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87th Annual Field Conference of Pennsylvania Geologists

RIFTS, OCEANS, AND VOLCANOES - PIEDMONT AND SOUTH MOUNTAIN GEOLOGY IN SOUTHCENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA
October 3-5 2024 | Gettysburg, PA

PRE-CONFERENCE TRIPS

Pre-conference field trips will be held on Thursday. See the trip descriptions below. Additional information about these pre-conference trips is available on the Conference Web Map.

1

Battlefield Caravan

Leader:

Steve Lindberg

Time:

9:00am - 3:00pm

Meeting Location:

Eisenhower Hotel, 2634 Emittsburg Road, Gettysburg, PA 17325

Number of Attendees:

unlimited

Safety Gear:

none

Things to Bring:

Lunch and water, bug spray

Difficulty:

Easy. Plan to carpool and follow in cars across the battlefield and nearby sites.

Cost:

Free

Description:

Caravan across the battlefield to sites that span the three days of the Battle of Gettysburg to compare present day views to what it looked like immediately or several years following the battle. The trip will incorporate geology, battlefield relics, and lesser-known facts about the Gettysburg Campaign. A short guidebook will be made available.

2

Karst Landscapes of the Shippensburg Area and Black-Coffey Cavern Tour

Leader:

Rose-Anna Behr and Sean Cornell

Time:

10:00am - 4:30pm

Meeting Location:

Shippensburg

Number of Attendees:

18

Safety Gear:

Hiking boots, hard hats, flash lights

Things to Bring:

Lunch and water. Warm layer - cave will be 52 degrees, trash bags for muddy shoes

Difficulty:

Easy. Some short steep walks and steps. No crawling or tight spaces. You will not get particularly muddy.

Cost:

A donation will be arranged by the trip leaders

Description:

Take a carpool tour of several karst landscapes near Shippensburg, Pennsylvania with stops at Cleversburg Sink, Den Cave, and Carnegie Cave which are developed on gently dipping Cambrian limestone and calcareous shale. BYO-Lunch will be at Dykeman Spring, a large volume spring controlled by the Dykeman Fault. A tour of Black-Coffey, formerly Baker Caverns, which is developed in near vertical beds of Ordovician limestone, will round out the day. Learn about current geophysical research used to delineate known and previously unknown cave passages and assess the fault location, further refining the geologic maps. Compare cave and sinkhole development in gently vs steeply dipping beds in an area of expanding urbanization. We will discuss some of the challenges that have arisen due to increased impermeable surfaces on karst landscapes. There will be short, steep walks, and steps, though generally we rate this an easy day. You will not get particularly muddy and there is no crawling or squeezing.

3

Specialty Granules Inc. Charmain Plant Quarry Tour

Leader:

Jeri Jones

Time:

11:00am - 3:00pm

Meeting Location:

Eisenhower Hotel, 2634 Emittsburg Road, Gettysburg, PA 17325

Number of Attendees:

10

Safety Gear:

Hard hats, safety vest, steel toe boots

Things to Bring:

Lunch/snack, water

Difficulty:

Easy.

Cost:

$40

Description:

The Specialty Granules quarry is the largest exposure of the Catoctin metabasalts and metarhyolites in South Mountain. Metabasalts are used to produce different colored roofing shingle granules and road ballast. The metarhyolites are produced for road use. The geology and relationships of these rocks will be examined.
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