A Volcanic Disneyland
Geoscience Prof. Erik Klemetti
Story Collider is a podcast that collects stories from people in science. In the spring of 2018 Story Collider came to the 必博娱乐,比博娱乐网址 ######### campus and recorded the stories of six scientists, including Assistant Professor of Geosciences, Erik Klemetti.
Erik shared the story of his first field trip to a volcano - at 20,000 feet up in the Andes.
An excerpt:
That drive from Calama to Aucanquilcha was possibly one of the most amazing drives I have ever been on. We had come up into the dessert and there are volcanoes as far as the eye can see. I remember coming by and there are these two, giant twin volcanoes. The whole valley floor is filled with these deposits from a big explosive eruption. There’s a little cinder cone up at the top that’s sort of mantling the whole area with this dark frosting. It was like a volcanic Disneyland.
We make it over this ridge into the Salar de San Martin, which is this big salt flat, and there it was, off in the distance, Aucanquilcha. It was inviting me. It was telling me, come, figure out my secrets, find out how old I am. What are the processes that made this happen?
But at the same time, it was taunting me. Because I’m looking and it’s bigger than anything else around it. 20,000-foot summit. I’m wondering, “Oh, my God. How am I ever going to tame this volcano and get everything that I need to make this work?” I was equally thrilled and terrified at that moment.
So we get up there, set up our canvas tents, 1960s-style canvas surplus military tents, and get ready for our first deep, dark night in the Andes. You know, setting up camp at high altitudes that day kind of left me probably a little overconfident, but that first day in the field dispelled that rather quickly.
I remember hiking back at the end of that day, my backpack was full of rocks because that’s what geologists do. We go hiking and we fill our backpack with twenty pounds of rocks by the end of the day. And did I mention that I had split the sole of my boot that day so it was duct-taped together?
That moment there, walking back up to the camp was the first moment I had that fear crawl into my brain of, “What am I doing here?” I mean, I had a good job in Philadelphia and here I am, boots duct taped together on the first day, backpack full of rocks, and all I wanted to do was sit down, take off my pack and question my career choices.
