Geology Field Course in Ireland

Summer 2010: May 18 to June 26

Program Location

The JMU Geology Field Course is based in the Irish village of Clonbur in County Galway, western Ireland. This is approximately 40 kilometers from the medieval walled city of Galway, a cultural center for traditional Irish music and theatre. During the course students will visit spectacular natural landscapes and geologic features in Counties Galway, Mayo and Clare. The final week we transfer to the town of Doolin in the karst limestone of the Burren, one of Europe's unique natural environments.

Participants will have time for leisure activities such as hiking, horseback riding, swimming, sailing, kayaking as well as enjoying cultural visits to Galway, Westport, Doolin, and the Aran Islands.

Academic Program

This intense lecture and practicum seminar serves as a capstone experience for geology majors, and combines study-abroad experience in western Ireland with a modern approach to field mapping, tectonic synthesis and professional report preparation. We train you to see the “big picture” using the spectacular geology and environment of western Ireland. Emphasis includes classical and digital mapping, glacial geomorphology and climate change, regional tectonics, and environmental earth science. Field locations feature unspoiled glaciated hills and valleys, Precambrian metamorphic rocks, Paleozoic metasediments, meta-volcanic rocks, igneous intrusions, Tertiary dikes, and Quaternary deposits.

Typical course outline:

• Introduction to geologic mapping
• Glacial geomorphology interpretation and mapping
• Bedrock mapping group exercise
• Digital field mapping
• Regional field trips
• Stratigraphy & geochronology exercise
• Independent mapping exercise
• Environmental projects
• Geology and geoarchaeology of the Burren

Instructional methods include lectures, guided tours, field work and preparation of geologic maps and technical reports.

Tentative course offerings:
GEOL 399: Field Geology, (6)

Accommodations

Students will reside in 4-person rooms in a government-run Outdoor Education Center. Group meals will be provided.

Program Costs

For the current projected costs for this program, please click on the following link to the Fees for JMU Study Abroad Programs page.

Application

For more detailed instructions and to download the application, please click on the following link to the Applications and Forms section for JMU Short-Term Programs.

In addition to the Short-term Application, interested students should submit a faculty recommendation, current transcript and a personal statement explaining why they want to attend the JMU Ireland Field Course.

Course pre-requisites: GEOL 364, GEOL 365 or permission of instructor

For more information

For more information on the Geology Field Course in Ireland program, please contact the Program Directors:

Dr. Steve Whitmeyer
Assistant Professor & Field Course Director
Geology and Environmental Science
Tel: 540-568-7119
Email: whitmesj@jmu.edu

or
Dr. Scott Eaton
Associate Professor & Field Course Director
Geology and Environmental Science
Tel: 540-568-3339
Email: eatonls@jmu.edu

Additional details about the program can be found at the program web site, hosted on the JMU Geology department's web site.