We use cookies to improve your experience, some are essential for the operation of this site.

Adam Soule examining a rock specimen.

Adam Soule examining a rock specimen.
Adam Soule examining a rock specimen.
Adam Soule examining a rock specimen.
Adam Soule examining a rock specimen.
Comments (0)
131743
Linder, Christopher L.
Adam Soule examining a rock specimen.
Still Image
12/16/2007
graphics/pd3-1/cl_20071216_antarctica07_lavascience_071.jpg
The layers in our pit - geologists call them horizons - are so distinct you can probably see them even from your computer up in the northern world. First there's the light gray, powdery layer - about 6 inches of dry sand. The dark brown layer beneath it is frozen sand mixed with volcanic rocks up to about the size of a football. Below that, in the bottom right, is the upper section of the ice layer. Soule holds a chunk taken from the sudden transition between frozen sand and hard white ice. With their observations completed, the team began preparing samples to take back to Woods Hole, where lab analyses may reveal more clues.
Image of The Day caption:
WHOI geologist Adam Soule holds a chunk of icy sediment plucked from the soils of Antarctica in December 2007. When Soule and colleagues dug a pit into the earth around Mount Morning, they found layers, or horizons. First there's the light gray, powdery layer?about 6 inches of dry sand. The dark brown layer beneath is frozen sand mixed with volcanic rocks up to about the size of a football. Below that, in the bottom right, is the upper section of the ice layer. Soule holds a chunk taken from the sudden transition between frozen sand and hard white ice. Soule and colleagues gathered several samples for further lab analysis in Woods Hole.
Photo by Chris Linder
© Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Labels
This item includes these files
Image
Image
Collections