Geology Fieldwork in Israel, June 2005
Mark A. Wilson (Wooster Faculty) & Jeffrey C. Bowen (Wooster Senior)

In June, 2005, we had an extraordinary field trip to Israel as part of Mark Wilson's faculty research and Jeff Bowen's Senior Independent Study at The College of Wooster. The trip was supported by the Henry J. Copeland Fund for Independent Study and the Sherm Wengerd Endowment for Geological Field Research. The adventure also would not have been possible without the generous assistance of the Geological Survey of Israel, especially from our friends Dr. Amihai Sneh and Dr. Yoav Avni, and the Ramon Science Center (Jacob Blaustein Institute for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev) in Mitzpe Ramon, Israel.

This webpage will grow as we learn more from our observations and samples. In the meantime it can serve as the organizing point for our digital photographs, which are presently sorted by days:

June 4: Arrival in Jerusalem; visit to the Old City. (Favorite)
June 5: Evening concert at Mormon University, overlooking Jerusalem. (Favorite)
June 6: Walk through Jerusalem to the Geological Survey complex; Jerusalem Day at the Kotel. (Favorite)
June 7: Additional Jerusalem scenes; Government House Hill; Old City. (Favorite)
June 8: Field trip to the Golan, including Mount Hermon. (Favorite)
June 9: Field trip to the Galilee, including Megiddo. (Favorite)
June 10: More scenes from the Old City of Jerusalem. (Favorite)
June 11: Walking journey to the Rockefeller Museum in East Jerusalem. (Favorite)
June 13: First field day in the Negev Desert; Hamakhtesh Hagadol. (Favorite)
June 14: Collecting specimens in the Jurassic of Hamakhtesh Hagadol. (Favorite)
June 15: Continued work at Hamakhtesh Hagadol; scenes from Sede Boqer and Mitzpe Ramon. (Favorite)
June 16: Work in the Gevanim Formation (Triassic) in Makhtesh Ramon. (Favorite)
June 17: Hamakhtesh Hagadol; scenes from Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks. (Favorite)
June 18: Visit to the Underwater Observatory at Eliat; brief stop at the mines of Timna. (Favorite)
June 19: Fieldwork in the Ora Formation (Cretaceous) and the western part of the Ramon complex. (Favorite)
June 20: Return to Jerusalem; visit to the Temple Mount. (Favorite and another favorite)
June 21: Fieldwork in the southern Negev in and around Nachal Paran. (Favorite)
June 22: Fieldwork in the Cretaceous of the Negev Highlands. (Favorite)
June 23: Last day in the field; visit to the archaeological site of Avdat. (Favorite)

We also have these very short (30 second) movies:

The Kotel on Jerusalem Day
Hamakhtesh Hagadol
Eilat
Lunch view (and sounds) in Jerusalem
The Temple Mount
Yoav explaining the geology of the western part of Makhtesh Ramon

You can also view photographs of our 2004 expedition to Israel (with Kevin Wolfe and Allison Mione) and our 2007 fieldwork in Israel (with Meredith Sharpe and Sophie Lehmann). Photographs from Mark Wilson's first visit to Israel in 2003 are also available.