Earth is Geology’s Classroom

Growing up in Hawaii, I’ve been to my fair share of beaches. They’re great; they’re peaceful; they’re fun. Until last week, I never would have thought of the beach as a classroom and a map of clues to show you the history of the area. Lucky for me, I chauffeured a field trip for Leslie “Doc” Sautter’s Marine Geology Lab to the beach and got to see the beach and its coastal processes in action.

Doc is known as the queen of all things marine here at the College of Charleston Geology department and now I know why. I learned a lot in those few hours! It confirmed to me how amazing our faculty is at what they do. I may have forgotten most of the terminology I learned that day, but I don’t think I’ll forget how the processes work, how coastal processes affect humans, and how humans in turn affect the coast. More importantly, I know some neat tidbits that I can share with my friends and family when we go to the beach.

Beach terminology

These are my favorite takeaways from the field trip:

–Inlets are dangerous! As the tide goes down (ebb tide – Wow! I remember a bit of the terminology), the channel becomes more narrow and turbulent. It can take a person down when they’re not looking. We stopped at Breach Inlet, right past Sullivan’s Island in the Isle of Palms, that’s claimed many lives. BE CAREFUL!

–Dunes need plants to keep the sand and remain a dune. Don’t go traipsing around in them to topple them. Don’t cut the plants, even if they’re pretty. It is awesome to see how some grasses grow with the dunes. You can see how as the top of the grass is covered by sand, it grows another root ball so it can grow taller again. We saw one at the edge of the dune that had three root balls. I had no idea!

Other cool things we saw:

Ripples in the sun

– The inlet’s Ebb Tidal Delta and its swash (sand) bars

Bubble sand!

– Wavy patterns in the sand called ripples that show how fast the water was going

– Bubble sand! This is where air has bubbled up through saturated sand, leaving voids.

– Waves refracting, showing you how the current (and longshore transport) is coming down the coast

I love that our faculty and department have the resources and gumption to go out and show students that the Earth is a geology classroom. Hopefully it was as memorable a lesson for the rest of the students as it was for me. I can’t wait to chauffeur for more geology field trips!

Doc Sautter’s Marine Geology field trip – Fall 2012 – Sullivan’s Island

Here are a few upcoming field trips and field opportunities that I know of:

• Walking tours of Charleston to see old earthquake damage
• Mineralogy field trip to wine country in NC to see how topography and soil affects grape varieties and harvests
• Congaree National Park trip for hydrology field research
• Class during winter break to study carbonate environments at the Gerace Research Centre on the island of San Salvador in The Bahamas
• Summer class to the Galapagos Islands for “Volcanoes in the Footsteps of Darwin”

It’s going to be hard to choose! What field experience has been your favorite? What field opportunity are you looking forward to the most?

Top Five Lessons Learned as a Non-Geologist Working in Geology

I didn’t know what to expect when I moved down to Charleston last October. I had never heard of the College of Charleston until I decided I wanted to live in Charleston. And Geology was a class I barely remembered taking in college to fulfill my undergrad requirement more than ten years ago. And now here I was…the new Office Manager for the department.

Wow, was I in for a treat! I am constantly amazed, awed, and surprised at what goes on in this department – even if I don’t always understand the geological aspect of it. In fact, every morning I get an email with a Geology word of the day and I normally don’t even know half of the terms in the definition. Luckily, this has only piqued my interest more. I can’t wait to share some of the amazing things that go on at the College of Charleston’s Geology Department.

So for my first blog…here are the top five lessons I have learned as a non-geologist working in geology, thus far:

1)   Geology is more than just rocks!

It’s global change, evolution, fossils, shore erosion, seafloor mapping, earthquakes, volcanoes, water resources, pollution, remote sensing, planetary geology, and TONS of other things! Keep reading future blogs to find out more.

2)   Don’t tell geologists that you don’t like bones

Because they’ll wind up on your desk. Or on top of your candy jar! YUCK! Now I have a bunch of bones outside my desk, although I have to admit that the “daddy” pteranodon is growing on me…

Pteranodon family with “dad” flying in the School of Sciences and Mathematics Building (SSMB) Atrium.

 3)   Geologists know how to party!

We’ve had parties for the opening of exhibits, close of exhibits, birthdays, guest speakers, awards, a successful year, and graduation! One party even featured a custom-brewed, geologically named beer – IMPACT! IPA thanks to Holy City Brewing.

4)   Geology humor can be very funny (even to non-geologists)

This will make even a non-geologist laugh!

 5)   Geology Rocks!

There are AMAZING students, WONDERFUL professors, CELEBRATIONS, a LAID BACK atmosphere, ALWAYS excitement.

So you have an idea of what’s to come in this Geology blog, here are some future topics:

• Student & professor spotlights
• Course spotlights
• Upcoming guest speakers & events
• Recaps of cool events with links to great photos
• Equipment spotlights
• What graduates are to now
• Rock/Specimen spotlights
• Student & Professor Kudos!
• Neat things students & professors are presenting
• Guest posts on all things Geologic!

Stay tuned for more blogs!  “Like” our Facebook page for day-to-day humor and excitement. I’ll make sure to link it to new blog posts.