Imagine students walking into the Fletcher L. Byrom Earth and Mineral Sciences Library or the Pattee and Paterno libraries, entering a virtual reality (VR) lab, and seconds later being transported to the inside of a volcano in Iceland. VR experiences allow students to map sedimentary rocks along U.S. Route 322 or investigate metamorphic rocks in the French Alps. These immersive VR field trips (iVFTS) have become reality through a University Strategic Plan seed grant to Peter La Femina, associate professor of geosciences and colleagues in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, and across Penn State University Park and the Commonwealth. Field experiences are an integral part of the geosciences undergraduate cuuriculum, including the department’s six-week capstone field camp. However, field labs at the undergraduate level are often limited to regions that can be reached within the several hour lab period, subject to permissible weather, are not always easily accessible to students with disabilities, and are not always available to students at all Penn State campuses. Immersive virtual experiences and field trips allow for the delivery of place-based content and exercises, training in field techniques, and field opportunities at global geologic sites.
La Femina, Alex Klippel, professor of geography, and students, initiated their study of iVFTs by developing a virtual experience of the Thrihnukagigur volcano in Iceland, where La Femina and students had collected terrestrial lidar and photogrammetry data and geologic samples of the monogenetic volcano. The volcano formed roughly 3,500 years ago, and during its eruption, lava drained back into the system, leaving the eruptive conduit open. Today, tourists pay to travel about 400 feet into the Earth to see the inside the volcano. La Femina and his students wanted to study how this system formed and what insights it could offer regarding the formation of monogenetic volcanoes globally. They spent a week mapping the inside and outside of the volcano with lidar, as well as taking photographs used to develop a photorealistic model of the volcano. Importing the 3-D lidar and photogrammetry data into VR software allowed the team to investigate regions of the inside of the volcanic system not directly accessible and map the geology and magmatic features.
The menu for Thrihnukagigur volcano visualization allows the user to transform and to display different types of attribute information (left), and a sample page of a PowerPoint presentation is projected onto the boundary surface of the virtual space (right). Users can turn pages via arrow buttons attached to the left controller.
This first immersive experience led to an idea to develop, test, and assess iVFTs for GEOSC 001, Physical Geology and, later, to the Strategic Planning seed grant. In Fall 2017, the team developed the first iVFT, based on an existing Reedsville-Bald Eagle field lab. In this lab, students investigate changes in the paleoenvironment through observations of grain size, bedding thickness, color of the sedimentary rocks, and the existence and type of sedimentary structures. Additionally, students are asked to produce a roughly six-foot stratigraphic column of the Reedsville Formation, which has recurring sequences of turbidites or tempestites. For the virtual field experience, 360-degree images were taken and a photorealistic 3-D model of the Reedsville Formation in Centre Hall was created using photogrammetric techniques. The 360-degree images allow the students to walk in front of the outcrop and investigate the stratigraphy, and the 3-D model allows students to measure a section and make detailed observations of the strata. The students in the iVFT, therefore, are able to experience the same lab exercise as students in the field lab. The development of this iVFT has proved fortuitous, as the outcrop is currently unavailable due to expansion of U.S. Route 322. La Femina, Klippel, and collaborators have now tested the iVFT over four semesters, offering the experience to seventy-five students and to a section of GEOSC 001 offered at Penn State Harrisburg.
The team has also developed an iVFT for the Salona Formation located along U.S. Route 322 in Boalsburg, Pennsylvania and is currently developing a regional geology field trip and additional experiences that can be used in other undergraduate and graduate courses.