Past Events 

North Shore Superior Adventure MESTA Field Conference 

                   Thursday July 31, 2025 - Tuesday, August 5, 2025

A "Superior" Field Geology Experience with MESTA: "Illuminating" with an Interdisciplinary Approach to the  Geologic Connections of Michigan's Western U.P. with the North Shore of Lake Superior in Canada 

This field conference is an opportunity for you (current classroom teachers will be given early registration priority) to explore the northern Lake Superior coastline geology of Canada with MESTA and relate it to geological events that   occurred in the western UP. It will showcase and offer  "hands-on" field experiences that will allow you to make  connections to classroom activities for your students.  During these six days, you will be given resources,  investigation tools, and the chance to collect classroom  samples. Your experiences will highlight the interdisciplinary nature of geology. They will help you to  understand the geology of these two distinct areas and  how they are in fact related. Finally, you will see the connection of the fluorescent syenite or "Yooperlites"  collected by many people on the southern shores of Lake Superior in Michigan to their bedrock source in Canada. 

Major Themes

❖ What is the geologic story of both the Canadian  Shield and Mid-Continental Rift? What evidence can we observe in these outcrops? 

❖ How do we identify igneous rocks using QAPF diagram? 

MESTA Summer Field Trip 

August 1 - August 4th 2022 

Manistique, Munising, St. Ignace        

Sedimentary Geology of the Michigan Basin

Highlights:

• Hiking rock outcrops and collecting
• Visit Miner's Castle, Munising Falls, and many more falls
• Rock Collecting at the Stonington Formation
• Quarry visits

Meet with fellow educators and scientists; fun outdoor activities; learn more about science in our natural world.

This will be a family friendly field trip!

Trip Itinerary:  2022 MESTA Summer Field Trip Itinerary.pdf   

Guidebook for the MESTA Summer 2022 field trip:  Guidebook_v2.pdf            

Menominee Adventure

MESTA offered a field trip experience in the Menominee area in August of 2021.  Here is the guide book that was used during the Menominee Adventure trip.

Menominee Guide Book (PDF file)

Summer Field Experience       August 2-5, 2021     

Iron Mountain - Marietta - Menominee - Escanaba     

Sponsored by the Michigan Earth Science Teachers Association in cooperation with the Wisconsin Society of Science Teachers

Integrated science with real world connections, plus a lot of fun!! 

  Highlights:

* Hiking rock outcrops and collecting

* White water rafting (Class IV rapids) 

* Mining history (underground mine tour; largest pump in North America)  

* Menominee area geology (volcanic, tectonic, faulting, minerals)

* Erosional features (oxbow lakes, river meanders, drumlin fields) 

* New Back Forty Mine under development (metallic sulfides; Environmental protection, hydrology)

Meet with fellow educators and scientists; fun outdoor activities; learn more about science in our natural world.

Plus it is designed to be family friendly.      

MESTA 2019 Conference

Last year, our annual conference was held on October 4-5, 2019 at Mona Shores Middle School (Norton Shores, MI).  October 4 was a field activities day and October 5 was a day of classroom workshop activities and the annual organization business meeting (including the election for selected Board positions).