The geology of Chile covers a broad swath of Earth history and exhibits a wide range of interesting features. During our trip — 26 February to 8 March 2015 — we will only be able to cover a small subset of what Chile has to offer. Our planned itinerary concentrates on geology and mining in four areas: San Pedro de Atacama, Calama, Cajón del Maipo, and Santiago.
In preparation for the trip, students have been participating since the beginning of the year in a weekly two-hour seminar (1-credit of EARTH 435). Students teamed up for presentations on a variety of topics, such as:
- Geology and Geography of Chile
- Tectonics of Chile
- Geysers and Hot Springs
- Porphyry and Epithermal Ore Deposits
- and presentations on the four areas we will be visiting
In addition to geologic topics, many presentations also touched briefly on archaeology, anthropology, economics, history, etc., in order to provide additional context for the places and people we will be visiting.
Thanks to funding from a generous anonymous donor, Shell, Chevron, and various individual contributors to the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences Field Excursion Endowment Fund, the out-of-pocket cost to students for this trip has been greatly reduced, ensuring an important educational experience is available to all.