often continue late (especially gravity). Time and weather pending we hope to
go out to the east to see some interesting geological formations.
11. Finally,
watch out for rattle snakes!