This unit provides students with an understanding of, and practical experience with, modern methods for geological mapping and field-based geological analysis. It includes a multi-day fieldtrip prior to the commencement of semester. The fieldtrip is either held in Broken Hill, New South Wales or at various locations in Tasmania. On the field trip, students collect data to produce fact and interpretative geological maps, cross sections and stereographic projections. Practical exercises during semester provide the opportunity for further analysis of data and rock samples collected in the mapping areas. Students synthesise the results of their field- and classroom-based investigations in a major report that both documents their findings, and places them in context, with a critical evaluation of the previous peer-reviewed literature on the geology of the mapping areas. Lectures and practicals cover key aspects of structural geology, metamorphic petrology and the application of geophysical techniques to geological mapping. The unit has a significant emphasis on the application of structural geology and metamorphic petrology to resolving the geological histories of complexly deformed and metamorphosed regions. In Broken Hill, students also gain experience in the acquisition of geophysical data to assist geological mapping (e.g. ground magnetic and radiometric surveys). This unit is one of six 300-level Earth Science units available to students in the Earth Sciences major, and is highly recommended for students who intend to become professional geoscientists.