Regional geochemical mapping of the Superior Upland Province; ichnology of the Cretaceous Mesilla Valley Formation, Cerro de Cristo Rey; a new ichnospecies of cardioichnus from the Cretaceous (Albian) of New Mexico; a pedagogy for the Cerro de Cristo Rey Tracksite; walking in the footprints of dinosaurs: Teaching sense of place in El Paso, TX

This is a multi-disciplinary study that covers a variety of geoscience topics on both international borders of the continental United States. This dissertation is the product of several separate investigations. First is a report on the landscape geochemistry of the Superior Upland Province of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan, with regional maps of 37 chemical elements interpreted in terms of bedrock, glacial reworking, and anthropogenic influence. The next 2 sections are reports on the invertebrate ichnology of the Cretaceous Mesilla Valley Formation at Cerro de Cristo Rey, including the proposal of a new ichnospecies of echinoid resting trace, Cardioichnus biloba nov. isp.. These are the first reports on the invertebrate ichnology of the Cretaceous of the El Paso/Juarez region. The next section presents a pedagogy for the Cerro de Cristo Rey Dinosaur Tracksite, including hiking trails the author designed and constructed, a trail map, and two sets of educational content including self-guided tours and virtual visits. The next section is a report documenting place-based education at the Cerro de Cristo Rey tracksite, and presents strategies for teaching Hispanics about natural history and instilling a sense of place and stewardship. The final chapter is a presentation of two lessons in rock texture discrimination that were developed by the author for undergraduate geology students at the University of Texas at El Paso