Hi everyone! I’m finally back from my field research at Patagonia Bagual. The past week has been quite busy with a few unexpected twists and turns that I’ll tell you about. First off, remember when I told you about my work with the peat bog? Well, that project is no more. Why? Well, the day before my partner and I were supposed to take our samples, we hiked up to the site with our gear to check everything out. Once we got there, we had the amazing discovery that the ‘peat bog,’ wasn’t even a peat bog, but instead a large puddle. Distraught (not really), we packed our things and hiked back down to camp and tried to think of new research ideas. I was especially stressed because everybody else seemed to have everything set for their projects, and there we were having to think of something entirely new the DAY BEFORE we were supposed to collect data.
While we talked to our advisor that night, he told us about a rocky outcrop that he was curious about checking out, and how it could be the remains of a glacier in the area. The next day, armed with a few shovels, some plastic bags, and a hammer, we hiked to the site. After getting a closer look, my advisor said that by taking some stratigraphic samples with the shovels, we could analyze the soil and reconstruct the past climate of the area. My partner and I chose 5 sections of the outcrop, vertically measured them, and then scraped along the surface to notice any difference in the soil. We then took samples every place we noticed a difference in soil composition.
The main thing I’ve learned while out in the field last week was to always expect the unexpected and to make sure I can adapt to a changing environment. I wasn’t planning on my peat bog research to go wrong, but it did, and I can’t help that. I’m disappointed that things didn’t work out with it but I’m excited to see what kind of new knowledge I’ll be able to learn with reconstructing glacial and climatic history with my soil samples! The next few weeks will be full of data analysis and paper writing, so wish me luck on that and I’ll bring you some updates next week 🙂
Abroad Patagonia. 