Squeezed between the great African, Eurasian and Arabian tectonic plates, the Anatolian region of central Türkiye is one of the most geologically active places on the planet, making it a perfect classroom for earth sciences students.
For eight days in October, 15 U of T students and their instructors visited the region thanks to the Faculty of Arts & Science’s International Course Module (ICM) program and funding from the Department of Earth Sciences. ICMs are designed to enhance students’ course learning through participation in an immersive, hands-on, international experience.
“In Türkiye, there’s recent tectonic activity and geological evolution that we don’t see in Ontario’s billion-year-old geology,” says Tasca Santimano, an assistant professor in the department and one of the ICM instructors. “It’s also where we find fascinating landforms that are found in very few places on Earth.”
The students began their trip in Istanbul where they spent a day visiting cultural sites such as the Basilica Cistern, Blue Mosque and Aya Sofia mosque. They also visited the Istanbul Technical University (ITÜ) where they met with earth scientists, including a former student of Professor Russ Pysklywec’s, a professor of geophysics and tectonics in the department and an ICM instructor.
From there, the group travelled to the Cappadocia region where they saw firsthand the fantastic geological features that make the area unique. Among them were pillars of eroded rock known as Fairy Chimneys. The students also visited the incredible underground city of Kaymakli; once home to thousands of people, it is a complex of tunnels, ventilation shafts, stairways and caverns carved from the volcanic rock.
“The trip was fantastic,” says Sophia Missikowski, a third-year student and a member of Woodsworth College pursuing a geoscience major and a material science specialist.
“It was such a great experience to apply the things we've learned in the classroom to the field, to have these hands-on experiences that bring together the theoretical and practical. Plus, without field courses like this, it’s hard for students to imagine what it would be like to be a working geologist; the ICM shows you what it would be like.”
“I'm very interested in structural geology, so the trip was very cool,” says Leon Bonner, a third-year student and member of University College pursuing a geology specialist with a geographic information systems minor.
“Structural geology is about how the forces work in a geological system — how faults cause earthquakes, how other forces form other features,” he says. “So seeing what we saw in such a geologically active region with all these forces at play — it was like looking at a history book that explains how everything formed. It was very cool.”
Says Santimano, “For earth sciences students, the field is the best classroom. When I was a student, anytime there was an opportunity to go into the field, I took it. The concepts you learn from lectures, from textbooks — they all come together in the field.”
In addition to Pysklywec and Santimano, the team of instructors included two other members of the department: Professor Emeritus Grant Henderson and Sarah Peirce, assistant professor, teaching stream.
One of the highlights of the trip was a hike up Mount Erciyes, an inactive volcano that stands nearly 4000 metres in height.
“For me, that was the highlight of the trip,” says Bonner. I hiked up to 3000 meters — it was really something. I study glaciation and didn’t expect to see any in Türkiye but there it was: glaciation on the volcano, because of the altitude.”
A highlight of the trip was a ride aboard the famous hot air balloons of Cappadocia.
“That was such a great experience, a once in a lifetime memory,” says Missikowski. “To fly over the Fairy Chimneys and all the geological structures we'd learned about and visited — it was so cool to see them from a bird's eye view.”
For some students, the trip also gave them clarity about their academic and career paths.
“At the ITÜ, we met Professor Pysklywec’s former student who’s now a professor there,” says Bonner. “I'm definitely considering grad school, and the trip encouraged my feeling that I should definitely do research. And seeing the global opportunities was very helpful, so when I go to grad school, I now know I can study anywhere in the world.”
“On top of everything, these trips are great opportunities for students and instructors to connect,” says Santimano. “During a normal week at university, we only see our students for at most five hours. But in Türkiye, we were together the entire day. So we had lots of time in the field for great discussions, with no distractions. It was a great opportunity for them to share with us what they’re passionate about, what they’re curious about, what their goals are. It was perfect.”