Sophomore works in field with prof and grad student

Mapping trip to Wyoming gives close view of geology work

Published November 17, 2003; Category: STUDENTS

Last spring, Katey Blumenthal '06 signed up for a course on the geology of New England. Three months later, she gained specialized geologic knowledge of a region in Wyoming.

In a discussion with Ben Burke, the graduate student teaching assistant for the class, she said that she would be in Wyoming last summer. Burke then invited her to spend two weeks with him and Gary D. Johnson, Professor of Earth Sciences, in the Bighorn Basin near the town of Greybull, producing a geological map of an area that is not well documented geologically.

During the September trip, Blumenthal joined Burke and Johnson and spent time in the area sketching in the geologic details of parts of two quadrangles representing more than 50 square miles. They confirmed their results through comparison with existing maps, used global positioning instrumentation (GPS) and aerial photographs. The project was done as part of Johnson's contract with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and the State of Wyoming.

Blumenthal, Burke and Johnson mapped layers of exposed rock, structural deformities like faults and folds, and located many oil wells that have been drilled in the area over the last century.

Blumenthal said she is hooked on the mapping experience, partly because of the traveling, partly because of the rocks.

"I'd never seen anything like that-a really deep red rock suddenly changes to something kind of yellow," Blumenthal said.

She and Burke shared facilities with the Earth Sciences Off-Campus Study Program (FSP), which visits various locations in the western United States during Fall Term, and whose Wyoming segment is led by Johnson. This program introduces students to how geologists make observations and interpret various hydrological, paleontological and geological conditions in the field, Johnson said.

Much of Wyoming is an excellent geological laboratory because "the landscape is arid, and one can see quite a bit without having to fight through grass, trees, and vegetation," Johnson said.

As for Blumenthal's assistance in drawing the maps, "It was just a convergence of opportunities," he said. "Ben was looking for a field assistant, and Katey was looking for something to do which might be in line with her present interests."

Blumenthal is on campus for the fall term, but the project is not finished. She will help with the digitization of the hand-sketched maps during winter term, entering data, point by point, into a computer mapping program. Johnson and Burke are also planning work on several new geological maps of portions of the Basin, in which case, Blumenthal said, she wants to join them again.

Her fascination with mapping may or may not last: Blumenthal has not declared a major. She said she is considering music, and plans to study classical guitar in London this spring while on the music department FSP. She also wants to study creative writing, or perhaps science. The one thing the New York City native does know is that she will need to settle on a career that provides excitement.

"I don't want a career that limits what I can see or learn about the world and other people," she said. "I want to travel around and experience as much as I can."

by SHIORI OKAZAKI '04