Field Camp

The Department of Geophysics operates a four-week field program for undergraduate students and others from a variety of academic and institutional backgrounds. This program is designed to give students hands-on experience at conducting geophysical field investigations. The first half of the session is held in the field where students begin with a geological study of the area. Geophysical methods such as deep and shallow seismic, gravity, electromagnetics, self-potential, resistivity, and ground penetrating radar are used to collect data. For the second half of the session, students return to the CSM campus where they process and interprete the data. Field camp ends with a formal presentation of the results by the students to the department and other interested parties.

In 2011, CSM geophysics students were joined by students from Boise State University, Boise, Idaho, and Imperial College, London, England in Vale, Oregon. Approximately 75 students, faculty, staff, and industry partners from 3 educational institutions and 12 countries collected and processed data with the goal of characterizing the subsurface of the Neal Hot Springs area.

Field camp is a required course for geophysics undergraduates and is generally taken in the summer between junior and senior year. For further information, please contact Professor Mike Batzle.

Please click on the report covers below to view recent field camp reports: