about the Merced Formation

Post date: Jul 12, 2012 12:38:40 AM

I met Marty (my mentor) at Room-055 in the basement of the Green Building. We went outside and talked about what I was going to do over the summer and what my goals were. I was very excited about the opportunity to work on my own research project. We discussed a work schedule and made a plan. In the end, I decided to do research about the Merced Formation by documenting the size of change of the composition, and better understand how the transition happened, specifically the stratified layer.

Over the next week, I looked at some background info and research papers about the Merced Formation because I was clueless in many aspects. Marty sent me some papers to read and planned a trip for us to collect the sand samples required for analyzing. We went to the shoreline along Pacifica and collected sand samples from Fort Funston and Mussel Rock. It was a unique experience because it was very hands on and we got to hike along the cliffs.

Here is a photos of our trip collecting a sample

The next step is to process the samples. (should take a week)