An important science visit

This past weekend was an eventful one for our project, we hosted a visit from a number of prestigious geologists who would like to study the recovered rocks.  Over the course of the weekend, our visitors reviewed many notable rock depth intervals from the drill hole.  They also discussed what the most urgent scientific questions might be that study of these rocks could answer.  I would like to thank these visitors again for making the trip and braving the dust, wind, and heavy lifting required to get a firsthand look at the rock samples.  Mahalo!

Above is a photo of our visitors and some of our crew posing with the drill rig.  From bottom left to right: Dr. Michael Garcia (UH Manoa), Rock & Data Manager Eric Haskins (UH Manoa), Dr. Nicole Lautze (UH Manoa), Dr. J. Michael Rhodes (UMass), and Principal Investigator Donald Thomas (UH Manoa).  Dr. Donald DePaolo (UC Berkeley) stands halfway up the stairs.  Top row from left to right: Core Processing Technician Brandon Jasper (UH Hilo), Core Processing Technician Meghann Decker (UH Hilo), Dr. Edward Stolper (CalTech), and Core Processing Technician Bryan Patterson (UH Hilo).  Photo courtesy of undergraduate Kaʻo Sutton (Carleton College).  PhDs are listed with their employing institution, graduates with their degree-granting institution.  Below is an image of most of these people reviewing and discussing some of the rock core boxes (Kaʻo Sutton second from right).