Geography/Geology 467: Environmental Field Methods
Time: Monday 10:10 – 11:30 AM 216E Pearson Hall
Friday 12:20 – 5:30 PM 216E Pearson Hall (usually in the
field)
Instructor: Dr. Daniel Leathers Dr. John Madsen
216 Pearson Hall 101 Penny Hall
831-8764
831-1608
leathers@udel.edu jmadsen@udel.edu
Office Hours: Leathers - Tuesday and Thursday 1:00 – 2:30
Madsen – Wednesday and
Friday 10:00 – 12:00
(or by appointment)
Teaching Assistant: Mr. Mike Walegur, 230 Pearson Hall,
831-0789, walegur@udel.edu
Required Text:
All course materials will be
found on the web at
www.udel.edu/leathers/stclim.html
COURSE
OUTLINE (tentative)
Date Field
Exercise
9/1 1: meteorological instrumentation survey
9/8 2: temperature and moisture transects
9/15 3: the radiation balance (shortwave and longwave fluxes)
9/22 4: evapotranspiration (Penman – Monteith)
9/29 5: streamflow (calculating the discharge with field
measurements)
10/6 6: soil moisture (environmental controls on soil moisture)
10/13 7: measuring precipitation (rain gauges and Doppler radar)
10/20 8: geophysical methods I: high resolution marine techniques
(CHIRP sonar)
10/27 9: geophysical methods II: high resolution land techniques
(ground penetrating radar)
11/3 10: field surveying methods
11/10 11: geologic subsurface sampling (vibracoring or hand-augering)
11/17 12: geologic surface mapping (identifying rock formations in the
field)
12/1 13: presentation of geologic data (maps and map preparation)
The
class will be comprised of two major components; a Monday lecture that will
cover material needed for that week’s field work and a Friday Field
Exercise. In many cases the Friday
field exercises will be held in an off campus environment.
Class
Requirements
* This class is a true field
course. We are most interested in the
students gaining experience in field methods that can be used in future
employment and/or academic endeavors. There
will be no tests given in this class. However,
each student will be required to complete a comprehensive field report for each
field exercise (note that some field exercises may require other types of
submissions).
Grading
Field exercise reports 90%
Class attendance
and participation 10%