Field Geology

This subject will provide students the opportunity to develop skills in field geology that are highly valued in the environmental, resource development, engineering, and mining industries. Students will learn to identify minerals, rocks, sediments, structures, and geomorphic features in the field and using remote sensing imagery, and to express them through geological maps, cross-sections and reports. Students will learn how to collate and interpret diverse geological observations and to use these data to develop models of geological histories across multiple time-scales. Students will gain a rich understanding of how geological mapping and other field methods can be used to inform decision-making across a wide array of contemporary challenges, including hazard identification, risk reduction, and sustaining future Earth.

• 1Develop and apply basic risk assessment and safe fieldwork strategies as they apply to rural or remote field work.
• 2Develop field plans and testable hypotheses for investigating geological field problems using existing scientific literature and remote sensing imagery.
• 3Describe and interpret a range of geological features in rocks (such as sedimentary structures, folds, joints, faults, veins and tectonic fabrics) at the macro- and meso-scale and how these can be used to develop tectonic models
• 4Interpret complex 3D geology in the field, such as that which might arise from folding, faulting, fluid flow, intrusions and other processes that influence the relative positions and characteristics of rocks
• 5Use advanced skills in detailed geological mapping including documentation and interpretation of field geological relationships at different spatial scales
• 6Construct geological maps and cross-sections from field and remote sensing imagery to express geological structures in map view and in three dimensions
• 7Identify geohazards using geological mapping and inform decision-making related to environmental, engineering, and resource development industries and Earth sustainability concepts
• 8Explain the geology and tectonic evolution of a specified region and interpret it in a global context through comparison with contemporary and ancient analogues