Instruction

Short courses are available for training and continuing education of professional geologists. The courses are centered on integrating lecture and application of concepts both in the laboratory and in the field. The courses range from single day presentations to multiple day activities with extensive laboratory or field exercises. Classes can be tailored to the specific needs of participant groups.

Modern Structural Analysis for the Practicing Geologist

A field-oriented short course that provides a hands-on approach to understanding the field relations of contractional, extensional, and strike-slip structures. The main focus of the course is to enable the geologist to make practical regional structural interpretations from limited outcrop and subsurface data. The course is designed for geologists in mineral and petroleum exploration and development. The course typically is taught in Hawthorne, Nevada over a period of 9 days with morning lectures and exercises following in the afternoon with trips into the field to observe and measure geologic features. The venue and length of course can be modified to facilitate the needs of participants and organizations.

The Tectonics of the North American Cordillera

The short course presents an overview of the tectonic evolution of the North American Cordillera. The course outlines the Phanerozoic evolution of the continental margin and addresses the processes from continental rifting and deposition of miogeoclinal sedimentary rocks to subsequent transition of a convergent plate boundary and accretion of exotic terranes.

Interpretation of Seismic Reflection Profiles

A laboratory based course using seismic reflection profiles and well data to assess the subsurface geology of sedimentary basins. The course uses examples from the petroleum-rich Tachira basin of western Venezuela and a late Cenozoic basin in the south-central Walker Lane of Nevada. The course focuses on first-order principals of interpretation and lying 2D reflection profiles to well-logs to develop depth inversions of two-way travel time data. The course can be presented in single or multiple day formats, depending upon the degree of hands-on experience desired.

Geologic Evolution of the Great Basin

The short course focuses on the Phanerozoic history of the Great Basin through lectures and an optional field trip. The tectonic setting and depositional history of Precambrian to recent strata and the evolution of rift, contractional, extensional, and transtensional structures of the region are presented in lecture. The lecture course is supplemented by a multi-day field trip that visits various structures in the region.