Purpose of Field Trip
The Great Mound at Mounds State Park. Click for a larger image (IUPUI Earth Sciences).
The second field trip allows you to observe how rivers and glaciers have shaped the landscape. Since many glacial features are spread out over large distances and difficult to see in person, the second field trip focuses on fluvial features in Central Indiana. The trip focuses on you learning to make careful observations about stream environments and glacial deposits.
The parks in Indianapolis (Marion County) all exhibit features of glacial and fluvial environments, but none of them include enough features to allow a useful field trip experience. As a result, we have to travel north of Indianapolis to see the best examples of these environments.
Mounds State Park
Mounds is located northeast of Indianapolis on I-69, on the east side of Anderson, Indiana--a sizable former industrial town. This park includes the White River, a variety of different types of stream environments that flow into the White River, and several areas where you can observe glacial deposits and modern environments that have formed as a result of glaciation. Mounds State Park is most famous for large Native American mounds built within the park overlooking the White River. The mounds were not used for burial, but instead used for ceremonies. We are not interested in the mounds in this course, but you will walk past them on the trip. To prepare for this trip, please click the "Content" tab and download the associated resources.