Three hundred years after the birth of James Hutton, the Scottish scientist known as the father of modern geology, Syracuse University students from the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences (EES) walked the same landscapes that inspired many of his groundbreaking ideas. Hutton’s observations of rock formations along Scotland’s coast helped transform scientific understanding of Earth’s history, laying the foundation for today’s discoveries.

Joined by EES faculty and alumni, the students trekked across Scotland’s dramatic glens, crags and coastlines, visiting some of the world’s most important geological sites as part of an international field study. Opportunities like these are central to the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S) educational journey, where students across majors and academic disciplines are encouraged to move beyond the classroom and build hands-on research and analytical skills in their field.

In the Footsteps of Geology’s Pioneer

The trip marked the fourth international EES excursion in recent years, following previous visits to British Columbia, Iceland and Newfoundland. Led by professors Scott Samson and Linda Ivany, the program took students to three key locations: Glasgow, the Isle of Arran and Edinburgh.

The trip gave students the opportunity to visit the places where Hutton observed rock formations during the late 18th century, revealing Earth’s relentless, ongoing geological processes. These observations led Hutton to argue that the planet was far older than commonly believed, and that its history could be explained by processes we can see or infer through observation of the natural world, ideas that transformed scientific understanding of Earth’s evolution.

“He is to geology what Darwin is to biology and what Isaac Newton is to physics and mathematics,” Samson says.

A major destination was the Isle of Arran, often described as a geological miniature of Scotland because of the diversity of rock formations and geological features found across the island. Students were based for four days in the village of Lochranza, where they stayed at a field station and worked closely with a local geology expert who guided the group through important field sites.

Building Skills Through Experience

Students prepared for the trip by reading scientific literature related to the locations they would visit. Once in Scotland, however, the learning shifted from theory to direct observation—as it did for Hutton so long ago as he searched for field observations to support his revolutionary Theory of the Earth.

The group examined rock formations, geological structures and historic outcrops that have helped shape scientific understanding of Earth’s history. Among the highlights was a visit to the most famous angular unconformity described by Hutton, known as Siccar Point, a geological feature east of Edinburgh that demonstrates vast spans of geological time.

“This set of rocks changes your whole world view,” says Ivany.

At Siccar Point, Hutton saw evidence that Earth continually renews itself through cycles of sedimentation, uplift, mountain building and erosion, challenging the idea of a static world with a fixed endpoint. This insight led to his famous conclusion, “We find no vestige of a beginning, no prospect of an end,” capturing his view of Earth as a dynamic planet shaped by continuous cycles of change over immense spans of time.

“His insight completely transformed the study of our planet,” says Ivany. “This place is why we came on this trip.”

“Few people have ever seen it in person,” Samson says. “But this set of rocks is in every single geology textbook ever published in the entire world.”

Fieldwork challenged students to apply what they had learned in the classroom to direct observation. They were tested on their ability to identify and sequence rock samples based on evidence they had gathered in the field.

“They had to put specimens in order from oldest to youngest based on what we had learned at the geological outcrops,” Samson says.

The exercise required students to analyze, interpret and defend their conclusions using real geological evidence, mirroring the work performed by scientists working in the field.

The trip provided students with a valuable first opportunity to study geology at a professional field scale. Rather than examining samples in a laboratory or viewing photographs in a textbook, they worked directly with landscapes, rock formations and geological structures.

For Christopher Paradis ’28, an environmental geoscience major in A&S and an environment, sustainability and policy major in the Maxwell School, the expedition reinforced his passion for field-based science. After hearing about the opportunity from faculty, he was immediately drawn to Scotland’s rich natural history and globally significant geology.

“This experience has absolutely confirmed for me that I want to study a science that puts me out in the field as often as possible,” Paradis says. Exploring rocky riverbeds, rolling pastures and coastal cliffs gave him a firsthand look at landscapes shaped over hundreds of millions of years, bringing the geologic history he’s learned about through his coursework to life.