Technical Skills
Proficiency with Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
Proficiency with ArcGIS Pro.
Extracting and analyzing a marsh core.
Identifying minerals in outcrops.
Laboratory Skills
Analyzing thin section samples to determine mineral content and overall composition ratios.
Identifying minerals in hand sample and thin section.
Loss on ignition experiments.
Evidence
This paper showcases my ability to take and analyze a marsh core, as well as presenting my findings and charts created from the data in a manner that is easy to understand and investigate.
The original paper was made with the goal of understanding the paleo environment of the Chesapeake bay, and how it affects modern day conditions in the area. As a class, we travelled to a field site just off of the bay and waded into the marsh to retrieve a sample that would have minimal chances of being recently disturbed. In the process, I was involved in locating stable ground for us to stand and operate on, as well as removing the samples from the coring device we used. The experience in the field was a good opportunity to practice solving problems related to clear areas, stable ground, and removing samples without damaging the environment.
Once we had retrieved the core, we took it to a clean laboratory area where we practiced identifying significant boundaries within the soil sample, as well as taking individual sections out of the sample without causing cross contamination.
The sections were then put through the process of loss on ignition, which we performed in small groups so that everybody would have a chance to be involved in the process. We took some of the sections from our sample and placed them into ceramic mortars that had been pre-weighed. We then took the weight of the sections within the mortars to determine individual section weight, and baked the ceramics in a kiln. After we retrieved the mortars we calculated the percent of organic matter that had been present in each, and used this to interpret the paleoenvironment in terms of vegetation.
An image showing one of the charts made with data collected in the marsh core analysis paper described above. This charts shows how the percentage of organic matter and the magnetic susceptibility of the marsh core change with depth, as well as different textural properties and the presence of bivalve shells in a section.