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Hawaiian Volcanoes Field Course 2006 |
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ERTH 170, 198: Introduction to Volcanology (4/2 credits) GENERAL INFORMATION: You will be staying at the Kilauea Military Camp (KMC) which is situated within the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park on the north edge of Kilauea Caldera about 1 mile from the main Visitors Center and Volcano House. The facility is an Armed Forces Recreation Center which is a resort for Armed Forces personnel (mostly retirees) as well as for other non-profit, educational groups (like us). You will be staying in recently remodeled, but quite basic, dormitories that have bunk beds, separate men’s and women’s bathrooms with hot showers, as well as storage lockers (for which you must supply your own pad lock). Although theft has never been a problem, we may be sharing the dorms with other groups, so you shouldn’t leave personal items lying around while you are gone. KMC supplies pillows, blankets, as well as fresh linens and towels. Flight Arrangements: Please plan your flights such that you arrive on Sunday September 3 in Hilo (ITO), before the last Shuttle to KMC, and your return flight late enough so you can safely make the flight with the first shuttle to the airport (8:30 am). It takes about an hour driving time to the airport from KMC. Shuttle schedules are: Departing Hilo airport at 1100---1330---1545---1830 Although the class official begins on Monday morning, our first meal together will be on Sunday evening. Our last meal together will be on Friday, September 15th. You have paid for dinners, which we will eat at a fixed time as a group. The dinners are being catered by Les and Betty, “The Culinary Crusaders” from Volcano Village, who over the years have enjoyed much popularity with the participants in this course. They provide excellent, wholesome food, with a vegetarian option every night. Breakfast and lunch are on your own. If you are an early riser, you can purchase breakfast individually at the KMC cafeteria (or snack bar). Otherwise, you will be expected to buy breakfast and lunch supplies (e.g., crackers, cheese, peanut butter, and soft drinks) at the KMC store. Since we will be frequently in the field at lunchtime, you should bring a plastic container that you can use daily to hold your lunch. For most moderate to light eaters, it is quite possible to save dinner leftovers for next day’s lunch. Make sure that your container can hold liquids and does not bust open in your backpack. If you wish to eat cereal for breakfast, bring a plastic bowl and spoon as well. If you require specialized dietary foods, (e.g., you only drink rice or soy milk), you must bring these things with you from the Mainland. On the day off, there may be an opportunity to restock your personal food stash, but don’t count on finding anything you absolutely will need for two weeks. Bring spending cash (or personal checks, or a credit card), enough to buy breakfast and lunch for two weeks. KMC has a fairly large store for food and other supplies. The prices are reasonable. They also have a Laundromat, recreation lodge (bowling alleys, pool tables, etc.) and a US Post Office. There is an ATM near the registration desk. The store also accept credit cards. You will receive mail if it is sent to:
You will receive telephone messages if they are left at:
Cell phone coverage is good at KMC and much of our field areas. OUR RULES: While lodging in the dorms, other groups will undoubtedly be sharing dorms with us at least part of the time, so we need to respect one another’s right to get a good night sleep. For this reason, we will observe a quiet time in the dorms from 9pm until 8am. This includes the porch out in front of the dorms. There is a bar at KMC and the legal drinking age in Hawaii is 21. No drinking or possession of alcohol is permitted anywhere else, including your dorm rooms. This KMC policy will be strictly enforced and your ability to use KMC facilities is dependent on our compliance with this policy. A word to the wise: We will not tolerate irresponsible drinking which leads to reckless, threatening or dangerous behavior. Anyone engaged in such activity will be subject to immediate referral to Student Judicial Affairs, with the potential of being dismissed from the class. Bottom Line: We expect you to treat each other, as well as the staff of KMC, respectfully and courteously. If we all do this, it will be a fabulous, fun 2 weeks. ACADEMIC PROGRAM: We will be either in the classroom or in the field every day from Monday, September 4 until Friday September 15, between 8:00 AM and 6:00 PM. Most mornings, we will have lectures from 8:30 AM to 10:00 AM with a short break. After lecture, we will take our lunches and head out on various excursions, either by walking directly from KMC or traveling in vans. We will have one full day off about 1/2 way through the program. On this day, we will undoubtedly go to the beach either in Hilo or Punalu’u. The course textbook is “Volcanoes” by Francis and Oppenheimer, Oxford University Press 2004 (second edition) (look at http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0199254699/qid=1123269273/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-8305011-9484720?v=glance&s=books). You may purchase an alternative textbook by Hans -Ulrich Schmincke (Volcanism, Springer Veralag 2004) which is equivalent in its text contents you need for the class, but it is much better illustrated than Francis. We are not using it as the primary textbook mostly due to its higher costs. You must purchase your text before you leave for Hawaii. There will be no copies for sale at KMC. Please start reading the text before you arrive. You should also be prepared to spend approximately $ 10 to purchase a copy of “The Geological Field Guide to Kilauea Volcano” by R. W. Hazlett. Copies of this text will be available for purchase at the Jagger Museum, which we will visit the first afternoon. This is an excellent book and will serve as a field guide during many of our excursions. Grading for ERTHT170 will be based on (1) active participation in classroom, web site, and field activities (including the field notebook), (2) four or five written exercises based upon our field work, and (3) a final examination – open only to your field note books - to be taken on the afternoon of Friday, Sept. 16th. After the examination, the class is officially over and you may leave, although you will have paid for dinner and lodging for that night. Most of the class will depart from KMC on the early morning of Saturday, September 16th. Field reports, data and photographs, will all be submitted electronically.
You are encouraged to bring your own laptop computer, in particular if you want
to check your e-mail while in Hawaii (it is likely that we will have wireless
network access at KMC, although the cost/connection has not been set yet). We
will be sharing electronic photographs and everybody is encouraged to bring a
camera (please also bring a cable so you can upload your pictures or movies). If
you cannot bring a computer, at least bring a USB key for personal data storage
and transfers. For this, we recommend at least 512 MB RAM, in particular if you
want to bring home electronic pictures. All field reports and exercises are due
within 48 hrs, shared data have to be uploaded within 24 hrs. WHAT TO EXPECT: Most of the field excursions will entail a considerable amount of walking, much of it on uneven, trail-less, lava flows. We will cover 6 to 8 miles on average in an afternoon, as well as over 12 – 15 miles on two, day-long excursions. If you are not in shape to do this, please spend time getting in shape before you get to Hawaii. Experience has shown that many people develop aches and pains after a few days of hiking; I’ll always have a large first-aid kit in the field, but you should bring your own personal supply of blister-remedies and Ibuprofen (Advil, Aleve, Motrin) along. You will need a knapsack or large fanny pack to hold your notebook and water bottles (you will need to drink lots of water in the field). You will need a good pair of walking boot with Vibram soles which you have already broken in! When you visit the active lava flow, you will also need long pants, a long sleeve shirt and a pair of leather gloves to protect you – if you should fall on the fresh lava surface. Please note that your participation in active lavaflow hikes depends on appropriate footwear, and we may not allow you to participate in these hikes if you don’t have proper hiking boots (Vibram soles and sufficient ankle protection required). A flashlight is essential and a head-mounted light is even better for lava tube and nighttime excursions. Bring extra batteries and especially extra light bulbs. The KMC store may not stock your model of battery or bulb. You must purchase a notebook for recording data when you are in the field. Since it is likely to be wet at least some of the time, you are advised to purchase a waterproof field book (which is available at UCD Bookstore). You may be required to hand in your field notebook as part of the write-ups for selected field exercises. These write-ups may also entail some drafting of geologic maps or cross-sections, thus you will need to bring a plastic ruler (metric scale) and a small set of colored pencils. You will also need a hand lens (10X is fine) for examining rocks. Expect highs in the upper 70s and lows in the upper 50s at Kilauea (whose rim is at 4000 feet) the weather is very changeable and it may rain or mist nearly every day, especially in the afternoons. Ponchos don’t work very well in the wind. You will probably want a pile jacket for the evenings. The Kilauea area has a naturally high volcanic fume hazard (mainly SO2). If you suffer from heart or respiratory problems (including serious asthma), you shouldn’t be taking this class. If you think you may be sensitive to SO2, you need to be aware of the potential health hazard. Please check with your doctor and contact the National Park Service at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park for more information. You’ll be happy to know that biting flies, mosquitoes, ticks and poisonous snakes are not a hazard of fieldwork at Kilauea. The greatest risks on this field trip are based on vehicle safety and not volcano safety. Every driver is advised to drive defensively, safely, and to obey traffic regulations. All drivers and passengers are required to wear seatbelts including in the back seats. The near-continuous eruptions of Kilauea volcano offered probably the most widely used lava viewing opportunity in the world, for more than two decades, and no responsible spectators were seriously harmed amongst the thousands that see the lava every year However, some fatal accidents are reported, exclusively associated with the coastal cliffs lava entries and lava delta that we will not visit. To see lava is exciting, but in general the familiar vehicle risks are under estimated and while the unfamiliar volcano risks are seen with more caution. Follow your instincts about any safety issue, be particular alert about vehicle safety and please do not be shy about sharing your concerns. Please do not go out into the field the first day unless you’ve got a couple of 1-liter water bottles. Although the air is much more humid than here in California, you will still dehydrate walking around in the sun for 4-5 hours each afternoon. Bring plenty of water out in the field with you and drink it early and often! THINGS TO BRING: Field Equipment –
Office Gear –
Personal Gear –
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