Page 18 - i1052-5173-32-2

2021 GSA J. David Lowell Field Camp

Scholarship Awardee Report

Lauren Nickell

I find myself continuously blown away by the combination of
extreme beauty coupled with the relentless heat of southern Utah’s
landscape. This summer marked my final semester as an under-
graduate pursuing a B.S. in geology at Southern Utah University,
and the five weeks only further cemented my desire to dedicate my
life to this career path. Out of these five weeks, three and a half
were spent wandering across large swaths of land to map highly
complex and diverse lithologies. These four spots were in various
areas across the southwest Utah region, including the Red Hill out-
side of Cedar City, First Lefthand Canyon on the Dixie National
Forest, Goldstrike Mine, and finally Parowan Gap. Week one, spent
on the Red Hill, was a complete shock to me. Despite having spent
the past four years less than a 5-minute drive away from this loca-
tion, the four days at this site were full of head scratching moments, Week three, Nickell on the Navajo Loop Trail looking toward the main
friendly debates, and more sketching than I could have ever imag- amphitheater of Bryce Canyon with Powell Point (the Aquarius Plateau) in
the distance.
ined. The intricacies of a site that I had gazed upon for eight prior
semesters became apparent very quickly, and the experience only of the area, allowed us to draw conclusions that aligned well with
fueled my love of geology. This carried over into the following Professor Webb’s research. The overlaying faults present due to
weeks as we explored farther out, taking time to comb through sites both compressional and extensional forces on the Paunsaugunt
that I was unfamiliar with in the surrounding region. Plateau had provided the perfect combination of strengths and
What time wasn’t spent mapping areas that have housed various weaknesses in the lacustrine Claron deposits to form the phenom-
tectonic activity over the past couple hundred million years was enal hoodoos seen throughout Bryce Canyon National Park today.
used to focus on more specific questions. The best example of this It has been an absolute gift to begin my career in geology in the
was our time spent at Bryce Canyon during week three, where Four Corners region. The opportunities I have been able to pursue
our professor, Casey Webb, had conducted his master’s research. over the past four years are incredibly unique and have provided
Instead of trying to map an area that was entirely composed of the me with the necessary reassurance to continue on to a graduate
Claron Formation, we collected many measurements with Brunton program in Vancouver, British Columbia, studying geomorphol-
compasses across different sections of the park and then used that ogy in relation to wildfires. The scholarship I received gave me
to map out likely tectonic forces. The beach ball diagrams created the ability to completely throw myself into the five-week-long
through the class’s measurements, along with our regional context field course offered by Southern Utah University, and I have
walked away from this program—and my bachelors—with a pro-
found love of a landscape that has shaped who I am and who I aim
to be in the coming years. I can only hope that my engagement
with this field sparks interest in the minds of those who have also
faced adversity in a career path often dominated by a specific
group, and that the individuals I meet along the way only contrib-
ute to the diversification of a field with so much left to explore.
As a recipient of the GSA J. David Lowell Field Camp Scholarship,
I would like to say thank you to both GSA and Brunton for support-
ing me in such a significant way this summer.

Note: If you are able to help students like Lauren attend field
camp and pursue their geoscience training, you can make a gift now
at https://gsa-foundation.org/fund/field-camp-opportunities or con-
tact Debbie Marcinkowski at +1-303-357-1047, dmarcinkowski@
geosociety.org, for more information. To apply for a J. David
Week three, on the Powell Ranger District of the Dixie National Forest. Lowell Field Camp Scholarship, go to www.geosociety.org/
The class sits below an area of heavily exposed slickensides on the Claron
Formation as Casey Webb conducts a lecture. field-experiences.

18 GSA TODAY | February 2022