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Going All the Way |
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The point of a geo-safari is to bring back not a trophy, but knowledge to use at home.
Geology is everywhereeven where you already are. But to learn more deeply about it, do you have to actually become a field geologist to get the true hard-core experience? Or are there other ways for people to visit the land under a geologist's guidance? Indeed there are. I can count five ways, four for the few (most of them hard) and an easy way for the many, but all with the same reward.
The one nobody talks about is field camp, as practiced by academic departments of Earth science. For that you have to be enrolled in the degree program. If you get a degree in geology, make sure you experience these expeditions, where faculty members do the real work of imparting their science to students. If you visit the
Web sites of college geoscience departments, you'll often find photo galleries from field camps. Needless to say, they're hard work and very rewarding. Even if you never put your degree to use, you'll gain from this experience.Sometimes it's possible to join working geoscientists on one of their research expeditions. For example, when I worked for the U.S. Geological Survey many years ago after earning my degree, I had the good fortune to ride along on several different research cruises along the southern coast of Alaska. I did low-level work like logging data and handling sediment cores, and other people in the USGS bureaucracy had this same opportunity, even a few without geology degrees. The memories are still brightbut again, these opportunities are only for those in the life.
Another avenue to this kind of experience is to be a really good science journalist. Those are the folks who get invited to places like Antarctica or the
Ocean Drilling Program to write books or stories for glossy magazines. These are not jaunts or junkets: everyone, writer and scientist, works hard. But money and programs are available for those in the right position.The most fun for Earth science professionals is to take one of the many special field trips that are organized around major scientific meetings. These happen in the days immediately before and after a meeting, and all are led by professionals for their peers. Some are hard-core tours of things like
research sites on the Hayward fault, while others are lighter fare like the geologic tour of Napa Valley wineries that I took one year. If you can join the right scientific society, like the Geological Society of America, you're in.For all of these options I've mentioned, you basically have to
have a job in the business or be lucky enough to be near the action. But there are alternatives for ordinary people. Safaris and tours in the world's great countrysides, led by eager geologists, will fill you to the brim with sights and knowledge, and all you need to do in return is pay some money.I've built
a list of these geo-safaris, and it has a wide range. You can ride a small bus to the mines and villages of Mexico collecting mineralsor do the same in China; you can dig up real dinosaur fossils in Wyoming; you can be shown the San Andreas fault close up in the California desert. You can get dirty with real spelunkers in Indiana, trek upon the volcanoes of New Zealand, or tour the classic sites of southern England described by the first generation of modern geologists. Some are a nice side-trip if you're in the region, while others are pilgrimages, to be prepared for like the life-changing experiences they truly are.Many, many safari sites promise that you'll "experience the geologic wealth of the region," but unless they can promise a professional geologist in the group I tend to leave them off the list. That doesn't mean you'll learn nothing on those safaris, only that there's no guarantee you'll really get a geologist's insight into what you see.
And geological insight is a rich reward that you'll take home with you. Because as your eye opens, so does your mind. You'll gain a better appreciation of your local geologic features and resources. You'll have more things to show off to visitors. And through heightened awareness of the geologic setting you live inboth its limitations and its possibilitiesyou'll inevitably become a better citizen.