Schmidt Hammers are tools that can be used to detect relative differences in the degree of weathering between different rocks or different surfaces on the same rock. Glacial erratics are often used in cosmogenic nuclide exposure-age geochronology, but this method requires that samples are removed from the tops of rocks. If erratics are moved, which they tend to be in the North American continental interior, the present top of a rock is no longer the original top. A number of past and present students have been working on small projects, which together, may help illuminate whether Schmidt Hammers or rock dimensions can be used to reorient displaced erratics, even if we do not know the displacement history. Check back often for updates!
Status: In Progress
Participants & Collaborators:
McKenzie Hatfield (EMU, ENVI Geoscience, current)
Tomas Ridley (EMU, ENVI Geoscience, current)
Joel Harris (EMU, ENVI Geoscience, BS, '21)
Funding Sources:Â
Eastern Michigan University Undergraduate Research Stimulus Program (Awarded to Joel Harris): Using an N-type Schmidt Hammer to determine the initial orientation of a displaced glacial erratic (2020)
Presentations
Harris, J, 2021. Using an N-type Schmidt Hammer to determine the initial orientation of a displaced glacial erratic: Eastern Michigan University Undergraduate Research Symposium, Ypsilanti, Michigan, USA.