Geoscience students often have difficulty interpreting real-world spatial relationships from traditional two-dimensional geologic maps. This can be partly addressed with direct, tactile field experiences, although three-dimensional (3-D) cognition can still be hampered by incomplete exposure of all spatial dimensions. Many of these barriers can be overcome by incorporating computer-based, virtual 3-D visualizations within undergraduate field-oriented curricula. Digital field equipment is fast becoming a standard tool in environmental, engineering, and geoscience industries, in part because of the increased accessibility of ruggedized computers equipped with global positioning system (GPS) receivers. Handheld computers with geographic information systems (GIS) software record and display data in real time, which increases the accuracy and utility of draft field maps. New techniques and software allow digital field data to be displayed and interpreted within virtual 3-D platforms, such as Google Earth. The James Madison University Field Course provides a field geology curriculum that incorporates digital field mapping and computer-based visualizations to enhance 3-D interpretative skills. Students use mobile, handheld computers to collect field data, such as lithologic and structural information, and analyze and interpret their digital data to prepare professional-quality geologic maps of their field areas. Student data and maps are incorporated into virtual 3-D terrain models, from which partly inferred map features, such as contacts and faults, can be evaluated relative to topography to better constrain map interpretations. This approach familiarizes students with modern tools that can improve their interpretation of field geology and provides an example of the way in which digital technologies are revolutionizing traditional field methods. Initial student feedback suggests strong support for this curriculum integrating digital field data collection, map preparation, and 3-D visualization and interpretation to enhance student learning in the field.

The objective of the environmental science component of the James Madison University field course in Ireland is to provide students with opportunities to conduct original hypothesis-driven research. We use an exercise in fluvial geomorphology as a case example of the way students used field observations and basic principles demonstrated by faculty mentors to develop and test hypotheses about the formation and function of rivers. Specifically, students addressed two fundamental, and currently unresolved, questions: (1) Can the location of large gravel bars be predicted? (2) What controls channel width? Students also gained insight into foundational concepts in fluvial geomorphology by investigating the distribution of deposited sediments, and deciphering how past environmental conditions provide first-order controls on the morphology of a modern-day river channel. In addition to identifying important geo-morphic patterns, students gained useful skills in developing and testing scientific questions in a rigorous and data-rich manner.

A new model is proposed for the problematic preservation of an Ordovician forearc basin, which records a complete sedimentary record of arc-continent collision during the Grampian (Taconic) orogeny in the west of Ireland. The South Mayo Trough represents an arc and forearc complex developed above a subduction zone in which the slab dipped away from the Laurentian passive margin. The collision of this arc with Laurentia caused the Middle Ordovician Grampian orogeny. However, the South Mayo Trough, in the hanging wall of this collision zone, remained a site of marine sedimentation during the entire process. Early sediments show derivation from an island-arc complex, an ophiolitic backstop, and polymetamorphic trench sediments. These are conformably overlain by marine deposits derived from a more evolved arc complex and an emerging juvenile orogen. This transition is dated as being coeval with the Grampian metamorphism of the Laurentian footwall. The problem remains as to why subsidence continued in a basin on the hanging wall. It is proposed that the suppression of the expected topography is due to the nature of the Laurentian continental margin. Geophysical and geological evidence suggests that this was a volcanic margin during Neoproterozoic rifting. It is argued that the subduction of this margin caused the formation of eclogites, which reduced its buoyancy. Simple numerical models are presented which show that this is a viable mechanism for the suppression of topography during early stages of arc-continent collision and hence for the preservation of forearcs.