Chris Rowan is a geologist specialising in the dark arts of paleomagnetism, and getting people to pay him to travel to exotic destinations for fieldwork. Having drilled up New Zealand during his PhD, and South Africa in his first post-doc, he now works at the University of Edinburgh.
Anne Jefferson has a love of all things water-related and blends hydrology, geomorphology, geology, and climate change in her work. She has a Ph.D. from Oregon State University and is now an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.Apologies for the unannounced hiatus in my blogging. Basically, I'm out in Oman doing some fieldwork, a trip that went from 'happening at some point' to 'why don't you leave next Monday?' in a length of time rather too ridiculously short for me to do anything than find my hammer, polish my drill bits and get on a plane. And, since the internet in Oman is either non-existent or slow, and has up to now refused to let me access my blog, I wasn't even able to post an update. Now I wish I had succumbed to my iPhone urge a month or so ago.
Anyway, I'll be back home next week, and will have plenty to talk about. Whilst you wait, perhaps you could tell me what you'd most like to hear about my travels - you'll get the rocks of course, whether you like it or not - but is there any other aspect of the fieldwork experience you'd particularly like to hear about?
Comments
Oh well, as Chris is away...
Dollis Hill
Posted by: Bob O'H | April 24, 2009 1:19 PM
I would love to see more about your steps in the field for taking p-mag samples (apologies if you have already blogged about that).
Also, because you are drilling samples that you will analyze back in your lab, do you have to deal with collecting and/or export permits? Does the Ministry of Mines (or equivalent) have to check your samples to make sure you're not smuggling gold/silver/diamonds out of the country? As a paleontologist, you can spend just as much time taking care of these issues as you will spend time in the field in a foreign country.
Posted by: 220mya | April 24, 2009 5:18 PM
I'm envious. And, since I was doing fieldwork in the Oman Mountains more than 30 years ago, I'm aware that a few things have changed (the place has emerged from the Middle Ages, for example). I'd be really interested to hear how the logistics of fieldwork are these days (can you find a Land Rover that actually works?) and some photos of where your field area is, the questions you're addressing, bureaucracy levels, etc. etc. - I guess I'm just very interested!
Posted by: Michael | April 25, 2009 4:56 AM
Michael, it’s all Land Cruisers now - the Land Rover has had its territory pushed back practically into Masirah Island where a few hardy individuals still survive. It seems that the Japanese new comer will exterminate the original unless the government undertakes a cull or introduces a pest, which will only kill the Japanese variety.
Posted by: Oman | April 25, 2009 3:17 PM
Actually, natural selection works against land rovers like this:
Land Rovers break down, their drivers die in the desert, and thus are unable to reproduce and pass their clunky car-loving genes on to a younger generation.
Ditto with the Nissan Patrol, but to a lesser extent.
Posted by: Lab Lemming | April 27, 2009 7:49 AM
Very true - I only narrowly escaped negative selection by a broken-down Land Rover. And I should have thought that the Land Cruiser takeover had also occurred in the Oman - it's certainly true in Egypt, and quite rightly so - they're robust and reliable when such qualities are vital and spare parts are everywhere. Shame, though, that old short wheel base Land Rover (the long wheel base was crap)couldn't find a way to compete and survive.
Posted by: Michael | April 29, 2009 7:41 AM