Mapping History

Cover Story

Mapping History

USGS funds a rocky field trip for two Geology students.

By Susan Allen '09, '14

 

 

Jeffrey Webber, assistant professor of Geology, received funding from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to help train the next generation of field geologists. Two students, geology majors Steven Tapanes and Allison Reid spent about a month in a remote wilderness classroom in a real-life research project.

Webber took them to his home state of Montana, the place that sparked his endless curiosity for geology, to create a geologic map of a region in the Flint Creek mountain range.

About 65 million years ago, volcanic eruptions were spewing lava across western Montana. Over time, the magma beneath these volcanoes solidified and formed the predominant rock type of granite now exposed at the surface of the Earth.

The research goal was 鈥渢o map an obtrusive sequence of rocks鈥攂asically the guts of volcanoes that were erupting from the Cretaceous to the Paleocene,鈥 said Webber.

A canvas tent
This canvas fort served as a home away from home for Steven Tapanes and Allison Reid while researching in the remote mountainside of Montana. | Submitted photo

Although rough maps exist, there are secrets to the mechanics of how volcanoes work that may be revealed when the finer details are mapped.

鈥淲e are mapping at a much more detailed scale than the area had been mapped previously to try to figure out how some of the plumbing systems of ancient volcanoes worked and use that as a proxy for more modern-day processes,鈥 Webber explained.

This July, the team found themselves on the mountainside of this once volcanic region with just enough snowpack remaining at high elevation to cool off with a summer snowball fight in short-sleeves.

Getting to remote regions for geologic mapping quickly becomes adventurous work. To reach the site, 鈥渨e drove as far as we could,鈥 said Allison Reid, and then there was 鈥渁 three-mile hike up to the base camp with equipment coming up via multiple trips on our backs and with an ATV.鈥

The team made a small canvas fort into their backcountry home. Their food was stored in a bag dangling from tall trees out of bear-reaching range and tents were pitched around the fort.

Fieldwork and trekking the miles to each rocky outcrop dominated their daylight hours.

Sunset in a mountain setting
The remote location of the research site provided stunning views of nature. | Submitted photo

I have wanted to see geology outside the classroom to get experience and a better understanding,鈥
Steven Tapanes

Guided by high resolution topographic maps, they focused in on previously uncharted intricacies of the region. Reid explained that they referenced 鈥渙ur maps that could show us based on differences in topography where we should go to look for the outcrops.鈥

With chisels and hammers, they chipped away samples to bring back to the lab.

鈥淲hen we identified a new rock type that we were interested in doing more analyses on, we would hammer it out of the outcrop and make sure that we documented where it came from and the orientation of the sample. We collected about 20 samples a little bit bigger than a softball in size,鈥 said Webber.

In Bozeman, they cut up the samples with a diamond saw and sent them out to be made into thin sections - slices of rock about the thickness of paper mounted to glass slides.

Student working with a saw
A diamond saw is used to cut collected samples into smaller pieces for analysis. | Submitted photo

Under one of 淫性视频鈥檚 microscopes with polarized light, the thin section looks like a kaleidoscope of iridescent colors. To a trained geologist, the shimmering beauty reveals clues about how the rocks formed, their composition and more.  

The team was especially excited to look at a thin section from a mysterious formation they found.

鈥淲e were walking along a landslide deposit through a boulder field, and we found giant boulders containing what an onlooker might describe as dinosaur eggs. There were thousands of them. We aren鈥檛 sure why or how they formed, but we are doing more research and looking into that now,鈥 said Tapanes.

The 鈥榙inosaur eggs鈥 are spherical features that crystallized from magma. 鈥淭hey are pretty rare and pretty unusual. They are a scientific curiosity. One of the side projects is to figure out how and why these are where they are,鈥 said Webber.

The team is currently digitizing descriptive information about the rock outcrops they sampled and pairing that information with location coordinates using GIS technology. 

鈥淚 have wanted to see geology outside the classroom to get experience and a better understanding,鈥 Tapanes said.

He and Reid both got that experience along with stories that will last a lifetime.

East Coast Exploration 

Matthew 鈥淩ocky鈥 Severs, associate professor of Geology, took his upper-level geology class Mineralogy to the Adirondacks for a weekend field trip this fall. Matthew Gulya called the trip 鈥渙ne for my personal history book.鈥 He was particularly surprised and captivated by the areas that were former mines. 鈥淚t was enlightening to see how beautiful these areas are despite the fact that they were once mines given the infamy of the mining industry. This trip overall has enhanced my classroom experience as I had the opportunity to put my skills as a geologist to the test in the forms of making field observations and mineral identification.鈥

 

Learn more about 淫性视频's Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU)