WSU Tri-Cities Professor “Talks Geology” with Third-graders

RICHLAND, Wash. — Third-grade students from Richland’s Jason Lee Elementary School are learning about rocks and geology this Wednesday and Thursday at Washington State University Tri-Cities.
 
Professor Steve Reidel is leading each class to the shoreline of the Columbia River, where the students will choose rocks, then learn to sort and identify the rocks. This is the spring “field outing day” for the third-graders.
 
Each of the third-grade classes arrive on the WSU Tri-Cities campus by 9:30 a.m. and depart by 11:30 a.m. The shoreline location is at the river pumphouse below the East Building, 2710 University Drive.
 
Reidel, formerly a geologist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, is author of Big Black Boring Rock, Essays on Northwest Geology, published in 2006. The book addresses the basalt rock scattered throughout the Columbia Basin and how it shaped the region.
 
Directions to site:
Take George Washington Way north past Hanford High.
Turn right onto Sprout Road, follow to end.
Turn left into the WSU Tri-Cities campus.
Turn right into the Student Book Corp./visitor parking lot in front of the East Building.
Go straight through the lot onto the fire lane.
Follow fire lane to back of East Building, overlooking the river.
Walk down the slope from the fire lane to the bike path, then to the river pumphouse.
Sturdy shoes are recommended.