Geology and Geological Engineering Department

Geology B.S. and Minor

Contact Information

Dr. Laurie Anderson
Department of Geology and Geological Engineering
Mineral Industries 307
(605) 394-2461
E-mail: Laurie.Anderson@sdsmt.edu

Faculty

Professors Anderson, Duke, Paterson, and Price; Associate Professor Uzunlar; Assistant Professors Pagnac and Terry; Professors Emeritus Fox, Lisenbee and Redden; Haslem Post-doctoral Fellow Wood.

Supporting Faculty

Professors Davis and Stetler; Assistant Professors Katzenstein and Sawyer; Professor Emeritus Rahn; Adjunct Professors Benton, Martin and McCormick.

The Black Hills Natural Sciences Field Station

The Black Hills Natural Sciences Field Station functions in cooperation with universities from South Dakota, North Dakota, Mississippi, and Wisconsin with the purpose of providing summer field courses in the Black Hills and nearby areas, as well as overseas. Field courses in geology, geological engineering and environmental science and engineering are offered. For descriptions of all courses offered, see the listings of the Department of Geology and Geological Engineering in this catalog.

The Field Station operates from five sites: School of Mines campus, Ranch A in the northern Black Hills of Wyoming, Taskesti in the country of Turkey, and the city of Chennai and the Andaman Islands in India, and the Himalayas of Nepal.

Geology and Geological Engineering Field Camps:

GEOL 410 Field Geology — five (5) weeks (six (6) semester hours) — Ranch A, Wyoming

GEOL 410 Field Geology — five (5) weeks (six (6) semester hours) — Taskesti, Turkey

GEOE 410 Engineering Field Geology five (5) weeks (six (6) semester hours) — Rapid City, SD

GEOE 410 Engineering Field Geology five (5) weeks (six (6) semester hours) – Taskesti, Turkey

GEOL 412/512 /GEOE 412/512 Science and Engineering Applications (3 to 6 semester hours), Rapid City - SD, Taskesti – Turkey, Chennai/Andaman Islands,– India, and Himalayas, Nepal.

Paleontology Field Camps:

GEOL 371 Field Paleontology – two (2) weeks two (2) semester hours – held at one of several ongoing paleontology sites throughout South Dakota, Wyoming, Oregon, and the western United States with department and Museum of Geology faculty and personnel

BHNSFS also offers youth and freshman geology field camps and field trips.

Further information may be obtained by calling (605) 394-2494, or go to the website: http://geologyfieldcamp.sdsmt.edu.

Online registration or applications (available from the web page) should be received by March 1st. All deposit fees are non-refundable upon acceptance into the course.

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing Lab

The Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing Laboratory is a facility for generating and analyzing spatially-referenced digital information, including maps and remotely-sensed data. Undergraduate and graduate courses in GIS are offered through the Department of Geology and Geological Engineering. (See section on Research Centers and Related Activities for a full description.)

Geological Engineering Laboratories

The Department of Geology and Geological Engineering has laboratory facilities that include a ground-water laboratory with digital and analytical modeling capabilities, a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) laboratory, a van-mounted geoprobe unit, wind engineering equipment, a geotechnics laboratory, a drilling fluids laboratory, a 3D photogrammetric camera system, a ground-based LIDAR camera, and an operational well field with data loggers and transducers. Instrumentation includes ground-probing radar, a hydrologic analysis system, a portable wind tunnel, a mobile drilling rig, and petroleum engineering equipment. The computing facilities are continually updated and contain high-speed computers with GIS and other analytical capabilities. Computer programs are available for digital modeling of ground-water flow and contaminant migration, petroleum engineering, slope stability, geophysical applications, geochemical modeling, and spreadsheet applications.