GSA Section Meetings, 14 March through 14 May: Calendar, p. 11 VOL. 31, NO. 3–4 | MARCH-APRIL 2021 Field-Based Geoscience Education during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Planning, Execution, Outcomes, and Forecasts Add this great resource to your online library This monumental collection, describing and illustrating the geology and geophysics of North America, was created to help celebrate GSA’s 100th anniversary. You can read this collection of discipline- and region-specific books that filled a floor-to-ceiling bookcaseon your tablet or computer. Volumes include: • Centennial Field Guides • Continent-Scale Map Series (including the ever-popular Geologic Map of North America) • Continent-Ocean Transects • Geology of North America Series OWNLO D A K D O S O B • - E each E • R A O T T T S H E G S A Start exploring at rock.geosociety.org/store. MARCH-APRIL 2021 | VOLUME 31, NUMBER 3–4 SCIENCE 4 Field-Based Geoscience Education during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Planning, Execution, Outcomes, and Forecasts GSA TODAY (ISSN 1052-5173 USPS 0456-530) prints news and information for more than 22,000 GSA member readers Jonathan Rotzein et al. and subscribing libraries, with 11 monthly issues (March- April is a combined issue). GSA TODAY is published by The Geological Society of America® Inc. (GSA) with offices at Cover: The Pennsylvanian–Permian Minnelusa Formation (Minnelusa 3300 Penrose Place, Boulder, Colorado, USA, and a mail- means “rapid water” in the Sioux language) crops out in an area known ing address of P.O. 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Rotzien, Basin Dynamics LLC and University of Houston, Dept. of Earth and Planetary Sciences, 1875 Post Oak Park Drive, Houston, Texas 77027, USA, [email protected]; Ryan Sincavage, Radford University, Geology Dept., Box 6939, Radford, Virginia 24142-6939, USA, [email protected]; Christopher Pellowski, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Dept. of Geology and Geological Engineering, 501 E. St. Joseph Street, Rapid City, South Dakota 57701, USA, [email protected]; Yann Gavillot, Montana Tech University, Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology, Butte, Montana 59701, USA, [email protected]; Harry Filkorn, Pierce College, Physics and Planetary Sciences, 6201 Winnetka Ave., Woodland Hills, California 91371, USA, filkornh@ piercecollege.edu; Scott Cooper, FractureStudies LLC, 99 Rainbow Road, Suite 4-5, Edgewood, New Mexico 87015, USA, scott@ fracturestudies.com; Jeremy Shannon, Michigan Tech University, Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences, 1400 Townsend Drive, Houghton, Michigan 49931, USA, [email protected]; Umit Yildiz, Foster Sawyer, Nuri Uzunlar, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Dept. of Geology and Geological Engineering, 501 E. St. Joseph Street, Rapid City, South Dakota 57701, USA, umit.yildiz@ sdsmt.edu; [email protected]; [email protected] ABSTRACT and the Board of Regents; (iii) logistics, trans- including the subfields of sedimentology, The undergraduate geoscience experience portation, accommodation, and dining ser- stratigraphy, mineralogy, structural geology, typically culminates in a field-based capstone vices require advanced levels of consideration and metamorphic and igneous petrology. course that utilizes outcrop mapping, geologic to adequately address COVID-19–related risk Some specialized field camps provide more observation, and interpretation across multi- and uncertainty; (iv) online teaching and opportunities for students to develop their ple disciplines to provide the graduating geol- exercises can address geological field meth- interests in fields such as volcanology, geo- ogist with fundamental field-mapping skills. ods, but they cannot adequately assess a stu- physics (Bank and Rotzien, 2007), structure However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, dent’s ability to map geology in the field; (v) and thrust-belt tectonics, sedimentary basin many of the field-based geoscience programs field-mapping exercises need to be adjusted to analysis and applied petroleum geoscience have been temporarily suspended or shifted to reduce the number of people in one field area (Anderson et al., 1999; Rotzien et al., 2020, an online format. To address the demand for and lower their interaction to support social- and references therein), or environmental graduating seniors in the broad field of geo- distancing guidelines from relevant govern- hazard mitigation. Whichever type of field science, the South Dakota School of Mines ment and health authorities; and (vi) plans camp a student chooses to complete, it is and Technology developed an innovative need to be put into place for overall health and intended to be one of the highlights of their hybrid course consisting of two parts: (i) a safety as well as contingency plans in the undergraduate geoscience learning experi- 14-day online course on geological field event of an outbreak before and during the ence. However, during the COVID-19 pan- methods, followed by (ii) a 15-day in-person field camp. We hope that this experience of demic, many field camps were canceled, geologic mapping course based out of Rapid delivering a geology field camp during the postponed, or fully converted to an online City, South Dakota, USA. Analysis of this COVID-19 pandemic is useful in providing format. These cancellations and modifica- new hybrid course provides a benchmark on a benchmark