Deep Thoughts
Monday, Dec. 16, 2013
Notes from the underground by Communications Director Connie Walter
300 Level becomes geology classroom
“
Cool.”
“Amazing.”
“Awesome.”
Said several Black Hills
State University students
as they walked through the
Kirk adit and into the 300
Level. Three young women
paused at a particularly large
deposit of quartz, running
their fingers lovingly over the
glistening rock.
“This is like heaven,” one
student said, her voice barely
above a whisper.
The 300 Level is cold and
wet this time of year, but the
students didn’t seem to notice
as they exclaimed over and
took pictures of different rock
formations and colorations
(caused by manganese, iron,
and other minerals) created by
water running down the walls.
The group of 20 students, all
from Dr. Abigail Domagall’s
geology class, trekked underground during a class exercise
in which they study rock types
and geologic processes. Several
hundred feet into the mine,
Domagall, an assistant professor at BHSU and director of
the physical science program,
called the class to order. She
discussed the Precambrian
period, and talked about schist,
gold, metamorphic rock, folds,
foliation, direction of pressure
and convergent boundaries
(which form mountains, by the
way), the history of the Black
Hills and how the rocks formed.
And her students listened
intently, oblivious to the water
dripping onto their hard hats.
“The Black Hills are 1.7 to 2.6
billion years old,” she said with
Photo by Matt Kapust
Abigail Domagall (right) and her geology student Jeff Murray examine a rock sample at the 300 Level.
great passion. “Think about it.
and then with greater force.
That’s half the age of the earth!” Several were rewarded with
Of course, that’s the inside of
a sliver or chunk of rock that
the Hills; the outer layers of
they took back to BHSU where
rock are much younger—only
they will examine the structure
50-65 million years old.
of the rocks and identify them.
After the “class” ended,
Back on the surface John
students began hammering at
Jarding, a junior from Rapid
the hard rock—timidly at first
City who is studying physical
science, said, “This was a
really unique experience—to
be physically underground and
see all these elements together
and not just in a classroom. It
was awesome.” And it just may
be the most powerful learning
tool of all.
‘A broad perspective’
Experiment Support Scientist Dana Byram enjoys reading
science fiction, but he loves the real science. “I get to
interact with researchers very closely,” he said. “They’re an
extremely diverse group of people and I’ve learned a lot.”
A doctoral student in physics at the University of South Dakota, Byram has
worked with CUBED and LUX and now Majorana. “Dana is a great addition to
the Science department, playing a strong coordination role and becoming an expert
in oxygen deficiency safety,” said Jaret Heise, Science Liaison Director. “Dana’s
work with the Davis Campus experiments gives him valuable expertise and a broad
perspective.”
Byram’s busy schedule leaves little time for reading. But he makes time for
family—especially his 20-month-old son. “We have tons of fun together! Every day
with him is something new.”
Behind the
Scenes
South Dakota Science and Technology Authority
Lead, South Dakota