Geochemistry Adventure in a Flooded Killbuck Marsh

On Wednesday Dr. Matecha’s Geochemistry class took a trip out to Killbuck Marsh to collect water samples for a research project.

This week saw Ohio and Wooster especially inundated with heavy rain, which led to some very interesting conditions for the trip.

From the first sampling site the class could tell they would have to get creative. Flooded roads weren’t a deterrent for this class though! They embraced the challenge with their mud boots.

Dr. Matecha was contemplating whether the other sites would be accessible.

Students used their resources to collect samples, even from some harder to reach spots.

And sure enough, the next road was also flooded.

But once again this class marched out into the water undaunted.

Finally, an unflooded road! Though the channel here had flooded far beyond its normal banks.

Students were not impressed by the amount of trash people had been throwing into the marsh.

The area was so flooded that Savage Run creek couldn’t even be separated from the marsh anymore.

Despite the flooded road the class was able to approach the other side of the marsh to access some of the sampling sites.

One of the interesting locations was by a retired oil well, where students could smell gas.

Along Clark Rd. the channel had flooded over both walking paths that follow the channel.

A few of the most adventurous students got in a little over their heads, or should I say boots? Quite a few pairs of wet feet were had by the end of the day.

But as always this didn’t diminish the class’s spirit in the slightest.

In the end the class was able to collect a nice variety of samples, build their field skills, and had a fun day exploring Killbuck Marsh. We are excited to see what the chemistry of their water samples tells us about the marsh and local environment in the next few weeks. The class will be presenting their findings as part of their final project.