Enhancement of Undergraduate Field and Laboratory Research Experiences In Lake and Wetland Studies

该项目支持地质学系湖泊和湿地研究的本科生研究计划。新设备提高了本科生在两门新课程（海岸与湿地地质学、现代沉积物）和几门现有课程中的实地和实验室研究经验。该项目提供了一台振动测定仪、一台快速粒度分析系统（沉降管）、一台视频岩心测井系统和两台水位浮子记录仪。该设备正用于将重点放在尚普兰湖流域的研究问题引入各级本科课程。例如，现代沉积物课程针对的是高年级本科生，对他们中的许多人来说，这门课程应该被证明是迈向高级研究的跳板。本课程采用实验研讨课程的形式。该课程每周一次，每次3小时。最初的课程侧重于背景阅读和讨论，以解决特定的研究问题。课程的其余部分完全由陈述问题和通过实地考察和实验室分析与全班一起作为一个整体来解决问题组成。学生收集岩心和水位数据，进行粒度分析，对岩心进行视频记录，并描述湖滨湿地和尚普兰盆地的全新世演化。本课程的最终目标是产生值得在专业会议上展示的原创科学研究。海洋学等入门级课程也能从中受益；本课程将参与沉积物岩心的采集和一些非常基本的相分析，以说明环境变化和基本地层学的概念，为科学家如何破译海洋盆地和大型湖泊（如尚普兰湖）的演化提供一些见解。

This project supports an undergraduate research initiative in Lake and Wetland Studies within the Geology Department. New equipment enhances undergraduate field and laboratory research experiences in two new courses (Coastal and Wetland Geology, Modern Sediments) and several existing courses. The project provides a vibracoring rig, a rapid grain size analysis system (settling tube), a video core logging system, and two water level float recorders. This equipment is being used to introduce focused Lake Champlain Basin research problems into the undergraduate curriculum at all levels. For example, the Modern Sediments course is aimed at advanced undergraduates and should prove to be a springboard to senior research for many of them. This course has the format of a lab seminar course. The course meets once a week for 3 hours. Initial sessions focus on background reading and discussion directed toward the solving of a particular research problem. The remainder of the course is entirely made up of stating the problem and solving it through fieldwork and laboratory analysis with the class working together as a whole. Students collect cores and water-level data, perform grain size analysis, video-log the cores, and describe the Holocene evolution of lakeshore wetlands and the Champlain Basin. The ultimate goal of the course is to produce original scientific research worthy of presentation at a professional meeting. Introductory level courses, such as Oceanography, can benefit as well; the class participates in the taking of a sediment core and some very basic facies analysis to illustrate concepts of environmental change and basic stratigraphy, providing some insight into how scientists have deciphered the evolution of the ocean basins and large lakes such as Lake Champlain.