Tag: Geoscience

SPOKANE VALLEY, Wash. – The Eastern Washington University Regional Geology and Field Methods classes studied rock formations from an old Saltese Uplands Conservation Area fault zone. There are multiple fault zones, both active and inactive, in the greater Spokane region, and students like Marilyn Smith explained how these zones can show how our region came…

EWU geosciences faculty and students will continue its 30-year-long relationship with the U.S. Geological Survey thanks to the recent renewal of a 5-year contract with the federal agency. The contract allows USGS scientists to share geosciences laboratory space in the university’s Science Building, providing the agency with facilities and tools not available in their downtown…

EWU’s Geology Field Camp, a capstone requirement that allows budding geologists to demonstrate what they’ve learned in the real world, was reinvented this summer in order to keep students healthy and safe. Because the typical field camp requires interstate travel and shared lodging, universities across the nation cancelled their camps due to COVID concerns. Chad Pritchard, chair of…

Lauren Stachowiak, an assistant professor of Geosciences at EWU, is an expert on wildfire activity and how climate change has impacted fire behavior. Appearing on “Experts @ EWU” on Spokane Talks, she points out how recent fires in the region are prime examples of Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) and how we all need to be ‘fire-wise.’  And she says, you’d…

EWU Geology rocks, but not nearly as much as the students do! Chels Howard, a geology major, presented research at the virtual 2020 National Geological Society of America Conference. Howard, in collaboration with faculty members Chad Pritchard and Lindsay MacKenzie, showcased their topic on clastic dike formation in slack water deposits triggered by surging Pleistocene…

The record October snow event last Friday left many of us scrambling to get through the day. Snow tires on yet? Nope. Winter boots, coat, gloves and hat? Still buried in the hall closet, thank you. While many of us were slow to warm up to the early-season storm, Nigel Davies from the EWU Geology…

Forty years ago, Mount St. Helens, an active stratovolcano in Southwest Washington, erupted killing 57 people and covering much of the northwest in ash. The major eruption on May 18, 1980 remains the deadliest and most economically destructive volcanic event in U.S. history. To honor the anniversary, Chad Pritchard, chair of the EWU Geology Department,…

Ethan Ducken, a junior majoring in geology at EWU, was awarded the Environmental Science–Geology Murdock Poster Prize for his presentation “sUAV Mapping of the Porcupine Bay Road Landslide Complex” at the 2019 Murdock College Science Research (MCSR) Conference. For his project, Ducken used a drone to make a high-resolution, 3D map of the 2017 Lake Roosevelt…