{"id":11756,"date":"2024-08-22T18:02:52","date_gmt":"2024-08-22T22:02:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zobi.alcowep.com\/bourtagshdrevxnls658739\/into-the-field-with-nasa-valley-of-ten-thousand-smokes\/"},"modified":"2024-08-22T18:02:52","modified_gmt":"2024-08-22T22:02:52","slug":"into-the-field-with-nasa-valley-of-ten-thousand-smokes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zobi.alcowep.com\/bourtagshdrevxnls658739\/into-the-field-with-nasa-valley-of-ten-thousand-smokes\/","title":{"rendered":"Into The Field With NASA: Valley Of Ten Thousand Smokes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Into The Field With NASA: Valley Of Ten Thousand Smokes<\/h2>\n

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4 Min Read<\/div>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tInto The Field With NASA: Valley Of Ten Thousand Smokes\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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NASA scientists begin a day\u2019s field research in Katmai National Park. <\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tCredits: <\/span>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tNASA\/Patrick Whelley<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

In June 2024, the Goddard Instrument Field Team (GIFT) hiked deep into the backcountry of Alaska\u2019s Katmai National Park to study the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes, site of the largest volcanic eruption of the twentieth century. The team\u2019s task: traverse a vast volcanic debris field layered with glacier ice, gathering data and samples to help us better understand this place on Earth and similar terrain on other worlds<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"Composite<\/a><\/figure>
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Buried glaciers on Mars and Earth. Top: Orbital view of partially-exposed ice beneath an eroding deposit on Mars, from HiRISE. Bottom: Edge-on view of a partially buried glacier in Alaska with a LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) device in the foreground, from the Goddard Instrument Field Team.<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Novarupta, the volcano that erupted here in 1912, ejected more than three cubic miles of ash<\/a> from Earth\u2019s subsurface. The ice nearby is now insulated by, and mixed with, thick layers of geologically \u201cyoung\u201d volcanic debris. (For comparison, many of the eruption sites NASA teams study are tens of thousands to millions of years old.) Mars, too, has glaciers and ice sheets covered in layers of airfall materials, including dust and volcanic ash.<\/p>\n

On Mars, as on Earth, some of the planet\u2019s history is in disguise. Ancient volcanic materials are buried underneath newer deposits of ashy debris. Patterns in these layers (think thickness or thinness, color and texture, chemical and mineral signatures) hold a lot of information, but the message isn\u2019t always clear. Erosion and other surface processes hide evidence of past eruptions, even enormous ones<\/a>. Since relatively fresh volcanic material blankets the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes, it\u2019s an ideal place to observe the early stages of these changes.<\/p>\n

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Cherie Achilles raises a rock hammer as Alexandra Matiella Novak stands by with a hand-held spectrometer and Alice Baldridge holds a container of rock samples. The hand-held spectrometer gives on-the-spot information about what its targets are made of, helping the team decide which samples to collect and bring back to the lab.<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

In three days of violent eruption, Novarupta blasted an uncommonly wide variety of clays, minerals, and volcanic rocks throughout the surrounding valley. Since then, hot, sulfurous gases have filtered up through underground channels and escaped into the air via countless fumaroles (a.k.a. the \u201cten thousand smokes\u201d). Fumaroles, together with erosion and other alteration processes, affect how minerals near Novarupta move and change. Research here can help us understand mineral movement and alteration on Mars and other worlds, too. The range of starting materials and alteration patterns in this valley, all from a single eruption, is difficult to match anywhere else. <\/p>\n

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Heather Graham studies a fumarole \u2013 a place where volcanic gases escape from underground \u2013 using a hydrogen sulfide collector and sampling equipment. Their goal: check the fumarole for encrusted evidence that microscopic organisms once lived here, consuming energy and changing the rocks\u2019 composition. Research on these kinds of biosignatures helps us understand what the search for life could look like on other worlds.<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

It\u2019s a tough field site to access, especially with heavy science instruments. GIFT worked closely with local collaborators including Katmai National Park to coordinate the expedition. After years of planning and months of training, twelve field team members gathered and geared up in Anchorage, Alaska. Two tiny airplane flights, one all-terrain bus ride, and sixteen hiking miles later, they set up a base camp. From there, small groups hiked out and back each day, gathering data and sample material from throughout the valley. <\/p>\n

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Left to right: Tabb Prissel, Emileigh Shoemaker, Heather Graham, Andrew Johnson, Justin Hayles, Aditi Pandey, and Patrick Whelley hike out of the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes.<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Scientists teamed up to carry large equipment from place to place and bring each other data from far-flung targets. Some results were predictable, like a new library of samples collected from several different \u201cpackages\u201d of differently-composed volcanic debris. Some were surprising\u2013like a core sample that came up containing a pocket of empty space instead of buried glacial ice.<\/p>\n

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Emileigh Shoemaker and her team use Ground Penetrating Radar (the red box shown here is the GPR antenna) to gather information about long stretches of Earth\u2019s subsurface before physically breaking ground. Here, Shoemaker stands on a huge pile of volcanic ash; hidden beneath the debris is a glacier. GPR data, combined with core samples, soil moisture measurements, and pits dug at strategic locations, can reveal how the glacier is preserved. <\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Analyzing the samples, processing the data, and putting it all together will take time. This is the beginning of GIFT\u2019s Novarupta research, but it\u2019s a chapter of a science story long in the making. Previous studies<\/a> of the 1912 eruption and its aftermath influenced this expedition\u2019s science plan. The 2024 data and samples, and the new questions arising from the team\u2019s time in the field, are already shaping ideas about future work. NASA has visited before, too. Apollo astronauts and their geology trainers spent time in the Valley in 1965, finding it an unusually Moon-like place to study.<\/p>\n

Fieldwork still plays a role<\/a> in astronaut training\u2013and in advancing lunar science. For example: Novarupta\u2019s chemistry is partly a result of Earth\u2019s plate tectonics. The Moon has volcanic landscapes with similar chemistry, but no tectonic plates. So, what else could explain the parallel? To help address this question, the 2024 team collected samples and ground-truth data from a range of rock formations comparable to the Moon\u2019s Gruithuisen Domes<\/a>. <\/p>\n

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Tabb Prissel, Aditi Pandey, and Justin Hayles at Novarupta. The dome of dark rubble behind the scientists is what\u2019s left of the volcano itself: in 1912, material erupted from this spot buried miles of glaciated valley. <\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

On Earth, the Moon, Mars, and beyond, geologic processes encode pieces of our solar system\u2019s history. Volcanic deposits store details about a world\u2019s insides at the time of an eruption and evidence of what\u2019s happened at the surface since. Rippling fields of sand dunes, gravel, and ash record the influence of wind where atmospheres exist, like on Venus, Mars, and Titan. Glaciers can tell us about climate history and future\u2013and on Mars, ice research also helps to lay the groundwork for human exploration. It\u2019s much easier to take a close look at these features and processes here on Earth than anywhere else. So, to understand planets (including our own), NASA field scientists start close to home.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\"Caela<\/div>\n
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Caela Barry<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
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