Student Field Report Sample
Student Field Report Example
Introduction
Slightly to the north of Dayton Pond in Wallingford, Connecticut, just off of Dayton Hill Road, there is a small park consisting of a parking lot and two manicured soccer fields (Appendix A). Although we did have goals, we had not come to the park to play games. No, there were soil pits to be dug, something that we at Brown Pit Associates take quite seriously.
Fortunately for the soccer teams that occupied the fields, we were not interested in the soils beneath the attractive expanse of turf. We instead blazed a trail away from the fields through a diverse assortment of meadows, brush, and woodlands. Only after digging the pits would we know that the soils beneath this patchy checkerboard of varying elevation and moisture are equally diverse.
To highway and road-building engineers, Wallingford is known statewide for its crushed rock-producing quarries. To doughnut enthusiasts, Wallingford is known as the home to one of seemingly thousands of Dunkin Donuts throughout Connecticut. To soil scientists, the site that we visited is known for a glacial history that has resulted in remarkable changes in soil types within a small area.
Geology of Site
The topography of the area reflects the physiographic province of Lowland Connecticut a tilted bedrock geology of sedimentary rock interbedded with basaltic flows and topped by surface horizon of glacial drift. What makes the site interesting are the different types of glacial materials present in each of the four pits, and how each has been reworked and influences by time, climate, post-glacial events, and humans since the deglaciation of the area.
Prior to the glaciation of this part of Connecticut, the landforms of tilted sedimentary bedrock and basalt dikes and flows were created by the collision and subsequent separation of continents, and by the erosional, depositional, and volcanic events of the Triassic period. These events continue to define the
Introduction
Slightly to the north of Dayton Pond in Wallingford, Connecticut, just off of Dayton Hill Road, there is a small park consisting of a parking lot and two manicured soccer fields (Appendix A). Although we did have goals, we had not come to the park to play games. No, there were soil pits to be dug, something that we at Brown Pit Associates take quite seriously.
Fortunately for the soccer teams that occupied the fields, we were not interested in the soils beneath the attractive expanse of turf. We instead blazed a trail away from the fields through a diverse assortment of meadows, brush, and woodlands. Only after digging the pits would we know that the soils beneath this patchy checkerboard of varying elevation and moisture are equally diverse.
To highway and road-building engineers, Wallingford is known statewide for its crushed rock-producing quarries. To doughnut enthusiasts, Wallingford is known as the home to one of seemingly thousands of Dunkin Donuts throughout Connecticut. To soil scientists, the site that we visited is known for a glacial history that has resulted in remarkable changes in soil types within a small area.
Geology of Site
The topography of the area reflects the physiographic province of Lowland Connecticut a tilted bedrock geology of sedimentary rock interbedded with basaltic flows and topped by surface horizon of glacial drift. What makes the site interesting are the different types of glacial materials present in each of the four pits, and how each has been reworked and influences by time, climate, post-glacial events, and humans since the deglaciation of the area.
Prior to the glaciation of this part of Connecticut, the landforms of tilted sedimentary bedrock and basalt dikes and flows were created by the collision and subsequent separation of continents, and by the erosional, depositional, and volcanic events of the Triassic period. These events continue to define the
References: Flint, Richard, 1962. Surficial Geology of the Wallingford Quadrangle. Raymo, Chet and Maureen Raymo. 1989. Written in Stone: A Geological History of the Northeastern United States. The Globe Pequot Press. Old Saybrook, CT.