Blog-meister does it tough!

Spare a thought as your fearless Madison Hills Paleoecology project blog-meister (wearing the appropriate protective gear) battles significant environmental hardship (distraction?) down-under to update the blog with the latest scientific data (and ruminations) just in from the arctic tundra field team on BPPP - fourteen times zones and two seasons away!

Social Posting #7

With the success of our latest drilling day behind us I want to extend a heartfelt thank you to those who helped before, during and after the project on the behind-the-scenes activities. Firstly, and very importantly, a huge thanks go to Lee and Sylvia Pollock for their enthusiasm, encouragement, and support in so many ways I can't begin to describe. One way was in allowing us to use their house for the initial January introductory meeting where so many of you came to find out what this was all about. They have supplied food and drink for that first meeting and countless other informal meetings about the project. They put their heads together with us and came up with the "patch" design and it's name. And, they've been a constant source of project energy and creativity-intellectual, physical and psychological. I'm not sure we could have pulled this off without them.

Latest Coreing Photos (with descriptions)!!

Click on the link below for photos from both coreing days. This time they are in chronological order and have annotations - thanks to Betsy!

Click here for photos and slideshow!

Now that the field work, the really "tough stuff", is finished, I'd like to thank the folks that were so patient with all the logistical and weather-related schedule changes and who worked so hard on the two field days to make the "on the ice" portion of the project a success. Starting at the top and going left-to-right in rows (or top to bottom on the blog), they are:

Dr. Thom Davis & Dr. Lisa Doner: Thanks for furnishing the 2 & 3-inch samplers and related equipment, invaluable drilling and sampling advice, drilling & sampling production consultation, and psychological counseling at several of the project's more discouraging moments. We are very fortunate to have your professional skill and research expertise on our comparatively small research project.

Russ Lanoie & Betsy Fowler: Thanks to Russ for mercifully and resourcefully helping us recover from, and then avoid, the first day's back-breaking work by (a) creatively designing and cleverly fabricating (on very short notice and on a weekend to boot...) the tripod-mounted, come-along sampler retrieval (lifting) system we used to complete the project and (b) by furnishing his Yanmar tractor and trailer for load hauling to and from the project's beachheads. I doubt we'd have completed the second day's work or the field part of the project without this incredibly valuable assistance. We all owe Russ (and Joan) several steak dinners.

Thanks also to Betsy who "held the fort" at the beachhead during both days of field work and who made very creative and timely arrangements for food, drink, and medical supplies out on the ice. She also deserves much credit for keeping the Project Director in-line and properly focused on positive outcomes, despite the seemingly relentless interference of the weather and various logistical complications. She deserves, and will soon receive, a broiled salmon dinner.

Beth Gagnon & Noreen Downs: Thanks to Beth and Noreen for their expertise and patience in making two video records of the project work in the field. Both endured cold windy days of standing about waiting for something to happen in between drilling thrusts and pulls. They also endured some salty language and "project oaths" from those working the platform, but always responded as though they hadn't heard anything and by encouraging us to push ahead, several times offering helpful suggestions of how to do things that had escaped the rest of us. They both intend "to make something more" of the video material they collected, so stay tuned.

Dave Downs & Pete Howland (unfortunately no picture...somehow he slinked away): Thanks to Dave and Pete for working the platform with us on the first and second days. Their practical minds, quiet suggestions, and substantial physical statures were of enormous help in getting both day's work completed. They were always thinking ahead of the operation and were ready with the proper tool or body position on the platform to be just the right help at just the right moment. These guys also deserve steak dinners; arrangements are underway.

Dr. Lee Pollock: And finally, but not least, a special thanks to Lee. Without his energy, enthusiasm, and careful oversight of so many facets of the project's planning and execution, and especially its measurement and documentation along with the general well-being of the Project Director, we would not have completed things as efficiently and thoroughly as we did. Lee was the project's "energy source" for all of its facets, and I am very grateful for his patience, resourcefulness, and encouragement.

So, thanks again to everyone. I am deeply indebted to all. Now, we're on to the next phases of the work.

Scientific Information Posting No. 12

SUCCESS!

Here's a "quick post" to bring you all up to date with the basic results of yesterday's continuation of the drilling and sampling. We completed our quest for the bottom of the Pond's basin with the aid of Russ Lanoie's expertly designed and fabricated tripod/come-along retrieval system, his small Yanmar tractor and trailer, and the able assistance of the project's staff and several volunteers. I will be posting another "Thank You" in the next day or so to recognize each of these folks and their specific contributions. But for now, many thanks to everyone!!

We were able to reach a total and final depth of approximately 33 feet beneath the Pond's bottom or approximately 79 feet beneath the water surface of the Pond. These depths will be more specifically defined after we reduce the field data taken during the driving and retrieval process for each sample. Meantime, the precise GPS information for the hole location is: Latitude 43-56-29.7678; Longitude 71-07-5.2484; and elevation 647 feet above sea level.

Sample recovery from the two days of work (3/11 & 3/17) includes approximately 30 feet of greenish brown to dark brown, lightly to moderately compacted gyttja (organic pond muck, as described in earlier posts) and approximately 3 feet of gray to light gray, moderately to well-compacted, glacially derived clayey silt. The gyttja sample just above the clayey silt seems (preliminarily) to show a gradual transition from cold immediate post-glacial conditions to gradually warmer conditions in the Pond's local area as glacial ice receded away from the area - just what we were hoping to find.

We did not find the absolute "hard bottom" of the Pond's basin (e.g. bedrock or in-place glacial till) because of the difficulty we finally had in driving the sampler into the substantially compact post-glacial sediments. However, the presence of these sediments and the nature of their compaction suggests we stopped drilling and sampling close to their base and thus the bottom of the Pond's basin.

The exact nature of these sampled materials and the specific circumstances of the transitions they reveal has to await the results of the laboratory work that will start after the next step in our process. That is for the project staff to get together to split, carefully describe/photograph, and extract specific samples for lab testing from the cores retrieved. Due to pre-existing professional and business commitments of project staff (ugh), this activity is scheduled to take place in early May over at the cold walk-in storage facility at Plymouth State University. Thereafter, and as the results of the various lab tests (C-14, pollen, chironomids, etc.) come in, we will begin to fill-out the details of the Pond's geologic, biologic, and climate history - probably by the mid to late summer.

So, the first and most logistically challenging step in the project is complete. Now on to the really interesting stuff. Stay tuned here on the blog. We'll keep you posted.

Scientific Information Posting No. 11

AN UPDATE

The continuation of the drilling and sampling is "on" for tomorrow, March 17th. The weather is forecast to be good with the exception of a bit more wind than we'd like. However, given the other weather alternatives we've had so far, we'll manage just fine with this contingency.

Equipment and supplies will start to be hauled out to the drilling platform at 7:00 AM tomorrow morning, equipment set-up will start about 8:00 AM, and drilling should begin around 9:00 to 9:30 AM. We are prepared to drill another +/- 20 feet if need be, and if we do, we'll probably not be finished until the late afternoon. If we "hit bottom" sooner, we'll be done correspondingly sooner, but not likely before the mid afternoon.

Preparations for tomorrow have been progressing well since we completed "round one" last Tuesday. We've been concentrating on modifying our equipment and material-handling processes to be more time efficient so we can get "more bang for our buck" while we're out on the ice. The major modification we've made is now visible to those of you in residence here on the Pond. You can look out at the drilling site and see the new tripod/come-along lifting system Russ Lanoie designed and fabricated for us in his shop down the road yesterday afternoon. We hauled it out to the platform and installed it this morning. We've tested in twice now and it performs very well with as much as 650-700 pounds "on the hook". It should ensure we can retrieve everything we sample tomorrow, an important factor now because the ice will shortly begin to become unacceptably thin.

So, we're off and running again. We'll get tomorrow's results posted as soon as we can.

Social Posting #6

We're going with Monday, March 17, St. Paddy's Day, to core for a 2nd time to see if we can reach further down into the depths below where we left off last Tues. If you want to help or just observe we are starting to haul equipment out at 7AM and will go until we can't drill down any further. We can, also, use help at the end hauling the equipment off the pond. There may be refreshments at the site, but don't count on it since I don't know how many donut holes will be left from Tuesday or if Sylvia's delicious muffins are still uneaten. Hope to see you Monday.