- Rozovsky wins prestigious NSF Early Career Award
- UD students meet alumni, experience 'closing bell' at NYSE
- Newark Police seek assistance in identifying suspects in robbery
- Rivlin says bipartisan budget action, stronger budget rules key to reversing debt
- Stink bugs shouldn't pose problem until late summer
- Gao to honor Placido Domingo in Washington performance
- Adopt-A-Highway project keeps Lewes road clean
- WVUD's Radiothon fundraiser runs April 1-10
- W.D. Snodgrass Symposium to honor Pulitzer winner
- New guide helps cancer patients manage symptoms
- UD in the News, March 25, 2011
- For the Record, March 25, 2011
- Public opinion expert discusses world views of U.S. in Global Agenda series
- Congressional delegation, dean laud Center for Community Research and Service program
- Center for Political Communication sets symposium on politics, entertainment
- Students work to raise funds, awareness of domestic violence
- Equestrian team wins regional championship in Western riding
- Markell, Harker stress importance of agriculture to Delaware's economy
- Carol A. Ammon MBA Case Competition winners announced
- Prof presents blood-clotting studies at Gordon Research Conference
- Sexual Assault Awareness Month events, programs announced
- Stay connected with Sea Grant, CEOE e-newsletter
- A message to UD regarding the tragedy in Japan
- More News >>
- March 31-May 14: REP stages Neil Simon's 'The Good Doctor'
- April 2: Newark plans annual 'wine and dine'
- April 5: Expert perspective on U.S. health care
- April 5: Comedian Ace Guillen to visit Scrounge
- April 6, May 4: School of Nursing sponsors research lecture series
- April 6-May 4: Confucius Institute presents Chinese Film Series on Wednesdays
- April 6: IPCC's Pachauri to discuss sustainable development in DENIN Dialogue Series
- April 7: 'WVUDstock' radiothon concert announced
- April 8: English Language Institute presents 'Arts in Translation'
- April 9: Green and Healthy Living Expo planned at The Bob
- April 9: Center for Political Communication to host Onion editor
- April 10: Alumni Easter Egg-stravaganza planned
- April 11: CDS session to focus on visual assistive technologies
- April 12: T.J. Stiles to speak at UDLA annual dinner
- April 15, 16: Annual UD push lawnmower tune-up scheduled
- April 15, 16: Master Players series presents iMusic 4, China Magpie
- April 15, 16: Delaware Symphony, UD chorus to perform Mahler work
- April 18: Former NFL Coach Bill Cowher featured in UD Speaks
- April 21-24: Sesame Street Live brings Elmo and friends to The Bob
- April 30: Save the date for Ag Day 2011 at UD
- April 30: Symposium to consider 'Frontiers at the Chemistry-Biology Interface'
- April 30-May 1: Relay for Life set at Delaware Field House
- May 4: Delaware Membrane Protein Symposium announced
- May 5: Northwestern University's Leon Keer to deliver Kerr lecture
- May 7: Women's volleyball team to host second annual Spring Fling
- Through May 3: SPPA announces speakers for 10th annual lecture series
- Through May 4: Global Agenda sees U.S. through others' eyes; World Bank president to speak
- Through May 4: 'Research on Race, Ethnicity, Culture' topic of series
- Through May 9: Black American Studies announces lecture series
- Through May 11: 'Challenges in Jewish Culture' lecture series announced
- Through May 11: Area Studies research featured in speaker series
- Through June 5: 'Andy Warhol: Behind the Camera' on view in Old College Gallery
- Through July 15: 'Bodyscapes' on view at Mechanical Hall Gallery
- More What's Happening >>
- UD calendar >>
- Middle States evaluation team on campus April 5
- Phipps named HR Liaison of the Quarter
- Senior wins iPad for participating in assessment study
- April 19: Procurement Services schedules information sessions
- UD Bookstore announces spring break hours
- HealthyU Wellness Program encourages employees to 'Step into Spring'
- April 8-29: Faculty roundtable series considers student engagement
- GRE is changing; learn more at April 15 info session
- April 30: UD Evening with Blue Rocks set for employees
- Morris Library to be open 24/7 during final exams
- More Campus FYI >>
8:55 a.m., Dec. 10, 2008----William S. Schenck, a scientist with the Delaware Geological Survey, has been taking students from A.I. du Pont High School on Wilmington & Western Railroad tours, observing rock outcrop locations along the way.
Schenck's involvement with the high school started in 2006 when his daughter's earth science teacher asked him to lead a field trip for the class. His involvement with the Wilmington & Western began several years earlier.
“Originally, in 1998, the Wilmington & Western Railroad asked me to write about the geology along the tracks for a publication they were working on. Part of their mission is education, so I did,” Schenck said. “In the end they never published their report so my co-author and I published Delaware Piedmont Geology, including a guide to the rocks of the Red Clay Creek Valley.”
The reason Schenck chose the Delaware Piedmont to study, and to show the A.I. du Pont High students, has to do with the area's geological diversity.
According to Schenck's publication, five distinct rock units can be recognized in the Delaware Piedmont: rocks of the volcanic arc, rocks formed from the mud and sand deposited in the deep ocean that existed between the volcanic arc and the ancient continental margin, rocks that were once sand and carbonates (calcium carbonate) lying on the shallow shelf of the ancient continental margin, and rocks of the ancient North American continent, called Laurentia by geologists.
“The rest of the 94 percent of the state,” explains Schenck, “is covered by layers of sediment of the Atlantic Coastal Plain.”
As far as activities on the field trip, Schenck says that the students “basically look at the rock outcrops and listen to me preach about them. But one thing I always do is pan for garnets in the Red Clay Creek in Brandywine Springs Park. There are lots of them in the stream sediments there, reddish-brown ones and bright lavender ones. It is always exciting to see the bottom of my black gold pan turn red and purple as we pan.”
Schenck's favorite part of the trips, however, is the fact that it allows the students a chance to see rock formations that they might otherwise miss.
“Because it is a field trip on a train, it is a great way to get a lot of people to the rocks almost no one gets to see,” he says.
Article by Adam Thomas
Photos by Kathy Atkinson