Franklin & Marshall College

An introductory course designed to instill an appreciation for physical earth processes and human interactions. Laboratory emphasis is on data collection, such as sampling leachate as shown here, geochemical analysis and data interpretation.

A field excursion to the Eastern Pennsylvania anthracite coal region. Here students experience the effects of underground coal burning, which led to the closure of the town Centralia, PA.

This interdisciplinary course within the College's Foundations rubric addresses fundamental questions of systems and feedback mechanisms using the coral reef as a model for a complex system.

The geologic framework; environments of deposition and dynamics of sediments and sedimentary rocks; petrology and petrography of sedimentary rocks; interpretations derived from examination of sedimentary rocks in the field and laboratory.

The annual sedimentology & stratigraphy weekend field excursion to coastal Delaware focuses on modern beach processes and evidence for sea level rise and coastal erosion.

Towards the end of the Sedimentology & Stratigraphy course we hold the annual Triassic-Jurassic Rift Basin Symposium during class and laboratory periods. Each student presents their research, based on field observations from the local Gettysburg Basin, literature reviews and petrography from other rift basin sedimentary successions (Fundy, Hartford, Newark and Culpeper Basins).

The course will be presented within the intellectual paradigm of sea level change, eustasy, sequence stratigraphy and sedimentary cycles, Emphasis will be on primary literature sources, field work, and petrographic and geochemical analysis of sedimentary rocks.