Geology majors Pat Trout and Derek Stokes, with mentor Dr. Beth McClellan, are researching ancient (~750 million years) volcanic rocks in the Mount Rogers area, Grayson County VA. For their summer research, Pat received a SURF grant through the RU Office of Undergraduate Research and Scholarship (OURS), and Derek received an Undergraduate Research award through the Geological Society of America Southeastern Section. Recently they were joined in the field by Dr. Esteban Gazel (Dept. of Geosciences, Virginia Tech) and a visiting colleague from Costa Rica, Dr. Guillermo Alvarado, both of whom are experts in the study of recent and active volcanoes. Dr. Alvarado is chief of the Seismic and Volcanic Hazards and Monitoring Unit of the Institute of Electricity of Costa Rica, and also professor of Volcanology at the University of Costa Rica. He is the author of eight books on volcanoes and related landforms of Central America. Dr. McClellan has been collaborating with Dr. Gazel on a geochemical study of the Mount Rogers volcanic rocks. Along with Dr. Alvarado, they are laying the groundwork for a project to reconstruct the volcanic geological history of the Mount Rogers area, by comparison of features in the ancient rocks with those observed in modern-day volcanic regions. Photos: Both taken at the Listening Rock overlook, Grayson Highlands State Park, standing on ancient basalt.
Posted on: Mon, 23 Jun 2014 15:29:22 +0000
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