How to take good field notes

How to take good field

notes

My colleagues and I firmly believe that the best geologists are those who see the most rocks."

Andrew Hurst, 2011 Recipient of AAPG's Grover E. Murray Distinguished Educator Award, January 2012 issue of Explorer.

Begin each day with important info

• The date

• Where you are working

• Incidental info: weather, etc. that might affect your judgment or observations

Include Local Magnetic declination

Number each field station

• Each time you take notes, number that location

• Numbers are continuous for each field area

Map View

• If you are mapping, each location should be marked on the map with a number.

• Leave space for prints of photos.

Unit descriptionsImportant things to include

• Rock type (garnet schist, arkose, gabbro, etc.)• Major minerals • Presence and Strike and Dip of foliations, lineations, folds, joints, veins, etc.• How well developed are these features?• Other distinguishing or important features

SketchesProvide a visual record of

important features• Goal is impressionism• Capture key elements of

subject rather than drawing a scene

• Always include scale and direction of view (north, south-southeast, N35W, etc.) Here looking due south.

• Are you looking at a vertical face/cliff, straight down at the ground, or at a sloping face?