A group of 19 UMR students plan to map and explore areas of South Africa June 9-July 12 as part of the UMR Geology Summer Field Camp.

The UMR Geology Summer Field Camp is usually held in Cedar City, Utah, but this year the group is branching out, says Dr. Robert Laudon, professor of geology and geophysics. This is the 36th year for the camp.

"This trip should be a fantastic experience, both geological and culturally, for all of the students," says Laudon. "South Africa is truly a spectacular place." During the summer of 2002, two professors from the University of the Western Cape in Cape Town, South Africa, visited UMR’s field camp in Utah as part of the University of Missouri-South Africa Exchange Program (UMSAEP). As a result of their visit, they invited UMR’s field camp to South Africa for the summer of 2004, says Laudon.

The majority of the group’s time will be spent in the Great Karoo, the central high plateau of South Africa, which covers nearly 250,000 square miles. The students will map areas of the Cape Fold and Thurst Belt near Langsburg and in the metamorphic zone near Upington, South Africa, on the edge of the Kalahari Desert. They will also visit a variety of South African mines, including diamond, gold, platinum, chromium, and coal mines.

"Students are particularly excited about visiting the Bushveld complex, a very unusual and mineral-rich layered igneous complex," say Laudon.