Throughout my undergraduate career,
my major of geology was the subject of a lot of amusement. I do not know why, bur people get a lot of
enjoyment after learning that geology is my thing. It may be due to some unconscious, deeply rooted,
cultural connotation of geologists being eccentric or nerdy or antisocial, preferring
the company of rocks over people.
Due to the ever-present presence of
rocks on this planet, I get a lot of attention whenever one of my friends sees a
rock. They’ll usually have a slightly
mad look in their eyes and a devious half smile, and I know that they are about to ask
me about its history or type or that they are simply just going to point it out
to me. And I don’t mind this at all for two reasons.
1)
I like to inform my friends about the mysteries
of the Earth, even if it is a decorative chunk of limestone that is quite
literally found everywhere in Florida.
Regardless, it also give me a chance to test my rock identification and understanding
of the processes that can build rocks.
2)
Just like every other human being in the world,
I like attention and the opportunity to feel needed. Even if it’s for a half-joking rock identification,
my specialized skills are being requested and that is enough to fill my
ego.
For the past 3 years of my
undergraduate career, I have learned all about the general subsets of geology.
Physical geology, historical geology, mineralogy, igneous and metamorphic
petrology, sedimentology, stratigraphy, and structural geology were the core
courses I had to take. My degree is in
Geology and I am planning to take the steps to obtain my Professional Geologist
license, meaning that I need to have a very strong background in all of the
aforementioned subsets. I spent many
(MANY) days (and nights) looking at rocks in hand sample and under microscopes
in thin sections.
But with that being said, as I became a Masters Student in August of
2018, I do not think that I can in good conscious say that I study rocks anymore. I am getting my MSc in Geology, so it is
still pretty generalized and I have had to take classes in a variety of categories. However, the majority of my time is not spent
studying general geology.
Specifically, I study the field of
hydrogeology, the study of groundwater. Rocks
are just like sponges, being able to soak up water and hold it
underground. People use groundwater as a
major water source, digging wells and pumping it out. Rather than the study of rocks, this is the
study of water within rocks. While hard
rock geologists may deal with science on the time scale of millions to billions
of years, my field focuses on the time scale of days to centuries.
Even more specifically, my Masters
Thesis is on measuring the exchange of water between the ponds and the ground in an even more specific field of surface
water-groundwater interactions. In the whole
breadth of the Earth, I focus on very very surficial processes. Because I am working with ponds in Florida, the
water table is so shallow that I am not even focusing on aquifers in rock. Right now, I am only concerned with the surficial
aquifer found within sand hills in Northern Florida.
SO what does this mean?
It means that I study water in sand. At the end of the day, I don’t get anywhere
near rocks anymore. Does this mean I don’t
want your rock questions anymore?
Absolutely not the case. Hit me
with them. I love it. The Earth is my passion and there is nothing
I want more than to share that with my friends.
I can stand the occasional rock joke or sly request for an
identification.
Thank you for reading this little
window into my world. Rock on!
-KC
B.S. Geology
Darcy’s Lawyer
 |
| Picture of me in my pond |
Comments
Post a Comment