Leaders: Bonnie Craighead, Valarie Harrison, William Jackson

Description: “If it’s not grown, it’s mined” encapsulates the importance of geologic resources to society. West Tennessee and the greater Mississippi Embayment host economically significant geologic resources including heavy mineral sands, ball clay, and sand and gravel. This two-day trip explores these resources through field visits to three active operations, highlighting depositional settings, extraction processes, production history, and regulatory practices. Representatives from the Tennessee Geological Survey and facility operators will provide overviews of geologic context, extraction, remediation, and regulatory procedures.

 

Considerations: Travel time between sites will not exceed 2.5 hours. Most travel will occur along major roads, with scheduled stops for restrooms, food, and water. Hikes will be low-relief and short, with a maximum length of 0.5 miles.

 

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Leaders: Daniel Larsen, Brian Waldron

Description: The Wilcox and Claiborne aquifers of western Tennessee are world-class in regard to both the quantity and quality of groundwater resources. Recent research investigations have further developed our scientific understanding of this incredible system as well as concerns for sustainability and potential hydrologic boundaries. The first day of the field trip will start where the water enters the ground in western Tennessee and follow it along its journey toward Memphis, Tennessee, one of the largest cities in North America solely dependent on groundwater resources. On the second day, we will visit one of many groundwater pumping and treatment stations and examine the interface between the New Madrid Seismic zone and the aquifer system, completing our day at a recently installed research well cluster through a Quaternary fault in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley.

Considerations: The field trip will start in rural western Tennessee and end up at a state park, however, most of the sites of interest will be at the vans or within a short hike (500 to 1,000 ft) of the vans. Restrooms will be available at multiple locations on each day. We will have plenty of water and snacks as well as provide a sack lunch both days. One optional hike area on the second day will require descending a steep slope along the Mississippi River bluff. We will ensure the path is cleared of debris and add safety measures (rope and cut steps) to ensure the safety of participants. First aid supplies and support will be available at all times.

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Leaders: Neil Kelley, Michael Gibson

Description: Join us for a one-day fossil-hunting adventure at the Coon Creek Science Center in McNairy County, Tennessee—one of North America’s most scientifically important fossil sites. The Coon Creek Formation preserves a 73-million-year-old shallow marine ecosystem from the Late Cretaceous, when the Gulf of Mexico extended far into the continent’s interior. Fossils of mollusks, crustaceans, and occasional vertebrate remains are beautifully preserved in soft, sandy sediments, often in life position.

Led by paleontologists Dr. Neil Kelley (Vanderbilt University) and Dr. Michael Gibson (emeritus University of Tennessee Martin), this trip offers a hands-on introduction to paleontology, paleoecology, and sedimentary geology. Participants will learn how to identify and collect fossils, and interpret the ancient environments these organisms once inhabited. The site is ideal for students, educators, and curious minds of all levels—no prior experience is needed!

Considerations: Travel time from Memphis to Coon Creek Science Center is approximately 2 hours. This one-day field trip to the Coon Creek Science Center involves moderate physical activity and outdoor conditions that participants should be prepared for. The fossil collecting site consists primarily of soft, sandy sediments located in a creek bed in a relatively remote rural area with uneven terrain. Walking distances will generally be short to moderate—usually less than a mile—but may involve bending, kneeling, and standing for extended periods while searching for fossils. Restroom facilities are available at the Coon Creek Science Center. Classroom facilities provide shelter in the case of rain or excessive heat etc. Lunch can be brought by participants or organizers can arrange to bring picnic lunch foods. Water is available on site. Poison ivy, snakes, and bugs are present at the site, though they tend to be less abundant in March. Participants should wear long pants and closed-toe shoes to reduce exposure and exercise caution while moving through vegetation. The primary outcrop is not wheelchair accessible due to natural terrain and lack of paved paths, although mobility challenged visitors could still view fossil exhibits and representative sediments and fossils could be brought from the outcrop for examination. Overall, participants should be prepared for an active day outdoors in a natural environment with moderate walking and some exposure to weather and wildlife.

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Leaders: Scott Schoefernacker, Mersadies Burch

Description: Field trip participants will learn about the Toxic Tour program and how to engage and convey complex information with community members. The tour will include stops at several sites throughout Memphis to learn about the site history, local geology and hydrogeology, contaminants of concern, and how these sites impacted and continue to impact each community. Stops will include Memphis Defense Depot in the Alcy Ball neighborhood north of the Memphis International Airport, Former Custom Cleaners near the University of Memphis, North Hollywood Dump in north Memphis along the Wolf River, the Velsicol a facility that once produced chlorinated pesticides, and Cypress Creek that runs through the Hollywood neighborhood (a historically African American neighborhood) receiving untreated wastewater from Velsicol and other industrial facilities in the area. If the Cypress Creek and Velsicol Superfund petition is successful, they will become the tenth Superfund site in Shelby County. This field trip will provide insights on a unique way for scientists to engage community members at all levels. Everyone brings a different perspective and piece of the puzzle to the table. How we interact and put the puzzle together determines our success at finding effective solutions to our contamination issues.

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Leaders: Matthew McKay, William Jackson

Description: This 2-hour virtual field trip features 10 virtual reality sites at the convention center that covers examples of the southern Appalachians in Alabama including the stratigraphy of the Appalachian basin, history of mountain building, summary of metamorphism, and timeline for erosion and uplift. Come enjoy these outcrops without leaving the convention center. Stereoscopic and panoramic virtual reality videos from each site include an on outcrop description of the site. Field trip leaders will be present to answer questions and discuss the field sites. 3D terrain models, geologic maps, and hand samples will also be available to explore at this exhibit.

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Leaders: William Jackson, Kathrine Parsons, James Barnes, Mark Puckett

Recent 1:24,000-scale bedrock mapping in western Tennessee alongside litho-bio-chemo-stratigraphic data provide an opportunity to understand formation contacts and regional correlations of Upper Cretaceous strata in the northern Mississippi embayment and eastern Gulf Coastal Plain. This 2-day field trip will examine outcrops focused on defining the stratigraphic contacts between the McNairy San, Coon Creek Formation, and Demopolis Formation in and around McNairy County, Tennessee. Previous regional to local biostratigraphic work will be summarized, subsurface correlations based on USGS gamma ray logs will be presented, in addition to new geochemical (XRF) and geochronology (detrital zircon and rutile U-Pb) data for context. With this information, and a focus on the implications for quadrangle-scale mapping, we will explore the potential for re-establishing the upper part of the Coon Creek Formation as part of the McNairy Sand and the lower Coon Creek Formation as a member of the Demopolis Formation.

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Leaders: Roy Van Arsdale, Randel Cox

Description: The field trip will depart from Memphis via a bus with a sound system for the leaders. A presentation about regional geology will be given en route to field stops near Tiptonville, TN. The first 3 stops will be near the central portion of the Reelfoot scarp/monocline, with short, easy walks onto the scarp to discuss the Reelfoot fault structure exposed in previous trenches. The fourth stop will be on the southwest margin of Reelfoot Lake to discuss its tectonic formation in 1812, lake baldcypress dendrochronology, with a short walk onto a pier. The trip will continue south along the Mississippi River bluffs to visit a cut bank exposure of the regional geology, and a bluff landslide, then return to Memphis.

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