Yesterday, that would be Thanksgiving for all you folks back in the states, my Wildlife Ecology directed research (DR) group began our fieldwork. Cam and I (the only two geology majors on this trip) were assigned the task of mapping the Noolturesh River and measuring turbidity (basically the amount of suspended sediment in a water sample). We decided to add some of our own measurements including suspended sediment load, which required us to take one liter samples of water from the river at various points, and width and depth measurements to calculate flow velocity. Because we spend so much time slopping around in the river, we have to wear rainboots all day-which basically means we get to hike ~9km each day in shoes with little traction or support. And yes, after day two my feet are killing me.
On day one of fieldwork, I managed to escape ultimate embarrassment (although Cam did have to hoist me out of the side of the river at one point). Today on the other hand, I managed to overflow my boots with water thirty minutes into the day, managed to get sort of somewhat stuck on the side of vertical cliff in rainboots (don't worry mom-I made it down) and also managed to lodge myself in a hole so big that Cam had to yank me out. Needless to say, it wasn't my day, but the fact that all my limbs are in tact, I'd consider these first two field days a success.
Our group has six more days of fieldwork, and I have a few more (hopefully) days that I get to spend slopping around in the Noolturesh River. I'm sure I'll have some more wonderful accident updates as the week goes on.
Glorious rainforest we somehow made our way through
More glorious rainforest
Measuring turbidity
Measuring river width
Slopping around
Cam carrying our guide, Dansan, across the river (he didn't have any rain boots)
No comments:
Post a Comment