Macalester College Geology Department

During the summer of 2008, I conducted a paleontological survey in the lava tube caves at Lava Beds National Monument. The monument lies on the northern flank of the Medicine Lake shield volcano in northeastern California and is both a unique geologic area and archeological site. Lava Beds consists mainly of cinder cones and basalt flows dotted with sagebrush and rabbit brush. Over 750 known caves are contained within the monuments boundaries, making Lava Beds the highest concentration of lava tube caves in the continental US. Lava tubes form when rivers of liquid basalt flow down the side of a volcano. As the lava is exposed to the earth's surface, it cools and a solid roof and walls form around the molten rock. Insulated, the river of basalt continues to flow until the source is depleted and a hollow tube is left. Sections of the tube collapse as the lava cools and contracts, leaving openings to the lava tube caves. In the 1930s, Late Pleistocene fossils were found in one Lava Beds cave. My project was to determine the presence or absence of fossil material in other caves within the monument. Although I found no unequivocal fossils in any of the caves I surveyed, I had an incredible time exploring the lava tubes and learning about high desert ecology.

As a masters student at Lakehead University (Thunder Bay, ON), I'm currently working in conjunction with a group of individuals around the world (based at CODES, University of Tasmania) to further the industry's "geochemical toolbox" as it pertains to porphyry Cu-Au-Mo exploration. Steeped in alteration geochemistry and igneous petrology (by the way, thanks Karl), my thesis focuses on determining country/host rock composition's control on trace element geochemistry of distal alteration minerals associated with porphyry and associated epithermal deposits. This masters program is being undertaken as a small part of the overall project's ultimate goal to establish trace element "vectors" for productive ore deposits (for more info on this, go to the AMIRA website). The internal nature of this project has allowed me to continent-hop quite a bit, with my field data being collected just south of Baguio City (northern Philippines), processed in Hobart (Tasmania) and eventually presented in a variety of locations ranging from the east coast of Australia (Gold Coast) to Chile and/or Peru.

I suppose that I should impart some knowledge for potential geology students at Mac, so here goes:
1. The world is big; a lot bigger than you thought (and currently think) it to be. Geology can really help you get out there and see a bit of it before you decide what you want to do and where you want to do it. If nothing else, take up the geology department's yearly offer of going somewhere awesome during J-term.
2. Despite Mac's less than emphatic stance on the (big and evil) mineral exploration industry (this is more apparent outside of the geology department), there is an enormous amount of work to be done around the world with respect to natural resource development. There has never been a better time to enter the industry or the related academic fields!
3. Read Elena's list of pointers because they're all true.
4. Always maintain your own set of morals in your work; this can be incredibly difficult to do (especially in industry) but it is imperative to your success, self respect and enjoyment. 5. Enjoy your time at Mac; life gets progressively more complicated when you get out.

Elana is currently a staff geologist for Geosyntec Consultants in Dexter, Michigan. She sent us the following words of guidance for current Mac students.

Top Ten Things You Should Know Before Leaving Mac:
10) Macalester is nothing like the rest of the world
9) Even if you feel dumb here, trust me, you will feel well equipped and intelligent most everywhere else
8) Enjoy the Twin Cities while you are here, not all cities are cool
7) For your resume make sure you say Degree:Geology and that you make it interesting
6) Easy, explicit directions will most likely never be given again
5) Football is the language of American business/Weather is the poorman's version
4) Do not put your eggs all in one basket such as work, keep yourself interesting
3) Everything is political and requires you to be tough and often calculating
2) You probably won't be the best at any one thing but you will be the best composite of all of your skills
1) Know what makes you happy and who you are. Make sure to find a way to keep that in your life-be you.