Guest Bloggers: Sarah McGrath (’17) and Chloe Wallace (’17), both members of Team Utah 2014
EPHRAIM, UTAH — No longer rookie bloggers Chloe and Sarah here, coming at you from the sweet comfort of our couch in Utah. Before collecting pounds of oncolites and encountering countless kill sites, we were just two inexperienced field geologists spending our long days becoming pros with the Trimble. The Trimble is a survey grade GPS unit. We used it to map the many iron concretions throughout the Six-Mile Canyon Formation. Over the course of a day and a half we were able to map over 200 points on one single rib of the outcrop.
As you will see below it takes a truly skilled and brave geologist to be worthy of the power that is the Trimble. Lesson learned: do not forget to zip the pocket that is holding your camera as you lean over a steep cliff just to collect a single data point. Thankfully, Sarah’s camera survived the fall and still works somehow. Nikons, people! Also as Sarah was retrieving her camera she came upon some lovely iron staining that otherwise would not have been discovered. There’s always an upside!
How to Trimble 101: This isn’t your basic car GPS.
Seconds before Sarah dropped her camera down the side of the cliff. All in the name of science!
The iron staining Sarah came upon while retrieving her camera at the bottom of the cliff.
We’ve gotten too used to this view. We’re going to miss Utah! Thanks for an amazing two weeks full of scalding heat, accessibility to more Peace Tea than one human should consume, and unforgettable geology.
Nice work, Chloe and Sarah. You’ve come a long way quickly from the front row in the History of Life class!