OverviewThree Kutztown University undergraduate students - Melania Tkach, Dan Ruth, and Ken Schlosser - traveled with me to Alaska to do research on Alaskan mineral deposits.Our expedition had three stages:
|
Kenai
Fjords
National
Park
The
first
week
of
our
trip
was
spent
hiking
and
boating
in
Kenai Fjords National Park. Of
course, our research had nothing to do with the Park, but we would have
been negligent not to take advantage of visiting the Park since we were
in the area. The Park is a remarkable place to see both geology
and wildlife. |
TrainingPrior to our field work, we took a four day long wilderness safety course at Learn to Return Training Systems. We learned and practiced evacuation from downed aircraft (planes and helicopters), bear awareness, and wilderness medicine.Click here to see photos of our safety training experiences in Anchorage. |
Mount
Fairplay
The meat of our project was an exploration of
Mount Fairplay. Mount Fairplay is one of the highest peaks in the
area in the subdued
topography of the Yukon-Tanana
Terrane.
It
is
a
place
where there has been volcanic activity that may have
associated mineralization. Our project was to make a geologic map
of the mountain and document any signs of mineralization present. |
Logging
drill
core
We also were granted access to
study some drill core owned by Full Metal Minerals.
The
question
we
wished
to
address here was whether or not the drill hole
intercepted mineralized rocks. We did so by devising a
quantitative method of analyzing the drill core. |
Camp lifeWe stayed at a camp near Chicken - an old placer mining town settled by gold miners in the late 1800's. The total population is only about 10-20 year-round residents now, but they're a lively group. In their spare time, students panned for a little gold in the nearby creek.Click here for photos of camp life. |