Geology students visit the Ohio Division of Geological Survey, from left: AYO-BALI Abiodun Emmanuel, Emily Simpson, Anna Michael, Austin Johnson, Jack Seeley, Justin Brunot, Brandon Bailey, Kelli Baxstrom, Zachary Fernandes.
by Emily Simpson ’18
Junior Geological Sciences major
When Sigma Gamma Epsilon and Geological Sciences students visited the Ohio Division of Geological Survey’s Horace R. Collins Laboratory and Core Library on Jan. 26, they were able to observe geologists analyzing new data on an earthquake that occurred just that morning near Marietta, Ohio.
“It was really exciting to see the recordings from the earthquake that happened this morning!” said junior Justin Brunot ’19.
Geology students observe seismic data from an earthquake in Marietta, Ohio that happened that morning
The Jan. 26 field trip was open to all juniors, seniors, graduate students, as well as active members of SGE.
After seeing the Ohio Seismic Network, students listened to a short talk about an ongoing research project taking place at the survey. The Anna Tromino Project is where a team of geologists are using the Tromino seismic tool, which is used for vibration monitoring, to take a look into the subsurface. They have been able to map the Teays River in western Ohio using this tool.
The reason they began this project was they were interested in why the village of Anna experienced such higher levels of damage than the nearby village of Botkins during a magnitude 5.4 earthquake in 1937. They have thus far discovered that Anna is sitting on over 600 feet of unconsolidated sediment deposited during glaciation, while Botkins is sitting on solid bedrock.
“I had no idea how useful of a tool GIS can be for all kinds of geologic projects,” said senior Zach Fernandes ’18. “It was a really gneiss presentation.”
Geology students view the Ohio Division of Geological Survey’s Horace R. Collins Laboratory and Core Library
Lastly, the students were taken into the core repository, which is a huge room filled with shelves of core collected from all over Ohio. Core are available to the public for study and much of the collection was donated by oil and gas companies. Many of the cores have been used for research purposes and are cited in publications.
Students even had the chance to view a portion of core DGS 3274, which was collected from the central uplift of the Serpent Mound impact structure in southern Ohio.
“It was really great to have the opportunity to view a core that I have read about in multiple papers and is somewhat related to my senior thesis research!” said junior Emily Simpson ’19.
We all had a great time and learned so much! This was an invaluable experience and we are all grateful to those who allowed this to be possible.
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