Pranoti Asher and Kelly Vance - GSA Meeting, Denver, CO
Denise Battles - GSA Meeting, Denver, CO
Jason Dittmer - AAG Conference on Race/Ethnicity and Place, Washington, DC
Jason Dittmer - Southeastern Division of the AAG, Biloxi, MS
Jonathan Geisler - SVP meeting, Denver, CO
Michael Kelley and Pranoti Asher - GSA Meeting, Denver, CO
Jessica Mannering and Jonathan Geisler - SVP meeting, Denver, CO
Dallas Rhodes and Fred Rich - GSA Meeting, Denver, CO
Dallas Rhodes and Ramon Arrowsmith - AGU Meeting in San Francisco, CA
Lisa Rossbacher and Dallas Rhodes - GSA Meeting, Denver, CO
Chuck Trupe - GSA Meeting, Denver, CO
Chuck Trupe and Dallas Rhodes - GSA Meeting, Denver, CO
Wei Tu - 2004 National IMPLAN Users Conference, Sherpherdstown, WV
Kelly Vance and Pranoti Asher - GSA Meeting, Denver, CO

ASHER, Pranoti M.1, VANCE, Robert Kelly1, and JENKINS, Stephen J.2, (1) Department of Geology and Geography, Georgia Southern Univ, Statesboro, GA 30461-8149, PAsher@GeorgiaSouthern.Edu, (2) Department of Curriculum, Foundations, and Reading, Georgia Southern Univ, College of Education, Statesboro, GA 30460-8144

The Environmental Geology course and required laboratory component are taken by 750 Georgia Southern University students each year to fulfill a core curriculum requirement in environmental science. Although many of the laboratory and field exercises are tailored to local and regional environmental issues, activities dealing with minerals and rocks involve traditional hand-sample identification. The purchase of a Rigaku MiniFlex XRD (funded by NSF DUE 0311730) has allowed us to create project-based investigations of household and construction materials to explore properties and uses of minerals.

The household materials exercise is a simple introduction to the basic theory of XRD and the identification of the mineral content of various cleaning agents (e.g., bathroom and kitchen cleaners), cosmetics, personal hygiene products, and over the counter medicine (e.g., vitamin and mineral supplements). The construction material exercise involves the analysis of old construction materials that contain asbestiform minerals and the hazards they present.

The success of these exercises was ascertained by formative and summative evaluations. A two-group, before-and-after experimental design was used to conduct the summative portion of the evaluation. One-half of the laboratory sections (randomly chosen) was taught the above-mentioned exercises in the traditional manner while the rest used the XRD. All students took a test based on questions relating to mineral resources. Both groups were measured twice: a pre-test at the beginning of the semester and a post-test after completing the exercises. The pretest did not differ significantly between the two groups whereas the post-test score for the XRD group was almost 7% higher than that of the non-XRD group. The formative evaluation provided a qualitative dimension to the evaluation process. Nearly 80% of the students reported that using the XRD increased their understanding of minerals and helped them think more critically about mineral applications. All students felt that the XRD analysis helped them in understanding the course material and they enjoyed the hands-on experience. In summary, the XRD has improved the instruction of mineral science concepts and enhanced the science experiences of those students enrolled in our Environmental Geology laboratory course.

BATTLES, Denise A., Department of Geology and Geography, Georgia Southern Univ., P.O. Box 8149, Statesboro, GA 30460, dbattles@georgiasouthern.edu and HUDAK, Jane Rhoades, Department of Art, Georgia Southern Univ., P.O. Box 8032, Statesboro, GA 30460, jhudak@georgiasouthern.edu

The visual arts offer a variety of topics that may be used as the basis for teaching geoscience concepts at the introductory college level, as evidenced by "Art and Geology" courses now offered by a number of institutions. For many faculty members, a significant challenge associated with teaching geoscience in relation to art is the dearth of educational materials designed to support such instruction. This abstract's authors, geology and art faculty members, have created and offered an Art and Geology course and are developing a prototypal college textbook aimed at addressing this issue. Each chapter of the envisioned book will focus on a specific art medium (painting, sculpture, etc.) or theme, providing the framework through which art and geology content is introduced and considered.

The medium of jewelry is one that is well-suited to teaching introductory geoscience concepts, facilitating the instruction of many topics covered in the "Minerals" component of a traditional physical geology class, but in an applied and in-context way. Concepts such as chemical bonding and the definition, characteristics, and physical properties of minerals arise naturally through a discussion of "Jewelry, Gems, and Metalsmithing," the focus of an Art and Geology module and one textbook chapter under development. For example, a discussion of desirable gemstone qualities can be utilized to introduce the concepts of mineral hardness, luster, cleavage, color, and other optical properties, whereas the technique of metalsmithing illustrates well the property of tenacity and the influence of bond type on a mineral's attributes.

A key focus of the educational materials being developed is the incorporation of hands-on, problem-solving activities, in keeping with the literature on pedagogical "best practices." The inclusion in each chapter of one or more carefully-chosen case studies allows students to apply their knowledge to a specific example and explore interdisciplinary connections. In the jewelry chapter, for instance, a case study examines the peridots of Zabargad Island, Egypt, an important historical source of gem-quality olivine mined from what is interpreted to be mantle-derived ultramafic rocks exposed along the Red Sea rift.

This material is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0231106.

Dracula and Eastern Europe: Teaching the Social Construction of Regions in Regional Geography Courses

Author: Jason Dittmer

Abstract: This article describes the difficulty of teaching about the construction of regions in regional geography courses, which are themselves built on a metageography that often goes unquestioned. I advocate the use of popular culture to make this very complex issue palpable for undergraduates. Thus, the construction of Eastern Europe within a larger European framework is clear through a study of Bram Stoker's Dracula and the movies that the book has spawned. Included in this article is an analysis of the geography presented through the Dracula narrative, and the contents of the classroom experience I created to teach that analysis. The article concludes with survey data that illustrates the reaction of the students to the lesson.

JONATHAN H. GEISLER1 and MARK D. UHEN2

1Department Geology/Geography and Georgia Southern Museum, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, GA 30460-8149. E-mail: geislerj@georgiasouthern.edu;

2Cranbrook Institute of Science, 39221 Woodward Avenue, P.O. Box 801, Bloomfield Hills, MI 48303-0801. E-mail: uhen@umich.edu

Although some recent morphological and molecular studies agree that Cetacea is closely related to Hippopotamidae, there is little consensus on other aspects of cetartiodactyl phylogeny. We addressed this problem by conducting two analyses: 1) a simultaneous cladistic analysis of intrinsic data (morphology and molecules) that incorporates observations on recently described hindlimbs of protocetid and pakicetid cetaceans and 2) a stratocladistic analysis, which includes morphological, molecular, and stratigraphic data. Our intrinsic dataset includes 73 taxa scored for 8,229 informative characters, of which 208 are morphological and 8,021 molecular. Both analyses supported the exclusion of Mesonychia from Cetartiodactyla and a close phylogenetic relationship between Hippopotamidae and Cetacea. An agreement subtree for the intrinsic dataset indicates that the Old World taxa Cebochoerus and Mixtotherium are successive stem taxa to Whippomorpha (i.e. Cetacea + Hippopotamidae), a clade including Ruminantia and Oreodontoidea is the sister-group to Whippomorpha, and Perissodactyla is the sister-group to Cetartiodactyla. In the stratocladistic analysis, we found fewer most parsimonious trees, which in most respects were congruent with a subset of the shortest trees for the intrinsic dataset. Our stratocladistic analysis supports species of Diacodexis as the most basal cetartiodactyls; a monophyletic Tylopoda that includes Protoceratidae; and Suina, Entelodontidae, Amphirhagatherium, and Anthracotheriidae in a clade of suiform cetartiodactyls. Anthracotheres do not appear to be closely related to hippopotamids, and either Cetacea or Raoellidae + Cetacea is the sister-group to Hippopotamidae. Thus the ghost lineage for Hippopotamidae is still 39 million years long.

RESPONDING TO PUBLIC REQUESTS FOR ANALYSES: LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE STATESBORO METEORITE

KELLEY, Michael S., Geology and Geography, Georgia Southern Univ, P.O. Box 8149, Herty Bldg Room 1110, Statesboro, GA 30460-8149, mkelley@georgiasouthern.edu, ASHER, Pranoti M., Department of Geology and Geography, Georgia Southern Univ, Statesboro, GA 30461-8149, WELTEN, Kees C., Space Sciences Laboratory, Univ of California, 7 Gauss Way, Berkeley, CA 94720-7450, and MERTZMAN, Stan, Department of Earth & Environment, Franklin and Marshall College, P.O. Box 3003, Lancaster, PA 17604-3003

In August 2003 a local farmer brought a rock to the Department of Geology and Geography at Georgia Southern University stating that his mechanical bean picker pulled up the sample in June 2000 when he was harvesting his crop. He tossed the rust-colored, 2-kg specimen under a shed, and gave it little thought for the next 3 years.

Based on a thin section analysis of the specimen, we determined that it was an ordinary chondrite, probably of petrographic grade 4 or 5. XRF and XRD analyses confirmed that the sample was a meteorite. A type specimen was sent to the Smithsonian Institution for official classification, and the sample was determined to be an L5 ordinary chondrite. Results of isotopic and noble gas analyses are forthcoming.

By definition, any rock found on the coastal plain is unusual, and probably has an interesting story to tell. Unfortunately, it is generally impossible to determine with any certainty how rocks get there. One exception are goethite nodules typically found in south Georgia soils. These are the most common geologic samples brought to the Georgia Southern faculty by the public. They are dense, come in a variety of sizes and shapes, and can easily be mistaken for meteorites by non-geologists.

The geology faculty members in our department have more than 100 years of combined experience working in the field around the world and examining specimens for the public. Yet until we identified the Statesboro meteorite in 2003, none of us had ever found a meteorite. In fact, seldom do we find rare or valuable material in the rocks brought to us by the public.

Until we identified the Statesboro meteorite, our dealings with the public and their samples had been informal. It was enjoyable for us to meet new people, and educational for those who brought us samples. Events surrounding the Statesboro meteorite have forced us to permanently change the way we handle requests by the public to examine or analyze their geologic specimens. In this presentation we describe our experience dealing with the owner of the meteorite, our procedures for dealing with the public before and after we identified the meteorite, and our work to derive scientific results from limited samples in a short period of time.

Regional publicity of the Statesboro meteorite discovery has increased significantly the rate at which we receive examination requests from the public.

Jessica Mannering and Jonathan Geisler

We report a new species and possibly a new genus of odontocetes from the Chandler Bridge Formation of South Carolina. We conducted a cladistic analysis and achieved this specimen's (GSM 1098) phylogenic placement using the dataset, Morphological Evidence for the Phylogeny of Cetacea (Geisler, J. H. and Sanders, A. E., 2003), covering the phylogeny of Cetacea. We determined that GSM 1098 shares a clade with Archaeodelphis patrius, Xenorophus sloanii, and four undescribed Xenorophids. GSM 1098's placement on the clade puts it in a primitive state when compared to Xenorophus sloanii, therefore indicating that it is possibly a new genus. GSM 1098 is grouped with the Xenorophids due to its similar morphological data. This morphology includes: the lacrimal is greatly extended posteriorly and covers much of the lateral side of the supraorbital process of the frontal in dorsal view, the posteriormost ends of the ascending processes of the premaxilla and the maxilla are in line with the anterior edge of the floor of the squamosal fossa, and the posterior region of the rostral edge is slightly bowed outward casing a v-shaped antorbital notch (Geisler, J. H. and Sanders, A. E., 2003). GSM 1098 is distinguished as a more primitive specimen than the Xenorophids due to the morphological differences of the premaxilla. The premaxilla has a narrow separation immediately anterior to the external bony nares, is extended laterally covering much of the supraorbital process, and is adjacent to the nasal opening in the direction perpendicular to the face, but the nasals and the premaxilla equally project dorsally and anteriorly (Geisler, J. H. and Sanders, A. E., 2003). There is morphological data that groups Archaeodelphis with the Xenorophids and GSM 1098, for example the larger lacrimals, although Archaeodelphis is distinguished from Xenorophids by certain characters. In Archaeodelphis, the width of the rostrum at the antorbital notch is narrower and the lacrimal extends around the anterior edge of the supraorbital process of the frontal and slightly overlies its anterior end.

Arrowsmith, J R
Ramon.Arrowsmith@ASU.edu
Arizona State University, Department of Geological Sciences, Tempe, AZ 85287 United States

Originally referencing the first three chapters of the New Testament, the term "synoptic" has come to mean "a general view of the whole, or of the principal parts of a thing." Large format posters provide an opportunity to present research in synoptic form, rather than as an arrangement of PowerPoint slides and text. In synoptic views, data, analyses, and linkages are presented en masse with the graphical design used as a guide to the linkages. Conclusions about the meanings of the information are largely left to the viewers as they study the information and seek relationships-a natural activity for scientists. Numerous formats produce synoptic views of geoscientific information. Each imposes order on the information through spatial, temporal, or causal connections and provide context for multiple variables. Maps are the most common synoptic presentations. Additional map-sheet information, such as stratigraphic columns and cross sections, gain meaning from and contribute meaning to the areal view. Two and three-dimensional models, including flow charts and organizational diagrams offer a means of portraying complex interactions. Time lines and spatial line (e.g., latitude, depth, distance) diagrams, especially those with additional axes to plot related variables, show temporal or spatial trends, progress, or fluctuation. Some organizational schemes are specific to the sciences. The periodic table is a synoptic portrayal of the elements that designates their chemical behavior by their positions. As an illustration of phenomena, the well designed synoptic poster provides a multi-scale perspective that slices across time, space, or other parameters to expose the significant behaviors of the given system. Bruce Railsback's (2003) reorganization of the periodic table to emphasize the charged species most common in geologic processes is an outstanding example of synoptic design. Edward Tufte's works on graphical style and visual explanations are also excellent guides to good design and reproduce historic and contemporary examples of synoptic views.

Recent closures of geology programs at U.S. colleges and universities (e.g., Univ. of Connecticut) reflect a continuing decrease in the number of degree-granting geoscience programs. Longitudinal data from the American Geological Institute's Directory of Geoscience Departments support this conclusion.

Between 1989 and 2002, the number of "geo-" departments (geology, geological sciences, or geosciences) in the U.S. decreased by 16% and "earth science" departments dropped by 22%. A quarter (25%) of all the departments changed their names to expand the areas included, either with a new title or by appending other academic disciplines to the name. Over this same period, 19 departments stopped offering any bachelor's degree that could be listed in the AGI Directory.

In 1996, all of the top ten liberal arts colleges in the U.S. News and World Report rankings had strong geology programs. Today, seven do. Among the top 40 liberal arts colleges in 1996, 75% had geology programs, with about 50% of the second tier, 25% of third tier colleges, and almost none of the fourth-tier schools. In 2003, only 65% of the top-50 liberals arts colleges offered a bachelor's degree in a field that had either "earth" or "geo-" in its name. In the second tier of colleges, this percentage fell to 25%, and then 12% and 11% for the third- and fourth-tier colleges, respectively. For nationally ranked research universities, the percentages offering these bachelor's degrees were 84% (top 50), 75% (2nd tier), 72% (3rd tier), and 64% (4th tier). Out of over 100 historically black colleges and universities in the U.S., only two offer a degree in geology or earth science. Geology programs are becoming the province of (1) well-endowed smaller colleges or (2) large universities.

These trends place the profession at risk through (1) decrease in student preparation for graduate work, (2) potential loss of rigor in geological education, (3) decrease in diversity of the work force, and (4) loss of the unique intellectual contributions for understanding the temporal, spatial, and historical relationships that characterize geology. Reversing the trends will require public understanding of the importance of geology to the nation's intellectual and economic future.

KALAKAY, Thomas J., Earth and Enivornmental Sciences, Rocky Mountain College, 1511 Poly Drive, Billings, MT 59102-1796, TKALAKAY@bridgeband.com, ROBINSON, Delores, Department of Geological Sciences, Univ of Alabama, 202 Bevill Building, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, REESE, Joseph, Department of Geosciences, Univ of Pennsylvania - Edinboro, Edinboro, PA 16444, MOGK, David, Earth Sciences, Montana State Univ, Bozeman, MT 59717, WILLIAMS, Mike, Department of Geological Sciences, Univ of Massachusetts, 611 North Pleasant Street, Amherst, MA 01003-9297, HOGAN, John P., Geological Sciences and Engineering, Univ of Missouri - Rolla, 125 McNutt Hall, 1870 Miner Circle, Rolla, MO 65409-0410, jhogan@umr.edu, BADGER, Robert, Geology, State Univ of New York College at Potsdam, 44 Pierrepont Avenue, Potsdam, NY 13676, HARLAN, Stephen, Department of Environmental Science and Policy-Earth Science, George Mason Univ, MS5F2, Fairfax, VA 22030-4444, HUBBARD, Mary, Department of Geology, Kansas State Univ, 108 Thompson Hall, Manhattan, KS 66506, and TRUPE, Charles, Department of Geology and Geography, Georgia Southern Univ, Statesboro, GA 30460

Our goal is to develop web-based learning modules that allow students to integrate diverse data sets from structural geology, petrology, geochronology, geophysics, and related disciplines to solve Earth science problems. Exercises will be designed to help students connect structural geology to related topics such as petrology, geochemistry, geochronology, geophysics, and climatology. Resources that will be available for student use on the webpage will include maps, imagery, structural measurements, petrography, geochemical and geophysical data, and journal and web-mediated resources. Exercises will emphasize inquiry and discovery, and will span a range of activities from single class exercises to semester-long projects, and can be customized to suit a variety of instructional goals. Initial modules in development include: Inverted Metamorphism and the Main Central Thrust, Nepalese Himalaya; Deformation Styles Along Grenville Aged Shear Zones of Northern New York; Deformation-Metamorphism Interactions of Grenville Rocks, Llano Uplift, TX; Deformation and Metamorphism in the Northwestern North Carolina Blue Ridge; Orogens Through Time; The Role of Crustal Magma Traps in Magma Migration and Emplacement; The Ivrea Crustal Section, NW Italy: A D-P-T history; Using the Paleomagnetic Fold Test and Geochronology to Constrain the Age of Fold and Thrust Deformation: Two Examples From the Helena Salient of the Cordilleran Orogenic Belt. We invite suggestions for additional topics; contributions of resources, activities and reviews; and participation in the working group listserv. http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/structure04/groups/geodyngroup.html

TRUPE, Charles H. and RHODES, Dallas D., Department of Geology and Geography, Georgia Southern Univ, Statesboro, GA 30460, chtrupe@GeorgiaSouthern.edu

Teaching geology through field experiences presents a major challenge to geoscience departments located in areas with little exposed geology. The Department of Geology and Geography at Georgia Southern University is such a department, as we are located in the Coastal Plain of southeastern Georgia, an area underlain by Tertiary and younger sediments. Although we take advantage of the teaching opportunities provided by the local geology, we must look elsewhere for geologic diversity. Nonetheless, geoscience students in our department have many opportunities to learn geology through field experiences. Students in our environmental geology labs complete two labs with field components. One is a campus field trip to investigate soils and examples of mass wasting processes. The second is a groundwater lab in which students collect water samples, perform simple chemical analyses, and measure water elevations in a series of monitoring wells on campus. Additionally, students (predominantly non-majors) in our introductory geology courses can participate in an optional one-day field trip to a nearby barrier island to learn about coastal processes and environmental issues. This trip is funded through student lab fees, and serves as a means to recruit majors as well as exposing students to geology in the field. Upper-level geology majors gain field experience through trips in courses such as petrology, economic geology, geomorphology, stratigraphy and sedimentation, structural geology, field methods, and paleontology. These classes typically have one or more weekend field trips to a variety of locations in the southeastern U.S. Locations of recent trips include the Georgia coast, the Okefenokee Swamp, exposures of igneous and metamorphic rocks in the Piedmont, and folded and thrust­faulted rocks of the Blue Ridge. In addition to course-related field trips, we endeavor to have at least one extended regional field trip each year. In recent years, we have taken students to Ecuador, the southern Rockies, the San Andreas fault, Death Valley, and Hawaii. Thus, though our institution's location lacks geologic variety, our students still have ample opportunities to learn geology through field experiences.

Wei Tu
Department of Geology and Geography, Georgia Southern University
Statesboro 30460-8149, USA

This paper discusses the changes of economic structure of Texas through a new analytic framework based on the integration of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Input-Output (IO) analysis. The research is set within the context of the emergence of the digital economy and information society in the U.S., allowing the study of spatial economic structure changes in Texas for the period of 1990-99. The transformation of the economy of the 1990s at the level of the Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) is analyzed and mapped using IO and GIS techniques on the basis of three-sector IO models for the years 1990, 1994, and 1999. It was found that manufacturing and energy sectors decreased whilethe information sector increased in Texas in the 1990s in general, and the spatial differentiation of the economic structure changes has been identified at the MSA level. The results also indicate that the informatization of the Texas economy has led to a less material/energy-dependent but more information-dependent manufacturing sector. However, further studies are needed in order to paint a more complete picture about the environmental consequences of the emerging new economy. The integration of GIS and environmentally-extended IO (EIO) analysis has provided an innovative approach to serve this end.

VANCE, Robert K. 1 , ASHER, Pranoti M 1., and JENKINS, Stephen J. 2, (1) Department of Geology and Geography, Georgia Southern Univ, Statesboro, GA 30460-8149, rkvance@georgiasouthern.edu, (2) Department of Curriculum, Foundations, and Reading, Georgia Southern Univ, College of Education, Statesboro, GA 30460-8144

The Environmental Geology laboratory course at Georgia Southern University provides an introduction to mineral science for approximately 750 students per year. The classic hand sample approach to mineral studies does little to stimulate interest in the geosciences for many of these students. A new lab exercise using student-based investigation of common construction materials such as flooring and roofing is designed to stimulate interest in mineral science, cultivate an appreciation for the methods of science, and promote development of critical thinking skills. A traditional hand sample mineral exercise provides some necessary background in metallic and industrial mineral and rock resources. This is followed with a homework assignment designed to brief students on asbestos minerals, the history of asbestos use, common Asbestos Containing Materials (ACM), asbestos related disease, and the regulatory history of ACM. Review questions are discussed in the following laboratory period and students are organized into research teams. Each student research team is provided with a sample of construction material. The research teams use a Rigaku MiniFlex XRD unit (funded by NSF DUE 0311730) to determine the minerals incorporated in the construction material. Research teams that identify asbestos minerals in the sample are required to evaluate the potential health risk for the specific mineral(s) and application and to make a recommendation for either the removal or management of the ACM. If the team selects "management", a plan outline is required. Teams that do not have ACM are required to explain the function or benefits of the particular mineral(s) used in the construction material. Trial runs of the exercise with pre- and post-exercise quizzes on a control group and test group along with a post-exercise survey of the test group were encouraging with respect to the quiz performance and the class enthusiasm for the investigative approach using a modern X-Ray Diffraction system.