Introduction: This is a newly redesigned course at South Dakota Mines addressing field geology topics that are important, timely and challenging.  Starting  Auckland and finishing in Christchurch, our New Zealand field camp gives students an understanding of the broad scope of sedimentary basin analysis, sedimentation, stratigraphy, structure, active tectonics, and geophysics.  

Co-taught by our team of sedimentary and structural geologists, this field camp covers the geology of both the North Island and South Island of New Zealand. Our field camp is divided into five main themes: 1) volcanic and mixed glacial to volcanosedimentary mapping of the Taupo volcanic zone in and around Tongariro National Park (a UNESCO world heritage site); 2) sedimentary basin mapping of world-class Neogene deepwater deposits in the Taranaki Basin; 3) active tectonics and earthquake fault rupture mapping near Wellington and Kaikoura; 4) South Island plate tectonics (Australian and Pacific plate boundary); and 5) glacial geomorphology and tectonic sedimentation of the Mt Cook/ Aoraki area. 

Field mapping areas featured in this course are known for their spectacular outcrop exposures. Field areas include volcanic zones of the central, west and southern portions of the North Island to the coastal rocky beaches and tallest mountains of the South Island. This is an opportunity to learn about the Cenozoic structural evolution of New Zealand and its basins due to the complex interaction of tectonics, sedimentation, and climate.  

The five-project course is designed to provide students an opportunity to compare complex geological processes recorded in several types of basin settings associated with the Australian and Pacific plate boundary. Key methods pertaining to source-to-sink (S2S) sediment transport and sequence stratigraphy will be emphasized throughout the course. Students will be introduced to geologic risks in energy resource exploration and development, including those pertaining to oil and gas drilling. The structural and stratigraphic projects in this course are in part based on recent publications including numerous PhD dissertations, articles in research journals Marine and Petroleum Geology and AAPG Bulletin, and one new textbook on the broad topic of marine sedimentary geology (Deepwater Sedimentary Systems: Science, Discovery and Applications – Elsevier, 2022).  These field areas have been applied as analogs for decades to help understand the subsurface geology in both active and passive margin settings around the world. 

Key mapping exercises will emphasize preparation of stratigraphic columns, geologic maps, structural cross sections, depositional system models, stereonets, and completion of formal reports.  Successive projects will involve greater geologic complexity, and one project will emphasize the assessment of energy resources. Subsurface data including seismic data and well logs will be used to illustrate key points on the structure, tectonics, and overall formation of sedimentary basins. Practical applications to mapping and interpreting subsurface geology, including resource exploration and development (i.e., new ventures, exploration, development and production of oil and natural gas) and geological hazards (LiDAR mapping, earthquake and landslide hazards, assessments, risks, mitigations) are emphasized.  These skills are also extensively used for mapping the subsurface in the broad field of environmental sciences.  Mapping techniques practiced in this course prepare students for roles in industry, government, and academia.  Further, interactions with professional geoscientists during the trip provide a panel of perspectives about what it is like to live and to work as a geoscientist in New Zealand.  

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

• Describe sediment transport and depositional processes for a wide range of sedimentary deposits including clastic and carbonate rocks, including fossil evidence, 

•  Understand the stratigraphy related to passive and active margin depositional systems including terrestrial, coastal, shallow-marine, and deep-marine depositional environments, 

• Describe and apply Cenozoic regional chronostratigraphy of the Taranaki Basin and other New Zealand basins, 

• Understand both plate tectonics and lithospheric architecture and their roles on the development of retroarc foreland, hybrid and forearc basin depositional systems, as well as the role that volcanism plays in basin architecture and sedimentary fill,

• Recognize sediment transport and depositional processes in marine depositional environments, and competing models for basin sedimentation, 

•  Characterize stratigraphic intervals and build relationships with depositional environments using outcrop (and behind-outcrop core), core, and other industry data,

•  Characterize active faults and earthquake-related surface deformation through mapping fault scarps, landslides, uplifted marine and fluvial terraces, offset deposits, and fault slip rates calculations,

• Conceptualize and apply source-to-sink transport and sequence stratigraphy to overall sediment delivery to a basin,

• Use lithofacies and stratigraphic architecture to understand variations in reservoir properties pertaining to reservoir presence, reservoir quality, and seal presence, 

•  Apply predictive attributes to sedimentary basins in the context of resource exploration with special attention to stratigraphic trapping mechanisms, 

• Apply skills in seismic interpretation, reservoir characterization, core analysis, geophysical log interpretation, sequence stratigraphy, play fairway mapping, risk and uncertainty analysis, gross depositional environment mapping, and exploration methods, 

• Understand the role of ethnogeology in the culture and history of New Zealand’s past, present, and future, 

Jon@BasinDynamics.com