Extended Field Trip to the Coastal and Alluvial
Environments of North Carolina and Virginia
| In early April, students from the combined classes of Applied Geomorphology (Dr. Kochel) and Sedimentology (Dr. Trop) took an extended weekend trip to the Outer Banks of North Carolina and the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. On day one in the Outer Banks, they revisited the Senior Research sites of Christine Kassab ('09) and Steve Smith ('08) who have studied recent storm deposits on Okracoke and Hattaras Islands. This class focused on the study of overwash fans from Hurricane Isabel, by employing ground-penetrating radar, vibracoring, trenching and surveying the topography with a total electronic station. |
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 GPR survey of a washover fan |
 GPR - discussing the transect |
 Vibracoring - a view from the tripod |
 Vibracoring - locking in the vibrating head |
 Actively vibracoring the washover fan |
 Riding theVibracore |
 The Rod Man on the fan survey |
 Day One - FieldSiteOverview |
 Surviving Day One! |
 Fog delaying the ferry at Hattaras |
 Waiting to board.the Hattaras ferry |
 Unloading equipment for the fan studies |
 Fan survey using the Total Station |
 Trenching the beach face |
 Trenchng close up |
 Another renching close up! |
 The Geology Suburban riding the Hattaras Ferry |
| Day 2 included the observation of active sedimentary process in a coastal environment, including coastal erosion, flood and ebb tidal deltas, and coastal dunes. The afternoon included a tour of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Coastal Engineering Research Center at Duck, NC. |
 The Army Corps of Engineers Research Pier at Duck, NC |
 Studying erosion and deposits left by winter storms |
 The Army Corps of Engineers Research Pier at Duck, NC |
| The drive back to Pennsylvania included a half-day stop in the Charlottesville, Virginia region to examine the processes, deposits and related hazards of alluvial fans and catastrophic debris flows in the Blue Ridge Mountains. |
 Aiding the exfoliation process |
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