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As part of the Geology major at Gustavus, all students are required to conduct original research culminating in a senior thesis.  For his thesis, Nick Alverson (’12, Geology and Environmental Studies double-major) is investigating how sediment particles and arsenic, a toxic pollutant, are transported through streams and lakes.  Last week, Nick, Emily Seelen (’13, Biology…

Rachel Oien (’13), pictured kneeling above, spent this summer studying sand dunes in Wisconsin as part of a National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates program.  In the photo, she and her field partner were collecting samples for optically-stimulated luminescence dating.  She writes: “My REU was Dune Undergraduate Geomorphology and Geochronology (DUGG).  I was working…

Todd Kremmin ’12 has returned from the University of Minnesota’s field camp in Montana!  Pictured above on Block Mountain, the highest point at their second field site, Todd enjoyed exploring geology without a bunch of biology (aka trees) in the way.  He reports that they spent their time at two field sites, trekking back and…

This spring, both seniors have had their thesis research presented at major geological meetings.  In May, Mike Hendrickson (’11) traveled to the Geological Society of America Rocky Mountain/Cordilleran section meeting in Logan, UT, to give a poster titled “Petrologic Investigation of Graphitic Breccia Pipe Adjacent to the Cu-Ni-PGE Deposit, Carlton County, MN.”   He reported having…

This afternoon, GEO 212: Evolution of the Earth students are designing experiments to test hypotheses about dinosaur body mass, brain size, body temperature and walking/running mechanics.  Hopefully they’ll finish before Bruce Bartley (age 9) discovers that his dinosaur toys are missing!

Jim sent this post a couple weeks ago, during a monthlong visit to Australia to see his brother and new rocks: As I indicated in my earlier email–we drove to Shark Bay–and spent a couple of days there.  Even though it is a World Heritage Site–I found that outside the stromatolites–there wasn’t that much of…

Last Saturday, 15 geology students and their fearless leader, Prof. Bartley, headed south to explore the Permian Basin in west Texas and eastern New Mexico.  They’ll be looking at ancient coral reefs and rocks deposited in associated environments about 300 million years ago, when the region was covered by a shallow sea.  They plan to…

As the Minnesota River continues its rise, Gustavus students Todd Kremmin (Geo ’12), Nick Alverson (Geo ’12) and Tom Einberger (ES ’12) joined other students and community members to sandbag the Nicollet County Historical Center and other properties in St. Peter.

In February (before the recent thaw), the GEO 237-Global Climate Change class retrieved two sediment cores from Lake Emily near St. Peter.  While we did not get a “long” record this time due to technical difficulties and time limitations, we did get a 2-meter, ~200 year record of environmental change as recorded in the sediments. …

Link to Athens News article, 2/3/11