 Overview
Two Kutztown
University
undergraduate students - Lauren Storm and Anthony Moorehead - went with
me to Bĕijīng (北京 - big red star on map) and to Hénán
Province
(河南) to study porphyry-related molybdenum deposits
(smaller red star) in the summer
2008. The trip was a wonderful cultural experience
and
a
very
clear
education
in the difficulties of studying mineral deposit geology
in China.
In addition to the political/bureaucratic issues that sometimes impeded
progress,
cultural differences in our approaches to scientific research of
geological problems added to the complexity of the expedition, making
the trip a learning experience in many ways.
The Qinling
Mountains (秦岭 - smaller red star on map) region of Hénán
Province hosts the largest
concentrations
of molybdenum
resources in all of Asia. The deposits are
scattered over a broad area roughly 300 km in diameter. The
goal of this study
is to figure out how the molybdenum deposits in the Qinling Mountains
formed. We hope to do this by a combination of geologic mapping
in the field
and chemical analysis in the lab. Understanding the factors that
led
to the
formation of the molybdenum ores will allow for a comparison with
the geological characteristics and help us assess the potential for the
discovery of more resources in the region and elsewhere in the
world.
Click
here for a basic description of the geology of porphyry molybdenum
deposits.
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China
University
of
Geosciences
- Bĕijīng (CUG-B)
 The
first
three
weeks
of
our trip
were spent in Bĕijīng where I teach a short course about mineral
deposits for graduate students at the China University of Geosciences -
Bĕijīng (a very highly respected university for geological
studies). There are many excellent students - most of whom study
geology, but some of whom study other subjects. Click
here to see photos of the campus and life at the China University
of Geosciences - Bĕijīng (CUGB).
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Tourism
in/around
Bĕijīng
 While in Bĕijīng, we
naturally took time off from work to tour the key sites in the
area. Click
here to see photos of some of our tourist excursions in/around
Bĕijīng. We
visited the classic Bĕijīng sites, including the Great Wall, Forbidden
City, and Summer Palace, as well as less commonly visited places like
the Paleontology Museum.
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Lingshui
Cun
Historic
Village
 Professor Huang Wen Hui
- an excellent carbonate sedimentary geochemist - took us on a trip to
visit Lingshui Cun historic village in Méntóugōu District
(门头沟区) (map),
roughly
45 miles (75 km) from Bĕijīng.
This was a beautiful little village in the mountainous countryside.
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Hénán
Province
tourism
 Then we traveled by
train to
the
Zhèngzhōu (郑州) in Hénán Province (map),
where
we picked up two jeeps with drivers
and headed westward into the Qinling Mountains. In addition to
looking at molybdenum deposits, we experienced Hénán
culture and
visited tourist excursions in the area. Click
here for photos of cultural and tourist experiences in
Hénán.
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Geologic
fieldwork
in
Hénán
Province
 Doing the actual
scientific fieldwork in Hénán was very frustrating. There are
some very formidable
obstacles to doing research in ore deposits in China. None the
less, we were able to get some things done.
Click
here for photos of our geological fieldwork in Hénán.
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Geologic investigation of
porphyry-related molybdenum deposits, Hénán 河南, China –
Integrating
undergraduate student overseas cultural experiences with scientific
research
