ome of the most

beautiful and most

dangerous places in

the world are a result of

geologic activity. The red

glowing lavas of Hawaii,

the amazing cliff faces of

Yosemite National Park,

California, the beautiful

blue, green, and red

steaming pools of

Yellowstone National Park,

and the shear contrast of

Mt. Adams, Mt. Rainier,

and Mt. St. Helens and

their surrounding flatlands are

all some of the most pho-

tographed and studied parts of

our natural world. My Burch

Fellowship allowed me to expe-

rience these, and so many more,

amazing geologic features.

Da

nie

l Pig

na

tiel

loDaniel PignatielloClassHometown, N.C.

Geology in the Pacific Northwest: From the Grand Tetons to Mt. St. Helens

I began my trip with a hands-onintroduction to the geology of theNorthwest United States. I flewinto Portland Oregon and beganmy trek east. The trip took mefrom geologic setting to geologicsetting as I traveled from greenmountains and winding rivers, tothe desert flatlands of Idaho to themost beautiful mountains I haveever seen: the Grand Tetons. I thenworked my way throughYellowstone and Glacier NationalParks before heading west again tothe rainforest in Olympic NationalPark in Washington, and the prideand joy of this adventure: theCascade stratovolcanoes. I thenclimbed Mt. Rainier, went to whatremains of Mt. St. Helens, andmade a long trip down to SonoraPass California before returning toMt. Adams in southernWashington.

In my travels I saw six majormountain ranges and hundreds ofdifferent geologic settings.Although these mountains arewithin driving distance of eachother, and often look quite similar,they are all unique and wereformed by different geologicprocesses. I had 4 am wakeup callsfrom a bison chewing on my tent.I went from flat ground with giantpimples in the Cascades, to desert,to boiling puddles of water inYellowstone, to Iceberg lake ofGlacier National Park, to rainforests

in the northwest cor-ner of the U.S.

After Ifamiliarizedmyself with

the geology of thisarea, learning more in three

weeks just by driving and hikingthan I could by months of reading,I moved on to my research. I metup with nine professional geolo-gists, mostly from the United StatesGeologic Survey (USGS), and soonbegan a long trek up the flank ofMt. Adams, a potentially dangerousvolcano in southern Washingtonnot too far from Mt. St. Helens.With my 74 pound pack on my

back, I started up the 12,276ftmountain. Luckily, the rocks wewere interested in all lay within thetop 1,000ft. We spent three daysatop the mountain collecting mag-netics data, as well as hand samplesso we could determine weak pointsin the mountain. All the while, thepungent smell of sulfur filled theair. The sulfur atop the mountainis most likely responsible for thechemical deterioration of portionsof the mountain, making themoptimal paths for an eruption.With the data collected on this tripI, along with the USGS team, willattempt to pinpoint areas suscepti-ble to failure in the event of aneruption. In turn, this will allow usto create hazard maps of the areathat could tell us the areas whereevacuation will be necessary forsaving lives of the millions who livein cities such as Seattle,Washington and Portland, Oregon.

From this experience I learnedyou cannot fully understand some-thing until you see it with yourown eyes. I would never havethought that Rainier or Adamscould pose a great threat to thesurvival of the cities of Washingtonand Oregon, until I stood atopthem and stared in awe at the flat-ness of the surrounding areas. Thegiant mountains are distributedlike candy dots pasted to waxpaper that we used to eat when wewere little, but those flat lands hold

the potential to carry dangerouslava flows from the steep sides ofthe Cascade volcanoes hundreds ofmiles, wherein the danger tohuman civilization lies.

eology is a field of studybased on understanding field

aspects of the Earth. I can sit hereand say Yellowstone is one of themost beautiful places on Earth,and it is a geothermal field in theremnants of a giant, explosive vol-cano. Or, I can say Mt. Adams willerupt in the near future and holdsthe potential to kill millions oflives, let alone destroy the environ-ment of the Northwestern US. But,until you go to Yellowstone andsee these steaming 180 degreevents gushing steam and waterfrom the ground, or you climb to

the top of Mt. Adams and smellthe rotting egg stench that is wetsulfur, you cannot fully under-stand the significance of these twoplaces.

The Burch Fellowship allowed

me to see and experience theseamazing geologic features firsthand. I could have read in booksthat the last eruption from theYellowstone Caldera erupted ashinto the Gulf of Mexico and Mt. St.Helen’s sent ash into Montana.But, instead the Burch programmade it possible for me to feel therumbles of trapped gas under OldFaithful and see the missing pinna-cle of St. Helen’s. This put geologichazards into perspective and I cannow see why thousands of peoplework together every day determin-ing ways to save lives in the eventof a large scale geologic event suchas a volcanic eruption.

What the Burch Fellowshiphas done for me is amazing. Iteamed up with some of theworld’s best geologists, saw someof the most beautiful places in theworld, hiked a few 10,000+ ft.mountains, and learned what itreally means to be a geologist.With this new found information, Iam utilizing this experience andwriting a thesis which hopefullywill prove helpful in determiningthe potential eruptive path of Mt.Adams. My research sponsored bythe Burch Fellowship will be key inthe creation of a hazard preven-tion plan put together by theUnited States Geologic Survey(USGS) and the Cascade VolcanoObservatory (CVO). In a way I feelI have helped saved millions oflives from something that mayhave otherwise gone undetected. Ilearned so much about Volcanoesand why they behave the waythey do on this adventure, and Igot to sit around a boiling pot ofbeans and talk with 9 people, ofwhose published papers I haveread over 30 in the past 3 years.This was an amazing experiencenot soon to be forgotten. TheBurch Fellowship I received hasintroduced me to a new level ofthinking and research, as well asallowed me to visit places I haveonly dreamed of.

Continued

BURCH FELLOW 2003

S

G