Summer Field Camp

The Summer Geology Field Course is an exciting capstone experience for the Geology major at the University of Nevada, Reno. This 3-credit course takes place over roughly three weeks. The exact schedule changes each year. In 2025, the course dates will span May 23 to June 13.

The course will involve several field exercises in eastern Nevada that center around the geologic themes of the North American Cordillera and Basin and Range extension. This course will involve camping for the entire duration of the camp.

If you have questions, please contact the Camp Director, Andrew Zuza.

Course tuition is $2,250, which includes credit fees, vehicle use, campsite fees, operating costs, course materials and supplies, cooking supplies and propane, and other miscellaneous fees associated with running the course. Non-residency fees are extra. Food is not included, but we provide group camping gear to cook great backcountry meals, including several campsite cooking stoves, pots/pans and utensils. Students and instructors cook meals in groups each evening in the campsites.

The Department of Geological Sciences and Engineering at the University of Nevada, Reno, offers a comprehensive, capstone, three-week, three-credit summer geology field camp class.  The focus of the course will be to develop advanced field skills, including rock description, generation of geologic maps, and illustrating the geometries of deformed rocks with cross-sections.  Through a series of mapping-based exercises, field camp students will gain the ability to understand complex field relations in three dimensions.  This is enhanced by the incredible geologic setting of these exercises, which includes several world-class geologic sites in eastern Nevada, in the heart of the Basin and Range province, and in eastern California, where the Basin and Range meets the Sierra Nevada.

Students will traverse the North American Cordillera during field exercises across Nevada, with especially memorable field trips to Great Basin National Park and the Snake Range metamorphic core complex.

Course information

• Course Title: Geology 451 (3-semester credits)
• 2025 Fees: $2,250 (non-resident fees also apply for out-of-state students)

Prerequisites

Courses in mineralogy/petrology, sedimentology/stratigraphy, structural geology, and field methods.  If you are lacking one or more of these courses, it may still be possible to attend camp. Please contact the Field Camp Director to discuss your individual situation.  Credit will be posted in the office of the registrar at the end of the summer term (mid-August).

Field Camp alumni

Students from all over the U.S. participate each year. Below is a list of schools where our Field Camp alumni have come from.

• Arizona State University
• Boston University
• Case Western Reserve
• CCNY
• Central Michigan University
• Clemson University
• Colby College
• College of Charleston
• CSU Bakersfield
• Edinboro University of Pennsylvania
• Grand Valley State University
• Harvard University
• Keene State College
• Muskingum College, Texas
• Pacific Lutheran College
• Portland State University
• Sacramento State University
• Saint Lawrence College
• San Francisco State University
• San Jose State University
• Sonoma State University
• Southern Mississippi University
• Texas A&M University
• UCLA
• University of Alaska, Fairbanks
• University of Arkansas
• University of Delaware
• University of Maine
• University of Maryland
• University of Nebraska, Omaha
• University of Nevada, Las Vegas
• University of New Hampshire
• University of North Carolina
• University of Puget Sound
• University of Southern California
• Vanderbilt University
• Washington University
• Whitman College
• Whittier College