Student Volunteers Needed - July 2009
BATHOLITHSonland Seismic Program
Batholiths is a project that is focused on investigating the processes that generate continental crust, one
of the great unsolved problems of Earth Science. Many scientists consider that the production of
batholiths, large zones of molten rock that solidified in the crust, plays a key role in the formation and
growth of the continents. The core of the British Columbia's Coast Range is the largest collection of
batholiths on the planet. Originally intruded deep within the crust as the mountain range formed, the
tops of these structures are now exposed at the surface through erosion.
The seismic program will image the 3D structure, rock properties, and temperature of the crust and
upper mantle from 10s to 100s of kilometers deep.
!ALL EXPENSES PAID!
Volunteers will help deploy portable seismometers in central British Columbia from west of Bella Coola to
the Central Plateau over two weeks in mid to late July, 2009. We are looking for ~50 students, both
graduate and undergraduate, from universities in the United States and Canada. This will be a great
opportunity to interact with university researchers in a major project and meet a variety of students at
different stages of their career.
Volunteers will help program the seismographs, and working in pairs, will deploy 30-40 seismographs per
day at a spacing of ~200 m - next to rough 4x4 logging roads, or by small boat along the coastal fjords.
The seismographs will record the vibrations from 14-16 shotpoints (typically 1000 kg in 50-m-deep
drillholes) to distances of up to 400 km.
JOIN US!!
Contact:
Dr. Kate Miller
University of Texas at El Paso
Email: miller@geo.utep.edu
Dr. John Hole
Virginia Tech
Email: hole@vt.edu
Dr. George Spence
University of Victoria
Email: gspence@uvic.ca
Project Website: http://www.geo.arizona.edu/tectonics/Ducea/Batholiths/index.html