Explore Your World 

The Department of Earth and Environment is committed to providing students with as many field experiences as possible. Field trips are an integral part of most courses taught in the Geoscience/Environmental programs. In addition, students participate in independent research involving travel to places ranging from the Canadian Arctic to New Zealand, and from Australia to Mongolia.

As part of our commitment to field work, the department of Earth and Environment regularly organizes a subsidized field trip to a location of particular interest to environmental and geology students. Majors and minors in Geoscience, Environmental Science, and Environmental Studies all have the opportunity to participate.

Karst Field Trip

Following the spring semester in 2019, a group of F&M students traveled with Professor Tim Bechtel and Lab Manager Emily Wilson to Kentucky to learn about karst geology. The South-Central Kentucky Karst, also known as the Mammoth Cave Area, is a worldclass example of a shallow, intensely karstified, carbonate terrane. The area has been occupied...

Hawaii

Over Spring Break 2016, a group of students traveled to the Big Island of Hawaii to study the geology of active volcanoes, the biology of rainforests, the petrology of ancient cultures, and more. Students visited the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park where they studied a number of volcanoes, including Kiluea and Mauna Loa.  

Spring Break 2018

An industrious group of 16 students traveling to Arizona and New Mexico for Spring Break in 2018. Of course, the group spent two days at The Grand Canyon! Professor Andy de Wet and Lab Manager Emily Wilson also took the student to other important geological and archeological sites including El Malpais National Monument; Meteor Crater National...

Yellowstone National Park

Members of ENV 374 “Wildlife Conservation” class traveled to Yellowstone National Park during Spring Break. The wolves of Yellowstone are a well known example of a successful reintroduction of a predator into an ecosystem.  They also studied the wide variety of geological features in the Park.