Geography, Geology and Planning
Facilities
Geologic teaching and research equipment includes a rock crusher, diamond saws, a thin-section saw and grinder, centrifuges, a stream table, stream current meter, permeameter, a fully-automated x-ray diffractometer, emission spectrograph, and several binocular zoom and petrographic microscopes. Students in the geology program also have access to a scanning electron microscope with an attachment for chemical microanalysis, an atomic absorption chemical analyzer, devices for continuously monitoring the level and chemistry of water in streams and springs, darkroom facilities, and a variety of different types of computer hardware and software.
Geophysical teaching and research equipment includes a Worden gravimeter, two Geometrics magnetometers with one gradiometer attachment and one being a base station, magnetic susceptibility meter, portable DC-resistivity meter, Geonics EM-34 loop-loop electromagentic prospecting device, ABEM-Wadi VLF-EM receiver, Mala Ground penetrating radar system with 100, 250, 500, 800 and 1600 MHz antennae with accompanying interpretation software, Crone Shootback EM prospecting device, Bison Spectra 24 channel seismic reflection/refraction system with a set of 30, 40 and 100 Hz vertical component, and 40 Hz 3-component geophones, and a Betsy seismic source with a portable auger. Computer hardware includes two Sun workstations, one Linux workstation and multiple Windows-based PCs. Software includes Generic Mapping Tools, Colorado School of Mines seismic prospecting program, MT-Tools, WinGlink software for MT processing and modeling, Kansas Geological Survey WinSeis and Visual-SunNT programs for seismic reflection work, and various commercial and in-house programs for the map analysis of gravity and magnetic data. Also, 1-D, 2-D, 2.5-D and 3-D modeling and inversion routines for gravity, magnetic, seismic, electrical and electromagnetic data. Large scale plotters and digitizers are also available. A large international gravity and aeromagnetic database is available for teaching and research.
In Temple Hall, the geospatial facilities include separate laboratories for Cartography/GIS and Remote Sensing/Geospatial Analysis. The laboratories contains numerous personal computers, printers, plotters, and digitizers for student use. Student use a variety of software including ArcGIS, ENVI, Feature Analyst, and many others. The faculty continually review and select the best software available in the geospatial science field for student use.
Surveying equipment includes transits, levels, theodolites, electronic distance measuring (EDM) equipment, Global Positioning System (GPS) instruments, alidades, and computers with specialized surveying software.
The Duane G. Meyer Library, located adjacent to Temple Hall, is one of the largest libraries in Missouri with a collection of more than 711,000 volumes. Materials of special interest to students in the Department of Geography, Geology, and Planning include current and back issues of over 100 journals related to the geosciences and planning and a nearly complete set of publications of the U.S. Geological Survey. The Meyer Library also contains more than 188,000 topographic maps, geologic maps, aerial photographs and remote sensing images, housed in a map library designed by the faculty of the Department of Geography, Geology, and Planning.
The Center for Resource Planning and Management (CRPM) is an applied research and academic support unit of the Department of Geography, Geology, and Planning at Missouri State University. Organized under the College of Natural and Applied Sciences, CRPM was first established in 1978 and operated on a part-time basis until 1989. In 1989, the CRPM was re-organized and began operation with full-time planning faculty, professional planners, and technical and support staff. Each semester, the Center employs a number of interns in the fields of community and regional planning, resource planning, and public administration. The CRPM houses a variety of equipment in support of its community service, research, and teaching activities. In addition to personal computers, laser printers, and an array of word processing, data base management, and transportation program software, the CRPM also houses specialized cartography equipment. The cartography lab is equipped with microcomputers, graphics terminals, digitizing tablet, and a new color plotter for both small and large size color map production. Intergraph and ARC/INFO geographic information systems software are used for computerized mapping.