Blast From the Past
Students map an ancient—and dramatic—eruption.
The lush slopes of the Blue Ridge Mountains in southwestern Virginia are the site of an ancient volcanic blast so powerful that it makes the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens look like child’s play. The Columbian College of Arts and Sciences is the place where a professor and his geology students are unlocking the mysteries of that explosion.
Associate Professor of Geology Richard Tollo has been hired by the U.S. Geological Survey to map a 400-square-mile section of the Jefferson National Forest, where eruptions once sent lava and a turbulent mixture of gas and rock fragments oozing throughout the mountains. The project is part of the Educational Geologic Mapping Program, which gives students firsthand experience in field-based research. Tollo will be taking students there every year for several years as part of the program.
“It’s great to be involved in a project this complex and interesting,” says student Chris Parendo, who participated in the program last year.
Alternating between fieldwork in Virginia and the laboratory at GW, the students collect evidence, prepare samples, compile maps and analyze data. They crack rocks open to uncover historical details inside. They use isotopic dating.
“This was so much different than learning from a textbook,” says student Allie Rubin.
As the team drives from one site to another, Tollo hosts roadside question-and-answer sessions, pointing out a Jeep window to roadside rock formations. Tollo, who was named the District of Columbia Professor of the Year in 2007 by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, says the experience is transforming.
“When they are out there, they are not students. They are geologists,” he explains. “It’s amazing.”
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Blast From the Past
Students map an ancient—and dramatic—eruption as part of a geological research program in the nearby Blue Ridge Mountains.
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