On Saturday and Sunday the 25th and 26th of August 2012, faculty, graduate, and undergradu- ate students from the Geology Department were led by Professor Alan J. Kaufman on a field trip to geological sites in Maryland and Pennsylvania staying overnight at Camp Singe- wald near Clear Spring, Md.

Stops on Saturday included the Baltimore Mafic Complex and Soldier’s Delight (discussion led by Assistant Professor Sarah Penniston-Dorland), where we searched for chromite mineralization in the serpentinites associated with the Taconic Orogeny; the Gettysburg sill at Little Round Top, where we viewed the historic battlefield and its geological features within a Triassic-aged half graben (discussion led by Professor Philip Candela, with historical commentary from Dr. John Merck); and the famous gas-rich Marcellus Shale along a railroad cut near Kistler, Pa. (discussion led by Professor Alan J. Kaufman).

After social hour and dinner at Camp Singewald, a monsoon set in that lasted until early the next morning (good to have shelter!). Stalling for time the following morning, we discussed the planned stops for the day before leaving in the rain for nearby Hancock, Md., where we hiked about a mile to view structural features in the Tonoloway Formation and Keyser Limestone (discussion led by Assistant Professor Aaron Martin). Due to the inclement weather we chose not to visit the Needmore Formation near High View, W. Va. to collect fossils, and instead drove back to College Park in the early afternoon.

Download the field guide!

Participants in the 2012 Geology Department Field Trip at Little Round Top, Gettysburg, Pa. included: (L-R) Yadviga Zhelezinskaya, Huan Cui, Julia Gorman, Caitlin Brown, John Merck, Phil Candela, Valentina Puchtel, Anna Statkiewicz, Igor Puchtel, Ming Tang, Sarah Penniston-Dorland, Aaron Martin, Kristy Long, Yu Huang, Roberta Rudnick, Katherine Watter, Mike Evans, Steven Ginley, Dana Borg, Zella Rudnick-McDonough, Emily Worsham, Zachary Reeves, Bill McDonough, Alex Lopatka, and Phil Piccoli.

See photos from the 2010 Department Field Trip!