The Peninsular Ranges Batholith Teaching Suite: Problems and Pitfall in Executing a Great Idea

Too many geology departments suffer from lack of high quality laboratory materials as instructional aids in introductory undergraduate petrology and geochemistry courses. Laboratory exercises that utilize coherent rock suites from specific geologic environments are an important approach in geoscience education that helps to engage students and enhance learning. The goal of this project is to establish a reference suite of rocks and teaching materials for the Peninsular Ranges batholith, a classic circum-Pacific continental margin batholith segment, and make this available to other geology departments by purchase or trade. The PRB suite is based on a transect across the northern part of the batholith in the San Diego region where the structure, petrology, and geophysical characteristics of the batholith are particularly well-documented. It is designed as a flexible resource that can be used in introductory or upper division undergraduate courses, as well as potentially in local middle school and high school programs for place-based earth science education. The suite consists of ~18 samples that capture the petrologic diversity and evolution of the batholith and includes the major plutonic rock types as well as a sampling of prebatholithic framework rocks and supracrustal volcanic sequences. Supplementary materials include a petrologic data base with problem sets illustrating the interpretation of data for plutonic and metamorphic rocks. A Google Earth virtual field tour of the PRB is keyed to the suite including digital maps of the geology and geophysics. This talk will discuss some of the problems and pitfalls that have been encountered in executing this project.