Field Activities and Travel

Field work is an integral component of geology, and an aspect of the science which I believe resonates strongly with the innate desire that people have to explore. As an avid geologist who shares such an innate sense of exploration, it is unsurprising then, that I also enjoy traveling, particularly as it pertains to geology and space science. Below I document some of my more memorable field experiences, as well as geologically relevant highlights from my personal travels.

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An exceptional outcrop of deltaic deposits in the Guadalupe Mountains of West Texas and New Mexico.

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The Carlsbad Caverns in the Guadalupe Mountains of New Mexico.

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The stunning Walensee in East Switzerland.

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The Oeschinensee near Kandersteg in Switzerland.

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An impressive folded structure in the Mountains near Kandersteg in Switzerland.

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The city of Innsbruck, nestled among the Austrian Alps, as seen from the summit of Patscherkofel mountain.

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A small peak in the Dolomite mountain range of northeastern Italy.

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A view of the Iceland mainland from the top of the Eldfell volcano on the island of Heimaey. The eruption in 1973 which formed Eldfell resulted in the destruction of much of the infrastructure on the island. Heat emitted from the volcano can still be felt in rocks near the summit today.

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Above is an image I took during a field excursion on the Sólheimajökull glacier, an outlet glacier of the Mýrdalsjökull ice cap in southern Iceland. The image shows the proglacial lake of Sólheimajökull and a collection of dark cones, some up to ~10 m in height. The dark cones are historically referred to by the Icelanders as "glacier trolls." This is because the features were noted to move down through the glacial valley, growing in size as they progressed, and were thought to be responsible for the disappearance of wayward hikers who wandered up the glacier (which was much more likely due to crevasses and moulins). In reality the cones are lag deposits formed of sediment and volcanic ash that is released from entrainment within the glacier as it flows down the valley and ablates at lower elevations, but I can't recommend telling any Icelanders that.

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The summit crater of Haleakala Volcano, a large shield volcano which forms a significant portion of the island of Maui in the Hawaiian island chain.

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The famous red sand beach of Maui. Layering of volcanic tephra deposits can be seen clearly in the exposed cliff face.

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I visited the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia during the 5th Moscow Solar System Symposium at the Space Research Institute in Moscow. This is a mock-up of a segment of the International Space Station suspended above the dive tank which is used in training to simulate the micro-gravity environment in orbit.

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The Hopewell Rocks on the shores of the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia, Canada.

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An exercise performed during the field training component of the OSHA 40 Hr. HAZWOPER training.

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An outcrop of carbonate reef deposits exposed by a road cut in Puerto Rico.

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