Field research instruction geology

FaculteitFaculty of Geosciences

NiveauMaster

Studiejaar2026-2027

Beschrijving

Course goals

By the end of the course, the student will have acquired:

quantitative insights into developing fieldwork in specialized research subjects;
the ability to apply multi-disciplinary techniques in fieldwork research;
the ability to understand and evaluate in the field associations of rocks and structures characteristic for specific research projects.

Course skills

Field skills: Identification and classification of (associations of) rocks and structures in fieldwork research. These features will be described and illustrated by interpreted photos, columns, diagrams, graphs and cross-sections that will be part of a research report.
Data skills: use Earth outcrop-derived data. Students will be able to understand how to get, read and use Earth outcrop-derived data to analyze and quantify processes in Earth Sciences. Furthermore, a large number of digital datasets are available in GIS format to complement the field observations. The students will analyze all datasets by the means of simple illustrations and will present the results in the form of short reports.
Thinking skills: interpretation towards geological and/or geophysical processes. Students will learn (or apply) with fieldwork observation how to integrate them in a publication-style report containing an abstract, problem statement, background, results, interpretation, discussion, conclusions and references.
Lab skills (optional): after the submission of the fieldwork report, students are encouraged to analyze in UU laboratories samples or other observations/information collected in the field by the means of defining another optional 7.5 EC guided research project supervised by any UU staff.
Earth Sciences and society skills: additional insights towards the sustainable use of the surface and subsurface, developed more extensively in other courses. Students will continue learning how to use field observations to focus the research on the sustainable use of georesources and storage, for instance mineral ore deposits. These notions contribute to a better understanding of the societal usage developed more extensively in other courses.

Content

Please note: Students are only allowed one MSc fieldwork / excursion (GEO4-1424a; 1430; 1431; 4418) during their MSc training.

Approximately the period of late April - May is reserved for a research-oriented fieldwork in the Betic Cordillera, southern Spain for MSc students that choose to incorporate a fieldwork activity in their master programme, designed for the period 4a, year 1 of the enrolled programme.

Close to the start, the course contains a three-day introductory excursion aiming to give an overview of the regional geology relevant to the study area, learn/refresh field-oriented methodologies for the specific research chosen, and learn methodologies applied by other students that provide a multi-disciplinary component for the field-oriented research.

Independent field research will be carried out in teams of preferably two (not more than three) students with a focus on various Earth sciences topics, such as tectonics, structural geology, metamorphism, basin development, metamorphic geology, volcanology, sedimentology, stratigraphy, paleontology, biogeology).

The exact objectives of the field research (i.e. the research question to be answered), the area of focus (the data collection area) and the scientific approach (the applied methods) will be defined either via discussion with the staff or independently. The combination between objectives, area and approach will be different for every team. Students are strongly encouraged to independently (fully or partly) design, implement and execute their own programme during the fieldwork. Due to the complex logistics and report’s requirements, any independent (part of the) programme must be approved by the course coordinator.

Programme and Schedule:
Travel and field work: late April - late May (week 17 until 22)
Report: early June
Assessment of the report: early July
One optional chance to improve the report: September
Please note: Registration for this course only during the timing of registration for period 3.

Development of transferable skills:

Written communication skills: results of the fieldwork research have to be presented in the form of a final publication-style fieldwork report;
Ability to work in a team: The entire fieldwork is carried out in teams of preferably two (not more than three) students, all having the same responsibility towards the final product;
Initiative: Students are strongly encouraged to independently (fully or partly) design, implement and execute their own programme during the fieldwork, with or without the collaboration of the staff. However, due to the complex logistics and report’s requirements, any independent programme must be approved by the course coordinator;
Problem-solving skills: All fieldwork acquired datasets have multiple possible answers and require good analysis of how to solve the questions at hand;
Analytical/quantitative skills: application of the knowledge obtained during previous courses lectures and self-study to solve problems and answer fieldwork research questions;
Technical skills: depending on the research subject, such as optical microscopy for biostratigraphy.

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