Geology students are masters of balance when it comes to work and play. Take the summer research of Chris Kassel '06 and Patrick Canniff '06.
Last August, they are “chained to the lab,” analyzing rock and organic matter from glacial lakes. A droning beep signals a malfunction in the carbon analyzer, after only 8 of 480 samples have run.
But their eyes are bright as they recall their adventure a month earlier, when they did fieldwork at breathtaking altitudes in the Peruvian Andes. Not everyone's cup of tea, perhaps. But for two students with a passion for the outdoors, it was a dream come true.
They camped in local villages at an elevation of 15,000 to 20,000 feet, taking breaks to play the universal game of soccer with the locals, a “humbling, heartwarming and just plain fun” experience, says Kassel.
Canniff, a fieldwork first-timer, and Kassel, who has made the trek twice, say they are fortunate to be part of a 10-year tradition of expeditions into the majestic peaks.
Since coming to Union in 1994, Prof. Don Rodbell has received a series of grants to study the cycle of climate change in the tropics. He says a great majority of his students go on to study tropical climate change in graduate school, and one hardly needs to guess why.
“The constant presence of peaks, the descending glaciers and lakes below…from when we woke and crawled out of our tents to when we went to bed, was incredibly relaxing and awe-inspiring,” Kassel recalls. “And we were studying what happened to those areas over thousands of years.”
An avid hiker, Kassel was a member of Union's Outing Club and treasurer (and interim president) of the Geology Club. His love for geology came from a curiosity about how the earth and environment works. Though he never anticipated the travel opportunities his undergraduate experience has afforded him, he says, “Being able to work outdoors was a major factor in deciding to study geology.”
In the field of climate research, there is both academic and humanitarian interest. Archeologists have evidenced the cyclic rise and fall of pre-Incan societies that populated the region of the Andes known as the altiplano, one of the world's largest high-elevation plateaus. Currently, the altiplano undergoes a protracted dry season from June through September, an increasingly fearful fact as the tropics experience global warming and glaciers dwindle in size.
By tracking the pace of glacial retreat, scientists can unearth the climate change timetable. This would be extremely helpful for high-altitude populations already on the margin of survivability, whose only source of water is the shrinking glacial off-flow, used for agriculture and hydroelectric power. To study this, they measured the flow of glacial streams, drew cores from lakebeds (which are roughly 30 ft. long and striated with different layers of organic and glacial matter), and collected samples of boulders that harness glacial material.
As Rodbell points out, the fieldwork is not only a study of science, but inevitably becomes a venue for studying cultural and geographic differences. Kassel concurs, citing not only the benefit of learning how to interpret findings in the field, but also the rewarding pleasure of “interacting with Peruvians-who were so friendly and open to our differences-and learning a lot about how people live in different areas of Peru, from the cities to the mountains.”