Varve formation in Skilak Lake and the calibrating of the annually-laminated sediments against hydrological and meteorological data - Samuel Basta
Hometown: Andover, Massachusetts
Class Year: 2008
Major: Environmental Studies
Research Advisor: Professor Jaclyn Cockburn
Project Description:
This summer I did some “get your hands dirty” geology. I traveled to the Last Great Frontier (thank the license plates) of Alaska and retrieved glacial-lake sediments. The project is to find visually identifiable couplets of certain sediments (large grains from higher stream flows of the spring/summer and small grains carried in low flow winter months). Currently I am working in the lab identifying varves and comparing them to hydrological/meteorological data to decipher which variables affect their thickness. A climate record of the recent past comes out of this which will assist future study of past climates in the area.