The Adventure Begins

The LPSA interns have all arrived and are settled into our (fabulously decorated) sorority house.  Now that everyone has gotten into the work routine, it's time to shake things up again!  We are finalizing our plans for this year's field trip destination - Arizona!  

In only 2 weeks, we will be heading out to explore a wide range of geological features including the Grand Canyon, the sedimentary layers of which are analogs to those in Gale Crater, the landing site of the Mars Science Laboratory. While there, we will also explore the differences between volcanic craters and impact craters, so a trip to each type of crater is on the books.

Before we leave for the expedition, we have a lot to learn.  We will be having a geology crash course from Dr. Pat Burkhart of Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania this Friday.  He is coming to Goddard to teach us about the science and geology of the region.  We will even get our hands dirty, looking at many different rock samples! 

Overall, we are getting extremely excited to go.  The field trips in years past have always been amazing learning experiences (not to mention a ton of fun!).  Check back soon for all of the details of our 2012 Arizona Adventure!!