GEOL5200-01: Comparative study of marine and terrestrial peridotite; a field investigation of denuded mantle in the Swiss Alps

University of Wyoming - Summer Session 2004
 July 19th - August 3rd 2004

Introduction

In July of 2004 two professors and six graduate students from the Department of Geology and Geophysics at the University of Wyoming, flew to Switzerland for a fieldtrip to investigate rocks from the Earth’s mantle that were exposed at a passive continental margin and a mid-ocean ridge in the Tethys Ocean and uplifted during the Alpine Orogeny.  The purpose of the field trip was to allow the participants the opportunity to investigate on-land exposures of mantle to compare with those they have investigated in the marine environment and to expand student study abroad.

Contents

Err Detachment
Switzerland - This page is intended to give a bit of an overview of Switzerland, and the areas where we stayed.
  • The Engadine and Guarda
  • August 1st - Swiss National Holiday

Course - A day by day account of the trip, to give you and idea of where, we went, what we did and what we learned.

Highlights include the Matterhorn, the Err detachment via helicopter (left), the Bergell intrusion and ophicalcites from Totalp, near Klosters.

Participants - who went and why.
Leaders: Professor Barbara John and Professor Michael Cheadle (UW)
Followers: Kay Achenbach, Graham Baines, Craig Grimes, Elena Miranda and Josh Schwartz (UW), Dr Donna Shillington (recently graduated from UW, now at Southampton Oceanographic Center, England) 
Travel - travel abroad can be a bit of a pain at times so here's what we learnt not to do.
Group Photo

Acknowledgements

We'd like to take this opportunity to publically acknowledge the financial support for this trip provided by International Programs, Academic Affairs, the Graduate School and the Dept. of Geology and Geophysics at the University of Wyoming. We'd especially like to thank the people in Internatinal Programs whose enthusiam for opportunities for overseas study made this all possible.

We also like to extend our gratitude to Drs Gianreto Manatschal (University of Strasboug) and Othmar Müntener (University of Bern) of for advice, help and collaboration in this innnovative summer course.