Reflection

"My research investigates the ways that climate change can alter landscapes. A stark example of landscape alteration is from the 1930’s during the “Dust Bowl” drought in the Great Plains. Iconic imagery of this time depicts rolling storms of dust that tower black above rural towns. These storms stripped the topsoil but also deposited sediments to create hills of sand and silt altering the landscape. Similar and even worse droughts are known from the geologic record and can be read from the relationship of sediments and buried soils found in the hill slopes. Stratigraphic information renders frequently sterile images of sand and silt, but the process of investigation is dynamic. This image is from May 2010 along the Two Buttes Creek of southeastern Colorado, which is in the heart of the southern High Plains. The photo was taken while digging a stratigraphic section and reflects the effort needed to investigate the frequency and duration of prehistoric droughts. The relationship to the landscape beyond can be seen only through the lens of sediments revealed in the process of excavation."