Rock Gardens: The traditional Rock Garden has a pathway built within a campus green space with boulders of various rock and mineral types placed beside the path. Most Rock Gardens will include a small plaque or sign next to each boulder with a general description. Let us design your Rock Garden, working with you, we will create a garden with samples representative of local geology as well as unique samples from across the country. A garden both functional and beautiful.
Interpretation Gardens: A new take on the traditional rock garden. In an Interpretation Garden 20+ stations (miniature outcrops) are positioned at precise positions within a campus green space. Each station consists of 1-2 quarry stones or boulders positioned to a pre-planned strike and dip. Most stations have just one stone, stations with two stones illustrate a formation contact, fault or unconformity. Students can use the stations to map out a multitude of geologic features. Highly useful teaching tool that can be used extensively in at least 7 undergraduate courses.
From the twenty stations above, students could identify 9 different rock types, measure section thickness, strike and dip, interpret folding, fold axis, fold plunge, faulting, unconformities, unravel the sequence of geologic events. Students can also make multiple cross sections either through stations or between them. Now you have weeks of lab assignments and projects for your General I, General II, Structures and Field Methods courses. With hand samples provided for each rock type, students can go into the lab and perform even more exercises. Also with Sharp Geologic Insights carefully selecting stones with the proper depositional features, fossils, and mineral assemblage, you open up countless projects for your Sedimentary Rocks, Ig/Met Rocks, and Paleontology classes.
By bringing the field onto your campus, your students will get field experience everyday. Talk about getting them ready for Field Camp! Sharp Geologic Insights can design and build your own unique field with structures or we can mimic a real life area scaled to fit in your green space.
Hybrid Gardens: Combine the aspects of both an Interpretation and Rock Garden. Interpretations can be made from a few select stations, while the remainder serve as a traditional Rock Garden. A Hybrid Garden can combine the best of both.