Hot Rocks, Cool Work

Jessica wolfman in Guadeloupe

Students conduct grant-funded research in Guadeloupe

by MaryAlice Bitts-Jackson

For earth sciences students, faraway destinations often mean greater geological adventures. So it was for class of 2017 members Jessica Wolfman and Sophia Larson, who conducted original research in Guadeloupe this summer with help from several student-research grants.

Wolfman is one of six recipients of the Stephen Pollack Undergraduate Research Grant, a $1,500 prize awarded by the Geological Society of America’s Northeast Section that supports her senior research. Her research began with two sources of funding: the Robert Allan Jansen Memorial Student-Faculty Research Fund, founded in memory of Jansen, a 2011 graduate and earth sciences major, and a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant awarded to Associate Professor of Earth Sciences Peter Sak, which also supported research in Guadeloupe by Larson, a fellow earth sciences major, and Assistant Professor of Earth Sciences Jorden Hayes

Wolfman is investigating how the depth of burial within the near surface affects the rates at which volcanic rocks weather, while Larson is studying changes in slope along rivers and streams and how those changes affect weathering rates, water composition and vegetation. After conducting background research in the spring, they traveled together to the Caribbean island, where a hot and humid climate accelerates the chemical weathering process, allowing researchers to see measurable effects. Once there, they worked as part of a research team, along with Sak, a student-faculty team from the University of Texas and a French geochemist.

Jessica Wolfman, Sophia Larson

 

Together, the team scoured Basse-Terre Island by car for rivers and streams that were likely to produce good water samples and for clasts—rocks with a rind of weathered material that are treasure troves of information about chemical weathering rates. The students also assisted Hayes, who was performing preliminary geophysical surveys in parts of the island.

The trip to Guadeloupe was just one of several national and international summer excursions that earth science students, professors and alumni have taken in 2016, says Sak, who notes that during one week this summer, every earth sciences faculty member was out in the field, working side-by-side with students.

“I’ve learned so much, from how to identify clasts in an outcrop to how to safely swing a sledgehammer,” says Larson, who’s taken previous earth sciences trips to research sites in Pennsylvania, Canada, Costa Rica and North Carolina.

“All of the work was physically demanding, especially with the hot and humid weather, but it’s exceptionally rewarding,” Wolfman adds. “Being able to actually be on the island and collect the samples that I’ve been reading and writing about for a semester was, honestly, just so cool.”

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Published August 11, 2016