University of Alberta Geophysics Summer Field School
Drumheller hoodoos
Geoph436 Field Camp – Fall Term 2020
Sunday August 23 to Saturday August 29,
Final Reporting TBD Fall Semester (usually the end of November)
Instructor: Prof. Vadim Kravchinsky (vadim@ualberta.ca)
Field School manager: Ryan Borowiecki (borowiec@ualberta.ca)
Field school TA: Xiaowen Liu (xiaowen4@ualberta.ca)
Our sponsors:
Geophysics 436 is an intensive weeklong 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 became a requirement for
those seeking Professional registration under APEGA.
The field camp is
carried out near Drumheller town in Central Alberta with the basecamp in
Albertan ghost town Dorothy (read about Dorothy ghost
town, see where Dorothy
is situated). You are going to visit famous hoodoos and the Dinosaur Museum
in Drumheller (see photos).
There is a number of
different geological targets for the various surveys: sedimentary
cross-sections, buried ghost town features (house basements), buried industrial
features (water plant pipe lines, near road buried features), environmental
(aquifer structure, depth of water penetration, sedimentary layer disturbance),
etc. 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 have poster session sometime at the end of November. Make sure to take
lots of photos for the poster and report (downloaded photos from internet will
NOT be allowed).
A number of different
Geophysical measurements will be carried out including:
Potential Fields –
Gravity and Magnetics
Electro-Magnetic 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
Field methods may vary
from year to year depending on the availability of the equipment.
What happens after the field school – after the data are collected in the field and
prepared for the analysis we return to Edmonton where the course instructor and
teaching assistants process and analyze the data before handing them in for your
further analysis. Preparation, organizing and pre-processing of the data
collected in the field is time consuming process, the data will be ready for
your analysis at the beginning of October. You will be split in groups of 3
people for further processing, analysis and interpretation of the selected by
instructor data sets from the field school. Please plan allocating enough time
as Matlab coding and report writing will take your time. The reports must be
submitted by mid-November. Poster preparation and final presentation will be
done in groups of two students. Poster must be submitted a few days before
presentation at the end of November. Exact deadlines and instructions will be
posted on eClass after the field school.
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 paid ($500 per student) to pay for food, accommodation, and transportation
to the site. 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 University
of Alberta, this must reach us before August 15th. Please contact Amy Wang in General Office of the Department of Physics to pay the
fee.
2. REQUIRED FORMS:
a. IMMEDIATE – Please fill out the ONLINE
FORM and submit it, 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
Print this out, complete and bring to departure – DO NOT SIGN AS WE MUST WITNESS IT YOUR SIGNATURE!
e. Waiver
for Volunteers Print this out,
complete and bring to departure – DO NOT SIGN AS WE MUST WITNESS IT YOUR
SIGNATURE!
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. Kravchinsky, 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
Alberta!
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: Sunday: 8:30 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
Saskatchewan Drive. We will have sufficient
seats available. You are not allowed to
take your own vehicle to field school unless there are some special
circumstances. We will stop along the
way for coffee and lunch (most likely in Drumheller).
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.
6.
HOUSING: You will camp at the
Dorhothy Community Hall (~30 km from Drumheller). It has a full kitchen and
room for us to eat and to set up our computers and equipment. Another room is 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. We have
toilet cabins outside the hall.
Additional porta-potties will be rented.
There are no shower
facilities at the camp. We will arrange for the group to be at RV part beside
at the end of the day before dinner in order to use the showers.
It is student’s responsibility
to keep our hall, yard and equipment clean and nice. Teams will be assigned to
keep an eye on these things.
7.
MEALS: Breakfast, lunch and
supper are cooked by the team of our local hosts. HOWEVER, everyone is expected
to pitch in when they can particularly with clean up after meals. This makes it easier for everyone.
Breakfast – assortment
of cereals, bagels, toast, fruit, juice, coffee, tea, cheese etc.
Lunch
– sandwiches, soups, fruits, etc.
Dinner – hot meal,
dessert.
Snacks – you may want to
bring your own special snacks and soft drinks. The meals are included in your
course fee but you will need to buy extra snacks and drinks.
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 Alberta and while we expect the temperatures to be high
with low humidity it can rain and even freeze at this time of year. So, come
prepared. Include a swimsuit.
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. Personal coffee mug / cap is not required
but you may find it useful.
m. A bright and shiny face J and
disposition.
n. Musical instruments, cards, cameras, etc.
9.
DO NOT BRING
a. Drugs or Alcohol
b. Weapons
c. Fireworks or similar
d. 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 or headphones
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 at any time during FS is forbidden from departing time
to arrival time back to Edmonton.
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).
11. Time and weather
pending we hope to go out to see famous hoodoos and to visit the Dinosaur
Museum in Drumheller (see photos).
12. Finally, watch out
for rattle snakes!
Geophysics Field School 2015
Geophysics Field School 2015
In the Drumheller museum
Dorothy Community Hall (field
school base camp)
Make sure you step on the ground
in your proper high boots (remember that snakes are rare and protected animals)