Geography & Geology Degree Programme
Field work forms an integral part of the Geography and Geology degree programmes. Field work undertaken over the course of the degree covers many aspects of Earth surface processes and is intended to prepare students for their 3rd year project.
First Year
In Freshers’ Week in the first semester, there is a one day field excursion to Castleton. This provides an opportunity to get to know fellow students in an informal setting as well as look at the geology of a carbonate reef deposit and to discover fossils and minerals in the field. Students who have not studied geography and/or geology before get the chance to see rocks and landforms in their natural setting prior to laboratory studies.
Around Easter time students spend a week in the field in NE Scotland applying the concepts and skills attained in first year courses. You will spend three days on the Fife coast learning how to complete a field note-book, how to undertake stratigraphic logging, and how to construct a geological map. A further three days are spent in the Scottish Highlands looking at metamorphic rocks and minerals, and at glacial sediments and landforms. The course provides a general training in field geology, encountering sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic rocks varying in age from Dalradian to Quaternary, and an introduction to fossils, minerals and structures in the field.
Second Year
In the second year students have the choice of field courses to attend during Easter, each of which emphasise different elements of physical geography and are related to lecture and laboratory courses taken during the year.
A list of available courses will be advertised on the SED website nearer the time. You will be offered a choice of venues such as Donegal, Morocco, Iceland and Crete, all of which offer exciting opportunities to see Earth surface processes in the field and to conduct your own mini research project. Students should be aware that places on all of these trips are limited and that there will be a charge to cover transport and accommodation.
Field work undetaken in the summer between the second and third years
And so to a 3rd year project...In the summer vacation of their second year, students undertake, with minimal field supervision, data collection for their 3rd year project. The project is a test of the student's ability to apply what has been learnt in lectures, practical classes, reading and from previous field courses. The project gives students a chance to show how they can cope with a scientific problem more or less on their own. The report is an important piece of work that students should be able to show to and impress a potential employer with at interview.